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As a registrar for UCLA Library Special Collections, I get to work with some of our most rare and interesting materials that are requested for loan. Museums, universities, and other cultural heritage institutions from around the world ask to borrow our materials for exhibit. As part of our mission to inspire discovery, cultivate knowledge, and advance research, UCLA Library Special Collections seeks to meet as many of these requests as possible while taking into consideration the safety of the items and their research value to the UCLA community. Each request is unique and brings new challenges, so I like to think of my work as project management (as well as risk management) with the goal of each project being the safe travel and installation of the item(s) and later their safe return to UCLA. Little is more gratifying in my job than seeing our materials up in an exhibit knowing the broad audience they will reach.
Ideally the loan process begins at least six months before the exhibit opening with a request by the borrower. Along with several other steps, I review facility reports, do condition assessments, complete loan agreements and request certificates of insurance, all while involving Chela Metzger, our Head of Conservation, and LSC curators and staff as needed. Although the bulk of my work happens over email and in documentation, the images below illustrate some of steps we take to get an item ready for exhibit, as well extra precautions for particularly fragile or rare items.
