Alumna Michèle V. Cloonan (MS '84, PhD '88) has received the Preservation Publication Award for the book she edited, Preserving our Heritage: Perspectives from Antiquity to the Digital Age. The award is given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) in recognition of the author or editor of an outstanding published work related to archives preservation.
Preserving Our Heritage ties together a variety of groundbreaking historical texts to lay both a theoretical and practical foundation for the field of preservation. With insightful and engaging prose, Cloonan offers students, researchers, librarians, archivists, and museum specialists an overview of longevity, reversibility, enduring value, and authenticity of preservation. Divided into eleven themes, each section combines historical works from international contributors and hard-to-find publications with well-rounded commentary to provide a global view of contemporary thinking and practices.
“Preserving Our Heritage is undeniably a monumental achievement and a welcome contribution to the bookshelves of preservation professionals everywhere,” the SAA Awards Committee noted.
Cloonan is dean emerita and professor in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College, where she teaches courses on the foundations of LIS, principles of management, and preservation management. She has published works on topics such as preservation, book trade and publishing history, intellectual freedom, and international librarianship.