Back to the July 14, 2004 issue of SULAIR News

In 1996, the same year the AIC Board established the Awards Committee to assist them in this glorious responsibility, they also created a new award given the lofty name of Distinguished Award for Advancement of the Field of Conservation. This award is reserved for institutions, foundations, and granting agencies in recognition of their vital support of conservators. In 1996 the new Distinguished Award was shared by three institutions, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Getty Grant Program. It has been presented one other time to the American Academy in Rome. This year the AIC is honoring two different institutions for their long-standing support of professional development of conservators and I shall discuss each one individually.

Stanford University Libraries
I am delighted to recognize The Stanford Uiniversity Libraries as a 2004 recipient of the AIC Distinguished Award for the Advancement of the field of Conservation. To quote AIC president Tom Chase, “Our field would not be where it is today without the major contributions of the Stanford Uiniversity Libraries and their support of such noteworthy online resources as the Conservation Email Distribution List (ConsDistList) and Conservation OnLine known to all of us as CoOL”.

I am certain that every single person in here has directly benefited or made use of these exciting services. But you might not know how many other people and organizations have a web presence provided by CoOL. The DisList reaches people in more than 80 countries, and CoOL gets more than 3.5 million hits every month, and all of this at no charge to us. The service provided by the Stanford Uiniversity Libraries in facilitating communication among members of the conservation field is nothing short of remarkable.

The list Moderator, Walter Henry received the AIC University Products Award five years ago. Walter was recognized for his hard work, good judgment, and excellent humor in maintaining, these resources for us. Thank you again, Walter. Michael Keller, University Librarian, is not able to join us tonight. Accepting on behalf of Stanford University Libraries are Catherine Tierney, Associate University Librarian and Connie Brooks, Head of the Preservation Department at SUL. Please convey to Dr. Keller that the Libraries have created a resource that is without parallel in conservation and AIC is forever appreciative.

Congratulations and I can only guess that the number of daily hits will continue to skyrocket.