Geographical Regions of Interest

  • Georgia
    With a Cultural Emergency grant from the Prince Claus Fund (Amsterdam), Blue Shield Georgia requested my help to address a long-term mold problem that had severely impacted 80,000 rare books stolen by the Soviet Army from the Nazi’s following WWII. After a decade of repatriation efforts that resulted in Germany formally relinquishing its claim to these rare books, the Library now needed a definitive recovery protocol.
  • Trinidad and Tobago
    Worked with the National Library of Trinidad and Tobago on a collection-wide preservation assessment, designed a conservation laboratory, and helped train the country's first conservator. Port of Spain, Trinidad. Attended the commissioning of the National Library’s Preservation and Conservation Laboratory 8-11 July 2013.
  • Uzbekistan
    Presented day-long workshops at the Central Asia International Library Conference (National Library, Tashkent) in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Provided preventive conservation advise for rare library collections in Tashkent, Bukhara, Urgench, Samarkand, and Qarshi in 2014-2015 as part of a Fulbright Specialist Award.

Research Statement

Research activities have included: a comparison of mass drying and sterilization techniques for water damaged book collections; strategies to minimize damage or improve disaster recovery results for library, archive and museum collections; and, the study of book history with an emphasis on book manufacturing techniques since 1800. 

Presentations

  • Library of Congress Topics in Preservation Series (TOPS) lecture: "A Mold Outbreak in Tbilisi, Georgia: Technical and Interpersonal Challenges". Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/10/2018.
    http://www.loc.gov/preservation/outreach/tops/silv...
  • Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), “Protecting Cultural Collections” Workshop, Salt Lake City, UT. 26 October 2016. Presentation, Presented, 10/26/2016.
  • Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), “Protecting Cultural Collections” Workshop, Idaho Falls, ID. 24 October 2016. Presentation, Presented, 10/24/2016.
  • Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), “Protecting Cultural Collections” Workshop, Pocatello, ID. 21 October 2016. Presentation, Presented, 10/21/2016.
  • Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), “Protecting Cultural Collections” Workshop, Twin Falls, ID. 19 October 2016. Presentation, Presented, 10/19/2016.
  • Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), “Protecting Cultural Collections” Workshop, Boise, ID. 17 October 2016. Presentation, Presented, 10/17/2016.
  • Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), “Protecting Cultural Collections” Workshop, Moscow, ID. 14 October 2016. Presentation, Presented, 10/14/2016.
  • Western States and Territories Preservation Assistance Service (WESTPAS), “Protecting Cultural Collections” Workshop, Logan, UT. 18 August 2016. Presentation, Presented, 08/18/2016.
  • Juried Poster, “Seismic Shock Cords—Preventive Conservation for Seismic Risk,” American Institute for Conservation and Canadian Association for Conservation Joint Annual Meeting and Conference, Montreal, Canada. 13-18 May 2016. Poster, Presented, 05/14/2016.
    http://www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting/past...
  • “WESTPAS Disaster Preparedness Follow-Up.” Conference of Inter-Mountain Archivists (CIMA) Annual Meeting, Ogden, UT. 12 May 2016. Conference Paper, Presented, 05/12/2016.
  • Conference of Intermountain Archivists (CIMA) Fall Caucus, Moderator, “Disaster Response and Recovery Presentations,” and Leader, “Disaster Tabletop Exercise for Cultural Institutions,” St. George, UT. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 02/16/2016.
  • Central Asia-2015 International Library Conference, “Preventive Conservation,” Workshop, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 20-22 April 2015 (2015 Fulbright Specialist Award). Presentation, Presented, 04/20/2015.
  • Undergraduate Lecture, “The Importance of Preventive Conservation,” National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 17 April 2015 (Fulbright Specialist Award). Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/17/2015.
  • Undergraduate Lecture, “The Importance of Preventive Conservation,” Bukhara State University, Bukhara, Uzbekistan. 15 April 2015 (Fulbright Specialist Award). Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 04/15/2015.

Publications

  • Randy Silverman (2019). "Bernard C. Middleton, MBE (1924–2019): A Biography and Bibliography." in Suave Mechanicals VI.. The Legacy Press. Published, 12/24/2019.
  • Silverman, R. (2018). "Pamphlet Bindings Revisited," Archival Products Newsletter. Archival Products. Vol. 22/1, 1-7. Published, 02/07/2018.
    http://www.archival.com/newsletters/apnewsvol22no1...
  • Silverman, R., ed. (2017). Selected Proceedings of Advances in Conservation: Western Association for Art Conservation Meeting, 2017, in Salt Lake City, Utah. University of Utah Marriott Library. Published, 12/01/2017.
    http://epubs.utah.edu/index.php/waac
  • Silverman, R. (2017). Library Disaster Recovery Since Florence. Webinar #2: Book and Paper Salvage, for the Miami Heritage Responders, sponsored by the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Published, 07/20/2017.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59bNXAK_UxM
  • Silverman, R. (2017). “Clean, Cold, Dark, Dry, Ventilated and Protected: Keys to Preventive Conservation,” utubxona.uz magazine (Uzbekistan). Uzbekistan Library Association. Published, 02/21/2017.
  • Silverman, R., “Surely, We’ll Need Backups.” Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture 43(3) 2016: 102-121. Published, 02/16/2017.
  • Silverman, R. (2016). Introduction: Peter Waters: Father of Preventive Conservation, in, Sheila Waters, Waters Rising: Letters from Florence — Peter Waters and Book Conservation at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze After the 1966 Flood. (pp. vii-xxx). The Legacy Press, Ann Arbor, MI. Published, 12/22/2016.
  • Silverman, R., Book review of Don Etherington, Design Bindings a Retrospective (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press), Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 2016. Published, 12/14/2016.
  • Silverman, R. (2015). "Retaining Hardcopy Papers Still Important in Digital Age,” Newspaper Research Journal . SAGE Journals. Vol. 36/3, 363-372. Published, 10/05/2015.
  • Silverman, R. (2015). "Book review of Michèle Valerie Cloonan, ed., Preserving Our Heritage: Perspectives from Antiquity to the Digital Age," Technical Services Quarterly. (pp. 466-467). Vol. 32/4, Taylor & Francis Online. Published, 09/09/2015.
  • Silverman, R. & Hsu, T., Shrieve, A. F., Hunt, J. M., Nakashima, T., (2015). “Shake ‘Em Don’t Break ‘Em: Seismic Housing for Glass and Other Fragile Library and Archival Media,” paper presented at IFLA Preservation and Conservation Satellite meeting, Geneva, Switzerland 13 August 2014. IFLA. Published, 09/08/2015.
    http://campus.hesge.ch/labodoc/iflapac/05_Silverma...
  • Silverman, R. (2015). "Book review of Guy Robertson, Disaster Planning for Libraries: Process and Guidelines," Scholarly Kitchen. Society for Scholarly Publishing. Published, 08/12/2015.
    http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2015/07/01/gues...
  • Silverman, R. (2015). "Book review of Sidney E. Berger, Rare Books and Special Collections," Technical Services Quarterly . (pp. 247-249). Taylor & Francis Online. Published, 07/15/2015.
  • Silverman, R. (2015). Preservation Considerations for Uzbekistan Libraries.. (pp. 53). Tashkent, Uzbekistan: National Library of Uzbekistan, 2014. Published, 01/01/2015.
  • Silverman, R. & Valerii P. Leonov, compiler and editor, The Academy of Sciences Library: Episodes of Bibliography (2014). Biblioteka Akademii Nauk Fire: Twenty Years On. (pp. 144-150.). Saint Petersburg, Russia: Russian Academy of Sciences Library, 2014. Published, 10/10/2014.
  • Silverman, R. & Nakashima, T., Hunt, J. M., and Tuia, J. “ (2003). “A Stitch in Time: Disaster Mitigation Strategies for Cultural Heritage Collections,” in, Jennifer Townes and Emily Decker (Eds.). Handbook of Research on Disaster Management and Contingency Planning in Modern Libraries. (pp. 208-239). IGI Global, Hershey, PA. Published, 11/03/2003.