July 31, 2020
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our research and business assessment activities over the past ten months including online surveys, strategic conversations and working meetings with internal and external constituents, and an extensive evaluation of IPI’s existing business and fundraising practices.
In March and April, we hosted three working meetings that collectively engaged colleagues from academic libraries, conservation research centers, conservation and library science training programs, conservation regional centers, federal cultural institutions, fine art museums, and national membership organizations to inform IPI’s research agenda and strategic growth planning for 2021 and beyond. The agendas and roundtable discussions for those meetings were informed by the responses we received to our November 2019 survey. In May, we received more than 460 responses to an additional survey about environmental monitoring preferences. In June, we concluded our assessment activities.
One of the immediate outcomes of our thorough assessment is the decision to explore new possibilities for datalogger enterprises related to IPI’s work in preservation environmental monitoring and management. While we investigate new opportunities in this area, we have halted the production of PEM2® dataloggers and our inventory of dataloggers is limited. We continue to support and service PEM2s in the field and recently added enhancements to PEM2® technical support to improve those services, as shared in our May Newsletter. Our goal is to maximize the positive impact of IPI’s environmental data analysis software, consulting, and hardware services to support the field in sustainable preservation environmental management. In that respect we also continue to focus on strengthening IPI’s unique, web-based, preservation environmental management and analysis software, eClimateNotebook®, and have initiated efforts to expand the compatibility of eClimateNotebook® with a variety of monitoring devices.
IPI’s mission remains to support the preservation of cultural heritage collections in libraries, archives, and museums. We will continue to do so by leading an active preservation research program that informs and advances professional-level education and training activities, publications, consulting services, and the development of practical preservation resources and tools. There are many exciting opportunities to support IPI’s core mission while also strengthening institutional sustainability.
Your use of and investment in IPI services, resources, and tools supports our preservation research program. A successful growth plan will address current preservation field needs that IPI is uniquely qualified to meet while also supporting long-term institutional sustainability at IPI. We are grateful for the funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support our assessment efforts and to our colleagues at Graham-Pelton for their partnership through the process. We look forward to sharing future updates as we transition from our assessment work to growth plan implementation.
In 2004, IPI released ClimateNotebook, the first desktop software designed specifically for libraries, archives, and museums to graph environmental data and generate reports with preservation analysis. In 2012, eClimateNotebook (eCNB) was launched. A web application that synthesized the strengths of ClimateNotebook, and IPI’s other preservation management tools (MyClimateData and PEMdata) into a single, unified platform.
The Image Permanence Institute has been awarded $315,854 from the National Endowment for the Humanities Research & Development grant program to support a three-year research project titled, Evaluating the Mechanical Stability of 3D Printed Materials to Inform Collections Care Decision Making for Preservation and Access.
IPI is looking for a new team member in a redefined Sustainable Preservation Specialist role. The Sustainable Preservation Specialist supports professionals working in collecting institutions with environmental monitoring and sustainable preservation practices. They assist collecting institutions with basic environmental monitoring and data analysis, advise on logger placement in collection storage and exhibition spaces, and provide instruction on the use of IPI’s data management and analysis software, eClimateNotebook.
Xinxin Li is IPI’s new 3D Design Assistant working under the supervision of Meredith Noyes, Research Scientist, as part of the IMLS-funded project Foundational Research to Inform Preservation Guidelines for the Creation, Collection, and Consumption of 3D Printed Objects in Museums. Xinxin is a MFA candidate in Industrial Design at RIT and comes to IPI after receiving her BFA in Industrial Design from Savannah College of Art and Design.
