The conservation of their collections is an important part of the work of museums. The work of conservation is a very engaging combination of manual skill with materials science. But however hard a conservator works, they can never fix all the troubles of so many objects - and often it is not desirable either.
Therefore, it is necessary to take a much broader view and see the task of preserving collections as a management challenge.
Managing conservation in museums (see Books) pioneered management concepts in museums.
Arguing "Don't tackle the hard task piece by piece - take a systems view!" it shows how mainstream management techniques can be used to facilitate a holistic and professional approach to collections conservation and preservation.
Some conservation resources from major museum centres
British Museum: Conservation and science
http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/departments/
conservation_and_scientific.asp
Lots of links at CooL, Conservation Online,
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/
ICON, the UK Institute of Conservation
http://www.icon.org.uk/
ICON's "How to care for" pamphlets
http://www.icon.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=10
CAN, Collections Australia Network: lots of excellent conservation and collections management information: beautifully
produced with colour pix
http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/sector_info_item/24
The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) has for years been the world's
preeminent research instute for conservation and collections care. New
website with wonderful resources:
http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/
The US National Park Service has a very good and
informative website. Publications include the Museum Handbook for collections management, and Conservograms with conservation advice.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/
