PAC Australia
Hosted at the National Library of Australia
Frequently Asked Questions:
Risk management as a priority for an efficient and effective preservation strategy
Effective Preventive Conservation in Different Climatic Zones
About the Centre
The IFLA PAC Centre in Australia is based at the National Library of Australia’s Preservation Services Branch. Preservation Services – made up of two sections, Preservation and Digital Preservation – works collaboratively with other branches across the Library to preserve, conserve and care for the Library’s physical and digital collections.
A key objective of the Preservation Services Branch is to ensure meaningful access to digital and physical content over time.
Preservation Services staff are actively involved in a number of national and international Digital Preservation networks, sharing expertise and information and providing advice and assistance in response to queries.
The National Library of Australia is located in Canberra, Australia’s capital city. The Library’s role, as defined by the National Library Act 1960, is to ensure that documentary resources of national significance relating to Australia and the Australian people, as well as significant non-Australian library materials, are collected, preserved and made accessible either through the Library itself or through collaborative arrangements with other libraries and information providers.
Expertise
The Preservation Services Branch has 12 staff – the Director, 3 Digital Preservation Staff and 8 Preservation staff, with expertise in the following areas:
- Preservation and Digital Preservation policy and strategy development
- Strategic and Business Planning
- Risk Management
- Digital Preservation
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Preventive Conservation – framed as a strategic “backbone” supporting all preservation activities
- Storage and housing methods and advice
- Environmental monitoring and management
- Pest Management
- Care and Handling training
- Collection Surveys and Preservation Needs Assessments
- Lighting guidelines
- Management of Hazards in Collections
- Disaster preparedness and response management and training
- Exhibition preparation
- Preparation of material for digitisation
- Hands-on treatment
For more information go to the webpage: http://www.nla.gov.au/