This lightning talk highlights how collaborative teaching partnerships with community organizations can expand the reach of special collections libraries and make preservation knowledge and expertise more accessible. Through shared instruction and hands-on demonstrations, librarians and educators can provide practical guidance to diverse communities on caring for family and community materials such as photographs, books, textiles, and other primary source material. By addressing these issues beyond the library, we can assist the public in accessing environmental risks, and in setting preservation priorities. By working together as partners, we strengthen community engagement and help ensure that diverse histories are recognized, protected, and preserved for future generations. I offer a concise overview of a collaborative instructional model that features slides and samples of family treasures and their preservation.
Participants will: 1. See the value in going outside the traditional sphere of service and teaching and note the value of extending preservation teaching beyond traditional instructional settings
Thursday May 7, 2026 4:36pm - 4:43pm EDT Main Salon A
