Preventive Conservation Essentials: Tools, Resources, and Practical Starting Points

This webinar will offer a guided overview of key preventive conservation tools and resources developed by the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI), with a focus on helping small and mid-sized cultural institutions identify priorities, make informed decisions, and take practical action – especially with a focus on realistic, scalable approaches when time, space, or resources are limited. While discussions of preventive conservation often focus on temperature and relative humidity, this session steps back to revisit the basic requirements of preventive conservation and the broader framework needed to reduce risks to collections. At the conclusion of this program, participants will:

• Be introduced to a range of CCI guidelines, decision-making tools, and training resources on topics such as storage, pest management, fire prevention, handling, and environmental monitoring, including new climate control resources such as ClimaSpec and the Climate Control Decision Tool, and
• Be able to match practical guidance to the specific questions they encounter in their daily work.

Presenter

Simon Lambert is Manager of the Preventive Conservation Division at the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI), where he leads a multidisciplinary team in developing tools, training, and services that help heritage institutions manage risks to their collections. His team’s work focuses on translating conservation science into practical, decision-making resources for organizations of all sizes, with particular attention to the needs of small and medium institutions. Since joining CCI in 2012, Simon has provided preventive conservation advice, delivered facility advisory services, developed and taught training programs, and coordinated CCI’s RE-ORG: Canada initiative for improving collection storage. He has also played a key role in developing and disseminating CCI’s preventive conservation guidelines, including recent climate control tools and resources. Simon is an accredited member of the Canadian Association of Professional Conservators (Preventive Conservation) and previously worked internationally with ICCROM on conservation training initiatives.