Craig Fansler 2009

Preservation- prolong the existence of materials by protecting them.

Conservation- examination, documentation, treatment, and preventive care

Restoration- Hands-on treatment procedures

Brittle Books: Books printed from c. 1850-1900 were printed on very acidic wood pulp based paper. This paper is now deteriorating.

Arno River floods Florence-1966

Hurricane Agnes-1972

Water main break at Stanford University-1978

These all helped develop best practices in recovery of library materials.

In the widest sense, preservation encompasses

activities that prevent damage to paper-based and media collections, such as proper housing, environmental control, and disaster planning

AND---activities such as treatment, replacement, or reformatting that address existing damage.

Environment – it is important to provide a moderate, stable temperature with low humidity.

Disaster Planning- having a plan to respond to water, fire or other disasters that might threaten your collection.

Security- Protecting your collection from theft or vandalism

Storage & Handling- use proper storage materials and materials handling measures

Reformatting & Digital Collections- Using digital imaging to create access copies of original materials for access.

Library Binding and In-House Repair- Damaged materials can be sent to a bindery for repair. Staff can be trained to perform basic repairs to books and paper materials. Special Collections materials should only be repaired by trained individuals and re-housing should be considered.

you cannot save everything

priorities must be set among collections (you must define your collection's strengths and concentrate on them)

every item may not need to be preserved (will a representative sample of certain materials be acceptable?).

Criteria for selection- condition/use; value or uniqueness; vulnerability due to deterioration or loss

Temperature and Relative Humidity- Fluctuations are damaging because of expansion and contraction which accelerates deterioration. Temperatures should not exceed 70 F. Relative humidity should be between 30-50% RH.

Soil pattern created from expansion and contraction

Light accelerates the deterioration of library materials. Light weakens paper and cloth by bleaching them and causing them to become brittle.

Storage: 1-5 foot candles

Display: 5-15 foot candles

OFTEN, we cannot control lighting conditions-so our job is to lessen the exposure of sensitive materials.

Most of us have little control over indoor air quality. The HVAC should remain on at all times to maintain stable conditions-this means the temperature should not be lowered on nights & weekends. Air filters should be changed regularly.

Information source: Northeast Document Conservation Center