The MELA Social Justice Committee will host a virtual lecture with Aisha Wahab, Kristen St. John, and Richenda Brim as part of the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA) Social Justice Lecture Series 2020-2021 season, Stories and Silences: Research on Race in the Middle East. The lecture will be on June 17th, 2021, at 12PM EDT (UTC -4). This lecture *will not be recorded*, so we hope you can join us live!
Please register for the lecture here: https://bit.ly/MELABench
Since 2018, Stanford Libraries’ Conservation Services has been involved in the Linked Conservation Data Consortium with institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. seeking to increase the visibility and accessibility of conservation documentation through the use of Linked Open Data. The project spurred an evaluation of our documentation practices, forms, and terminology. During the process of examining how we define the terms we use in our documentation, we began to discuss specific terminology and to address terms that are defined in exclusionary, Euro-centric, and/or colonialist language, such as the term “non-Western”.
We believe conservation departments should follow suit and be a part of the discussion about whether our documentation practices are inclusive and respectful. In this talk we will address questions including, Can we reject such white-centric, Euro-centric, orientalist, colonialist practices of description? What changes are needed in our current practice? Are conservation labs already asking these questions and implementing change in their institutions and if so what changes have been made to develop anti-racist terminology and practices? Evaluating our documentation language and creating more inclusive practices are tangible steps towards positive change. Our documentation is a legacy for future generations of conservators. We should ask ourselves, what kind of legacy do we want to leave behind?
Aisha Wahab is a paper conservator at Stanford University Libraries. Prior to her position at Stanford University, Aisha Wahab spent six years as the Paper Conservator at University of Michigan Libraries following completion of a Fellowship in their lab. She has held internships at the Detroit Institute of Art, the Weissman Preservation Center of the Harvard University Libraries, the Bentley Historical Library, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She earned an MA and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Art Conservation from State University of New York College at Buffalo and a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern and North African Studies from UCLA.
Kristen St. John is Head of Conservation Services for the Stanford Libraries, Stanford University. She is co-chair of the Linked Data Consortium which advocates for the use of Linked Open Data to make conservation documentation more visible and accessible. She is a book conservator by training with a long interest in conservation terminology and documentation. She has an MLIS and an advanced certificate in Conservation from the University of Texas at Austin.
Richenda Brim is the Associate Director for Preservation at Stanford Libraries, Stanford University. She serves on the steering committee of the California Preservation Program. Her current research interests and projects include, anti-racist descriptive practices, climate crisis actions in libraries and archives, and the concept of time in preservation management and planning. She has an MLIS from University of California, Los Angeles.