Chela Metzger has been devoted to libraries and books since she began volunteering for her school library in fourth grade. She has a Master's in Library Science from Simmons College and a Diploma in Hand Bookbinding from the North Bennet Street School. She completed an advanced rare book conservation internship at Library of Congress in 1994, and has worked as a conservator at The Huntington Library in San Marino California, The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and now the UCLA Library as head of their conservation center. 

Chela began teaching book conservation while at The Huntington Library, and continued through nine years at the University of Texas Program in Preservation and Conservation Studies, and four years at Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. She was awarded a three month teaching Fulbright to teach in Argentina in 2000 and continues teaching and consulting in Latin America. She also enjoys teaching workshops on a variety of conservation and book history topics, and in 2018 was awarded the AIC’s Sheldon and Caroline Keck Award for a sustained record of excellence in the education and training of conservation professionals.

Chela is an occasional exhibiting book artist, a full time library booster, and a committed bicycle commuter. She  wishes she could tour America and other countries  by bike more often!