Valued objects and artifacts held by the Glencoe Museum will be preserved for future generations to come with help from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Connecting to Collections Bookshelf. A Connecting to Collections Bookshelf is a core set of conservations books, DVDs, and online resources donated by the IMLS, the primary source of federal funding of the nation’s museums and libraries. IMLS and its collaborator, the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) will award a total of 2,000 free sets of the IMLS Bookshelf by the end of 2008.

“This new resource will help us tremendously with our collection management for years to come,” said Hanns-Peter Nagel, director of the Radford Heritage Foundation and Glencoe Museum. Over the course of its 10-year history, Glencoe Museum has collected a sizable amount of historic artifacts, documents, and photographs. However collection standards and policies have not always been clear and consistent. “We recognize these issues and it will be a major focus in moving forward,” Nagel said.

Glencoe Museum is among the first to receive this essential set of resources based on an application describing the needs and plans for the care of its collections. The IMLS Bookshelf focuses on collections usually found in art or history museums. It addresses such topics as the philosophy and ethics of collections, collections managements and planning, emergency preparedness, and culturally specific conservation issues.