British Library Preservation Advisory Centre


The British Library Preservation Advisory Centre raises public awareness of preservation issues in libraries and serves as a nexus for developing and promoting improved preservation management of library and archive materials in the UK and Ireland. It was established as the National Preservation Office by the British Library Board in 1984, and was renamed to its current name in 2009. As of 31 March 2014 the centre is now closed.

Purpose and activities

The Centre aims to create strategic policy framework for preserving current library collections, and addressing issues arising as congruent digital collections evolve. Its mission is expressed in hortatory goals, but its work is focused on practical results:
The need for national entities like the Centre has been documented in surveys conducted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Section on Preservation & Conservation and by the Ligue Internationale des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherches. Other than the United Kingdom, at least seven other countries have set up a similar entity, including Canada and New Zealand.
The Centre maintains a PAS database and publishes an annual digest and report.

Institutional support

The governing Board is composed of representatives from eleven institutions; and a corollary Advisory Board includes more than twice that number. Shared-interests bring together a number of disparate contributors and points-of-view, including: