Online Webinar

COVID-19 and Collections Care
Thursday, September 17, 2020
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

This 90-minute webinar will include background information on the coronavirus and CDC guidelines, while introducing participants to recommendations for mitigating risks related to handling and care of collections materials. Participants will consider how the current crisis affects continuity of operations within their institutions, and will leave with resources to help keep their organizations moving forward. The presentation will include a 30-minute question and answer session with an NEDCC Preservation Specialist and a Conservator to address specific concerns from attendees.

Presenters: Stephanie Garafolo and Tahe Zalal

Stephanie Garafolo is a Preservation Specialist at the Northeast Document Conservation Center, where she provides preservation information and outreach including assessments, consultations, training programs, and disaster assistance. She has ten years of experience in the museum and archives field, with particular interests in preservation, collections management, and aiding institutions through periods of change and growth. Her previous roles include working with contemporary artists and site-specific installations at Le Laboratoire Cambridge, craft objects and archives at the Fuller Craft Museum, and Armenian material culture at the Armenian Museum of America in Watertown, MA. She holds a BA in Political Science from Boston University and an MA in Museum Studies from Harvard University Extension School.

Tahe Zalal has worked in the field of conservation since 1999 and specializes in conservation of works of fine art on paper, rare manuscripts, archival documents, maps, and objects on vellum. She has extensive experience in advising clients on treatment options and in developing proposals. Based from her office in Greensboro, NC, Tahe travels throughout the US, serving as an advocate for preservation and conservation by advising museum, library, and archive professionals on caring for their institutions' collections. She enthusiastically shares her expertise with every kind of organization, from volunteer-run historic sites to large collecting institutions. Tahe earned a BA in Art History from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and she serves on the board of Preservation Greensboro, and is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC).