Thursday, May 14, 2009

At long last we are seeing action on obtaining a new water system. Our proposal to replace our old system was first drawn up in September 2007. We finally had it accepted in the spring of 2008. Then the floods came. No more money.

We could not keep our old system clean. Projects were continually suspended as we waited for our system to get cleaned and disinfected. Given that we had agreed to clean flood damaged materials and would need a reliable, clean water system, we set out looking for funding only to find ourselves in
a Catch-22 situation. Since the conservation lab had not been flood damaged, we did not qualify for emergency funding. Asking our clients to pay for equipment that we should have had already didn’t make sense. The State Historical Society of Iowa Historic Resource Development Program came to our rescue.

After months of consultation and reviewing proposals, work has begun. The water system will be installed first as we wait for our new sink. Our old sink was repositioned today so we can use the new water system the minute installation is completed. The very first project will be the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library phonographic record collection.