West Campus Art Core Facilities promote interdisciplinary scientific approaches through advanced technology and new technical equipment. With these specialized instruments, researchers and scientists will be able to develop new practices in conservation and preservation. These core facilities will serve a diverse array of institutions and organizations engaged in the conservation and preservation of cultural heritage such as the Yale University Art Gallery, the British Art Center, and the Yale Library Collections.

Center for Conservation and Preservation

Yale Digital Collections Center

 

Center for Conservation and Preservation (CCAP)

The work of protecting and recording Yale’s collections will pivot around two new centers: The Yale Digital Collections Center (YDC2) and the Center for Conservation and Preservation (CCAP). Both centers will be housed in the Collections Center on West Campus. CCAP will house treatment labs as well as research labs. The research labs which will be ready in January 2013 will focus on two areas: the examination and analysis of cultural materials under the Direction of Dr Anikó Bezur who took up her post of Director of Scientific Research in May 2012 and research into the fundamental causes of deterioration and how these agents may be slowed. The Centers’ establishment on West Campus opens a world of possibilities to conserve, digitize and store Yale’s vast collections of art, natural history and library holdings. There is room for future development, and the buildings formally used for manufacturing and warehouse space will be ideal for centralizing the care and storage of Yale’s collections, including books, maps, art, artifacts, and specimens from the natural world.

CCAP’s laboratories on West Campus will pioneer new techniques to support a mission of conservation, teaching, research, and publication of works of art. They will have a full range of analytical techniques , including FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. Because CCAP will be close to the West Campus science institutes, with their capacities in imaging, informatics, and chemistry, Yale hopes to break new ground with the latest advances in conservation science, while exploring areas of research and analytical techniques that are at present unknown to the world of conservation.

Ian McClure, the Susan Morse Hilles Chief Conservator at the Yale University Art Gallery, will direct the CCAP. Under his direction, the Center will advance the study of the materials and preservation techniques of cultural artifacts.

Yale Digital Collections Center(YDC2)

The YDC2 will integrate the resources of Yale’s former Office of Digital Assets and Infrastructure (ODAI) into a comprehensive, centralized home for digital imaging of cultural heritage, digital analysis, cross-disciplinary research, and collections management.  With a state-of-the-art shared imaging lab scheduled to open early in 2013, the YDC2 will allow for imaging of large-scale art and specimens using a range of sophisticated techniques.  Digital platforms and multimedia management of content will enable both preservation of materials and dissemination of information to a global audience. 

YDC2 also provides an opportunity to pursue new ways to access Yale’s collections. Digitalizing Yale's Collections for “browsable storage” will provide students, faculty, and staff constant access to objects, paintings, books, maps, and manuscripts. See some collections at Discover Yale Digital Content http://discover.odai.yale.edu/ydc/

Meg Bellinger has been appointed the director of YDC2. Previously, Meg served as the first director of ODAI and the Associate University Librarian for Integrated Library Systems and Technical Services at Yale University. She is responsible for execution of the strategic objectives of YDC2 that include a digital service unit that is transformative and service-oriented and one that supports a digital content management infrastructure for the University collections, Computing and the Arts, and other academic and research programs in the arts at Yale.