to download an English language version of the 2009 Heritage ...

Archives Portal www.iar.ie goes on line.
In 2006 the Heritage Council commissioned a
feasibility study on the establishment of an online
portal website through which researchers could
search findings aids and collection catalogues
from repositories held across the island of Ireland.
As a follow on to the study the Heritage Council
commissioned the development of a pilot Irish
Archives Resource (IAR) portal project covering 4
archival repositories in Counties Cork & Waterford-
Cork City & County Archive, University College
Cork Library Archives, Waterford City Archives and
Waterford County Archive Service.
The IAR will be a portal web site that will enable
researchers to search for publicly accessible archival
fonds/collections in Ireland, based on archival
descriptions and index terms created in accordance
with the Irish Guidelines for Archival Description
(IGAD), and the ISAD(g) standard. All entries must also
comply with Rules for the Construction of Personal,
Family and Corporate Names. The Portal is intended to
encourage the development of good quality archival
descriptions, and it will stimulate the use of archival
collections across the whole of Ireland by directing
researchers to the relevant archives services.
All entries to the Portal, in addition to meeting the
relevant descriptive guidelines and standards, should
be of high quality in terms of comprehensiveness
and accuracy of description and indexing in order to
facilitate researchers in locating records relevant to
their research.
It has been recommended by the existing Steering
Committee that an editorial group should be
established to oversee the Portal including the entry of
archives services, policy on descriptive standards etc.
Conservation Internships
The following internships have just been appointed.
Rachel Sawicki – Book conservation internship at
the Chester Beatty Library.
Rachel Sawicki will join the Chester Beatty Library at
the end of September 2009. Rachel moved to the
United Kingdom from Australia in 2004 in order to
pursue a career in book and paper conservation. In
2005 she joined the Conservation and Collection
vCare Department of the Bodleian Library, Oxford
as a conservation technician assisting with book
and paper repairs, box making, and environmental
monitoring. In 2008 Rachel commenced an MA
degree in the Conservation of Books and Library
Materials at West Dean College and will graduate in
September. She will be working with the Library’s
senior book conservator Kristine Rose on a number of
exciting projects and is very much looking forward to
joining the conservation team. Thanks to generous
support of the Heritage Council and the Library’s
contributing members this is the third internship to
be run at the Chester Beatty.
Rebecca Regan - Paper Conservation Internship at
the National Library
The National Library of Ireland announced Rebecca
Regan as the successful candidate for the Heritage
Council of Ireland Conservation internship for the
2009-10.
Rebecca, who has a Masters degree in paper
conservation from Northumbria University, joins
the library from Museum Conservation Services,
Cambridgeshire where she has worked on a wide
range of artworks dating from the sixteenth to the
twentieth centuries.
The focus for Rebecca internship will be the Ormond
Deeds Collection which forms a pre eminent record
of Irish history from the 12th through to the 19th
Century and numbers some 5000 items. This will
be the start of a long term project to ensure these
documents are available for coming generations to
study. It will involve condition survey and planning
for the long term housing and conservation needs
of the collection. There will also be the opportunity
to experience every aspect of the studio, including
temporary exhibits, loans, and various ongoing
conservation projects.
Chester Beatty Library conservation team.
12 THE HERITAGE COUNCIL 2009 ANNUAL REPORT