TAKING PRESERVATION ACROSS CULTURAL FRONTIERS

In 1996, I received a three-month Fulbright consultant grant to Malays ia in response to the National Library's request for assistance in dev eloping a National Preservation Policy. Although there exists a high d egree of interest in preservation in many of the repositories I visite d, there is no infrastructure either within Malaysia or its immediate region to support the development of a comprehensive national preserva tion program. The most critical need is for professionals trained as b ook or paper conservators and preservation administrators as well as f or conservation technicians familiar with current practice. Until ther e is at least a small cadre of trained personnel, it will be very diff icult for Malaysian librarians to understand and emulate the preservat ion policies and programs of US and European libraries because they la ck the intellectual framework needed to analyse and evaluate relevant information. The development of local or regional sources for basic su pplies such as alkaline boxes or pH pens or inert polyester is also cr itical. Although superficially Malaysian culture is heavily westernise d, it continues to reflect a fundamental suspicion of ''western imperi alism'' which can lead to resistance to adoption of western standards and practices, even in a field like preservation.