Putting It Into Practice

Final Assignment

Your Institution and Collections

The first step in conducting a survey is to collect general information about your institution's history and major activities, to provide a context for preservation activities. Other general issues that affect preservation of the collections include overall staffing and budget; long-range strategic planning; future plans for the building, such as renovation or expansion; and the institution's relationship with other local institutions that collect historical materials. This list is, of course, not comprehensive. The surveyor may well discover additional issues particular to the institution.

  Review the entries you made in your Notebook, complete the Institutional Overview and the Collections Overview sections of your overall survey, and submit them to the facilitator.

Go to the Forum for discussion questions and to share your thoughts on this session with other participants.