Celebrate ALA’s Preservation Week from April 27 – May 3, 2025! This year’s theme is Preserve the Past, Shape the Future: Inspiring the Next Generation. Events will focus on celebrating the importance of preserving personal, family, community, library, museum, and archival collections while discussing ways to encourage future generations of conservators and preservation practitioners.

Learn how Balboa Art Conservation Center inspires 5th graders to see the world as art conservators on April 29th, discover exciting programs available through the Atlanta University Center’s Art Collective on April 30th, and join Mychal Threets and Linda Sue Park, author and educator, for a discussion about preservation, libraries, and how one might inspire enthusiasm for preservation among young people on May 1st. Webinars are free, but separate registration is required for each.

In addition to these live webinars, the Preservation Outreach Committee invited preservation practitioners from a variety of backgrounds to submit recorded lightning talks on their journeys in preservation and why it’s important to them. These will be shared throughout the week and mounted on the Core YouTube channel–subscribe now to see them as soon as they come out.

Archivist Tracie Gieselman France of the Missouri State University Libraries will serve on the Preservation Outreach Committee until August 2025, and is a member of the working group that organized this year’s events. The Preservation Outreach Committee organizes and presents webinars annually for Preservation Week. Their goal is to serve the needs of libraries, cultural institutions, and members of the public in two ways:

· by expanding access to preservation information relevant to the work of librarians and others working in collections holding organizations

· by providing content to share with the public during and after Preservation Week

Preservation Week, supported by Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures, a division of the American Library Association, was created in 2010 as a way to promote preservation and conservation of cultural heritage materials to institutions and individuals. The initiative also raises awareness of preservation education and information provided by libraries and cultural institutions.