Fall 1995 Feature continued Preventive Conservation Courses Participants in the GCI's 1995 preventive conservation course at the Museo Regional de Oaxaca in Oaxaca, Mexico. Preventive conservation is any measure that prevents damage or reduces the potential for damage. Because it works to improve the overall environment in which collections are kept, it is the most efficient, long-term use of resources for museums. Designed for senior conservators and conservation scientists who work in museums, libraries and archives, regional conservation centers, and training institutions, the course updates participants' technical knowledge of preventive conservation and helps them consider effective ways to introduce preventive conservation policies and practices into their institutions.
Preventive conservation is collaborative in nature.
Beyond developing preventive conservation policies, conservators must be skillful advocates of those policies, working both with other museum professionals and with external specialists such as architects, designers, engineers, and building contractors. The GCI course therefore stresses the practical aspects of communicating and collaborating with colleagues to improve collections care. In 1993 the GCI held the course outside of Los Angeles for the first time. In partnership with the Conservation Unit of the Museums and Galleries Commission of the United Kingdom, it offered the course in London for conservators and restorers from Britain and other parts of Europe. The Institute typically seeks a partnership with a local organization whenever it offers a course outside of North America.