Ellen Pearlstein, associate professor of information studies at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, will lead preliminary planning for a specialization in Book and Paper Conservation Program within the school's Master of Library and Information Studies degree.
The one-year planning process is being funded by a $200,000 grant from the Andrews W. Mellon Foundationm which, in response to a severe national shortage of specialists in the area of book and document conservation in museums, libraries, archives and special collections, in 2015 issued a Request for Proposals from institutions that might be interested in establishing a book and paper conservation master’s degree program. UCLA hopes to become the permanent site for a new Book and Paper Conservation Program that will serve as an ongoing nationwide resource, preparing future generations of conservators.
Pearlstein is the recipient of the Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for distinguished teaching and mentoring in the field of conservation. She will be joined in planning by experts from the UCLA Library; the Library of Congress; the National Archives and Records Administration; the Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute; the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens; and universities including Michigan, Illinois and Harvard.
This story has been adapted from the original published by Ampersand, the school of education's online magazine.