20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

430 Aurelian Cătălin PopescuNational History Museum and working only upon museum patrimony.Also, the research plan of that Institute does not include finding specificconservation and restoration solutions for the document heritage in libraries.Even the training program for conservationists taking place at theCenter for Professional Training in Culture emphasizes the historic culturalheritage in museums and generally ignores the most serious problems thatlibraries face.Therefore, it is easy to notice that the whole system suffers ofmalfunction as there are no command and control levers for managingheritage documents in libraries. A defining trait of the present situation isthe lack of communication and partnership among the institutions enabledby law to watch over document patrimony.I intend to suggest further a draft for a Romanian national projectfor the preservation – conservation of document heritage, based upon theexisting structures and issued laws.First, it is imperious that document patrimony should be clearlyseparated from cultural heritage of museums as document patrimony isdynamic and continuously growing.As any project should be implemented gradually and we should keepin mind that objectives are attainable only step by step, it is necessary thatthe essential coordinates be approached one at a time. These coordinatesare organization, research, partnership and application of the most viableand efficient measures for the preservation-conservation of documentpatrimony.The national system for preservation-conservation of documentpatrimony should be based upon an organisational structure that reunitesall owners of heritage documents. Such a structure has been set up and it isthe Library National Commission.The above mentioned commission should initiate a national inquiryinto the status and nature of document funds in Romanian libraries andalso investigate storage and reading conditions in order to form an overallpicture of existing situation and to propose unitary means to set up anadequate logistic frame for optimum conservation conditions.Such an inquiry would make possible building a hierarchy within thenational library system, according to the importance of library collectionsbut also to the conservation state of collections. For example, libraries withlegal deposits and a high conservation level would require both properequipment and qualified staff.Another priority of the Library National Commission would be theanalysis of library and document center employment policies, in view ofdrawing up regulations referring to the necessary employment of qualified