Conserv Cloud is a next generation environmental monitoring and integrated pest management tool for preservation professionals and is free to use.
Start this 2022 expanding your knowledge about how to use Conserv to fight a war against pests.
The team of experts at Conserv have created a 3-part IPM webinar series about Integrated Pest Management for Museums, Archives, Libraries, and Historic Houses.
We have designed these webinars for smaller and medium-sized institutions that have been planning to set up an IPM program for the first time.
Use the museumpests.net database included in Conserv Cloud to facilitate identification.
Integrated Pest Management capabilities of Conserv Cloud.
Conservators on our team will explain what IPM is and why it is important to set up a program for collections care, and they will show you how to use the free Conserv Cloud software to collect, record and analyze information about pests.
We will discuss how to make this process easier for small teams that do not have the time or resources to do full IPM programs.
We will answer your questions live, so make sure you sign up for all three so you don’t miss a thing!
Learn more about Integrated Pest Management in this 3-part webinar series
1. What is IPM?
How and where to monitor a pest problem?
Thursday, February 24th
11:00 AM CST
RECORDED to be shared at the end of the series
2. What is in my monitors?
How to identify insects and record data
Thursday, March 24th
11:00 AM CST
RECORDED to be shared at the end of the series
3. What to do with my pest data?
Analysing and reporting data
Thursday, April 28th
11:00 AM CST
RECORDED to be shared at the end of the series
What will we cover in the IPM webinar series?
1. What is IPM?
In this first webinar, participants will get familiar with IPM programs, an
d why they are important for collections care. We will focus on how, where, and when to monitor insect traps. By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to set up their own traps using the Conserv platform and start recording insect monitoring data.
Our main speaker is Allison Lewis. She is a Conservation Liaison at Conserv and an objects conservator who managed the IPM program at the Oakland Museum of Art during her 7 years there.
Pat Kelley, President of Insects Limited, will be joining us as a special guest. Pat will give us some insights about his experience as an entomologist in a company that builds insect monitors like pheromone traps and sticky traps for different industries including cultural heritage.
2. What is in my monitors?
In this second IPM webinar, participants will get familiar with the next steps after monitors are collected and how to identify insects caught on them. We will talk about the main types of insects that cause damage in cultural heritage collections and how to identify them in the free Conserv Cloud software using a database of museum pests compiled by the expert volunteers at MuseumPests.net.
Our main speaker is Rachael Perkins Arenstein, an objects conservator of A.M. Art Conservation and one of the founders of Museumpests.net. She has many years of experience educating institutions on setting up IPM programs.
Our special guest is Matt Mickletz, Manager of Preventive Conservation at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library and one of the organizers at Museumpests.net.
3. What to do with my pest data?
In this third webinar, participants will learn what to do with the pest data recorded from insect monitors. We will discuss why it is important to keep a record of insect data, how to recognize a pest problem with the data collected, how to report data to important stakeholders, and what actions to take with the information obtained.
Our main speaker is Christian Baars. Christian holds a PhD in the evolution of Earth’s atmospheric composition and has a good understanding of how much data are required for good science. He also has an interest in effective communication and now combines his passion for achieving positive change with evidence-based decision making. Christian spent the past twenty years working in and for museums. Successes include the implementation of a very effective IPM approach at National Museum Cardiff which, for example, eradicated pests from an Entomology collection of 800,000 specimens. Christian is currently the Head of Collections Care at National Museums Liverpool where he continues to develop the notion that IPM is much more than pest monitoring – and pest monitoring is more than counting pests, but must always include the analysis, interpretation and presentation of data for different audiences in order to be an effective tool.
The last special guest for the IPM webinars is Jane Henderson, Conservator and Museum adviser who teaches Conservation and Care of Collections at Cardiff University in the UK. Jane will tell us more about the Pest Occurrence Index and some basics about pest prevention.
Our Presenters and Coordinators
Whether you’re a brand new user or you just need a refresh, these webinars are for you. Conserv Cloud has an excellent free version as well as a paid version for collections with more complex needs. This is a great time to ask your questions to the Conserv team.
Melissa King (presenter) is our Senior Conservation Liaison and a preventive conservator. She is a graduate of the Winterthur/University of Delaware graduate program in conservation and has worked as a fellow in preventive conservation at the Smithsonian, English Heritage, and the Brooklyn Museum.
Maria Bastidas-Spence (coordinator) is a member of the Conserv Community Board. She is a graduate of the University of Westminster MA in Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture and has over 10 years of experience working in museums. She is currently the IPM Coordinator for Royal Museums Greenwich. She is responsible for planning and coordinating this webinar series.
Are you interested in coordinating a private onboarding session for a group you work with or promote? Reach out to Melissa at melissa@conserv.io and we can work with you to make that happen!