Hiring high school and university students in the summer is the norm for Manitoba community museums. Almost completely untrained and uninformed, the students are expected to take over all aspects of museum work from guiding tours to restoring artifacts. Their supervisors are rarely permanent staff; more likely they are volunteers. In response to numerous requests for summer staff training, the Manitoba Heritage Conservation Service produced an Introduction to Conservation Handbook: a convenient package of material on collections care and preventative conservation with sections on accession labeling, display methods, exhibit maintenance, storage methods, environmental monitoring, and pest control, along with lists of materials, supplies, and suppliers. The article describes the handbook and discusses the importance of providing community museums with information on basic conservation practices that is presented in terms easily understood by those having little or no previous exposure to museums. -- AATA