History

While there were preservation activities at UCLA Library before 2004, funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and other generous donors established a formal Conservation Center that replaced the existing book repair program and the ended the practice of routinely sending rare book conservation treatments to outside professionals. UCLA hired its first library and archives conservator Kristen St. John, who established American Institute for Conservation Code of Ethics as the guideline for all physical care of library materials.  Jake Nadal as its first Preservation Administrator in 2008, and the facilities and original staffing for Audio Visual preservation was formally established in 2011. Our first digitization and loans conservation coordinator started in 2017.  In 2020, preservation functions and conservation functions of the department were unified under one administrator. The UCLA Library Preservation & Conservation Department is relatively recent, agile, dedicated to collaboration and optimism, and strives to fully reflect the energy and diversity of Los Angeles.