international conference on Scientific Instrument Collections in
Universities (SICU) was held at
College in 2004. The SICU1 conference began addressing the unique
challenges faced by those who
with university collections, while also striving to increase awareness
among those who
recognize the importance of their collections.
SICU2 workshop is to continue solidifying the foundation for finding,
the vast resource of historic scientific instrument collections that
reside in academic
instruments are a vital part of our cultural and scientific heritage.
SICU2 will draw from a wide
community of scientists,
historians, curators, archivists, educators, and collectors to achieve
the following :
access to more collections by encouraing scientists and educators to
become more involved in efforts to expand scholarly
improved security and preservation
collections by expanding efforts to build a practical resource for
of historical instruments.
increased use and
appreciation of more
collections by developing and sharing creative ways of exhibiting,
studying, and recognizing significance of historical instruments.
improved resources for utilizing collections across a braod range of
disciplines and purposes.
The workshop program
is planned along the following
Scholarly Significance of University Collections - historical
research, recently "discovered" collections, and the role of scientists
and educators in developing and utilizing collections.
b. Management and Preservation Challenges
acquisition and stewardship issues,
organizing, managing, and building sustatinable support for a
Improving Access to and Uses of Collections - innovative efforts
in demonstrating, teaching, studying,
and reaching the public with historic instruments, including the use of
digital and web-based technologies.
addition to keynote addresses, SICU2 will
feature presentation and discussion of contributed papers and posters.
junior scholars, advanced graduate and undergraduate students, and
people from outside academia are particularly encouraged to participate.