Book and Paper Group

The Book and Paper Group (BPG) is the largest of the specialty groups within the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). The purpose of the BPG is to exchange information through meetings and publications about the conservation of books and paper materials. Its members represent a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties but share a common interest in the preservation and conservation of artifacts and collections of paper-based materials.

Annual Meeting Programming

A main activity of the group are the Book and Paper Sessions at the AIC annual meeting. The program is usually a full day or more of papers, panel discussions, and special sessions, as well as a business meeting and social events. Discussion groups are forums at the annual meeting for exchanging focused experiences and ideas on areas of specific expertise such as books and libraries (Library Collections Conservation Discussion Group), archives (Archives Conservation Discussion Group), as well as art on paper and museums (Art on Paper Discussion Group) through open dialogues, practical hands-on experiences, and round-table discussions. Two of three discussion groups are held per year at the annual meeting on a rotating schedule.

Conservators using analytical equipment.

Online Community

Specialty groups maintain online communities, which are valuable forums where colleagues with similar interests and experience can share and exchange ideas and practical information, facilitate open discussion, disseminate group-related news, questions, job postings, announcements, comments of interest, and general information. Communities are closed and subscription to them is a benefit of membership in the specialty group. All new members of the group are automatically subscribed to the list.

Conservators working under a microscope.

Publications

The Book and Paper Group publishes the Book and Paper Group Annual, a nonjuried postprint publication that includes the abstracts and fully-developed papers based on presentations from each annual meeting and other independent submissions. Another publication is the Book and Paper Group Wiki, a forum for members and conservation practitioners to learn about topics in book and paper conservation and share their expertise and emerging trends in the field with colleagues. The wiki evolved from the Paper Conservation Catalog (PCC), an outline of practices and procedures used by paper conservators published from 1984–1994. Like all wikis, the site's contents are collaborative and dynamic works-in-progress.