CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN, OPEN EVERY BOX: CONDITION SURVEYS AND STRATEGIC PRESERVATION PLANNING

JENNIFER WAXMAN

SENIOR MANAGER FOR PRESERVATION AND ACCESS

CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY

SAA 2012 Annual Meeting Session 201

CONTEXT

• Strategic plan mandated streamlining access to unique and specialized material

• Creation of Archives Preservation Program in Preservation Department

• Creation of Preservation Archivist position (taking place of Preservation Librarian)

• Change in focus of conservation lab: 80/20, archives to circulating collection split

SO, WWMLR DO?

CONTEXT

• Perform risk assessment of repositories

• Perform condition survey (or, needs assessment) of collections

• Design and implement policy and procedures based on findings

PRECEDENT• Columbia University Mellon survey (2004),

PACSCL survey initiative, and CALIPR came before me• Determined approach: processed collections, box-level,

condition focused, mostly quantitative, some qualitative

• Literature survey easy; very little about condition surveys• Gunselman’s 2007 AA article “Assessing Preservation

Needs of Manuscript Collections with a Comprehensive Survey”

• NEDCC Preservation 101 condition worksheets• British Library National Preservation Office survey (2006)

• Evaluation of tools• Worksheets, spreadsheets, databases

• Box-level, on site processed collections (for this phase)

• Gather quantitative data on:

• condition of housing at collection, unit and material level

• condition of all formats

• Gather qualitative data on:

• overall condition of housing at collection level• condition of formats per unit• intellectual access

METHODOLOGY

Survey tool redesign

METHODOLOGY• kept collection,

unit and material level data

• kept physical condition, housing and intellectual access quality ratings

• expanded format tabs and sub-format dropdowns

• added lots of checkboxes to identify condition at unit, material level

METHODOLOGY

NYU Survey Tool and Survey Manual available here:

http://library.nyu.edu/preservation/archivespreservation

METHODOLOGY

• Staffing

• Part time students, teams of 2• Solid training: Gunselman article,

Ritzenthaler excerpts, NEDCC leaflets, NFPF Film preservation guide, A/V format introduction and inspection techniques, handling and care training, mold isolation procedures.

• Supplies

• Laptop, wifi• Pencil/paper, pH pen, tape

measure

• First step: shelf check

IMPLEMENTATION

• 971 collections, 5501 containers, 7 minutes a box

• Must review staff work periodically to ensure consistency and effectiveness of tool.

• Half way through survey, noticed rating system was fallible:

• Overall Housing Condition Rating 3 overused • Had to further refine ratings and require surveyors to

record reason for designating a collection Rating 2 or below

• Had to backtrack and change all collections from 3 to 2 with new definition in place

IMPLEMENTATION

• 42% Rating 3• housing made of

currently accepted standard mats, no failure to support

• 58% Rating 2 or below• indicates that

enclosures no longer support the items, +/- threaten safety, +/- not made of standard mats

263%

53555%

41042%

Rating 1

Rating 2

Rating 3

Rating 4

n=971

Housing Condition Rating Collection Level

FINDINGS: COLLECTION LEVEL

FINDINGS: UNIT LEVEL

1739

under-

stuffed boxes (33%)

1196 folders slumping (22%)

1049 under-stuffed boxes with slumping

folders

FINDINGS: UNIT LEVELMechanical damage: under/overstuffed, Plasti-clips

Remediation projects

• Fix under-stuffing and slumping issues with internal board supports and cylinders (discarded, rolled archival folders)

• Train students, educate about long term effects of decisions made during processing

OUTCOMES

OUTCOMES

Strategic planning

• Remediation projects and conservation treatments based on condition ratings and curatorial priority

• Training and integration of preservation actions into all phases of archival management (accessioning and processing workflows)

• Write preservation-focused grants armed with data

Electronic Media Survey

• Inconsistent descriptive practices made it very difficult to locate electronic media in already processed collections

• Simplified survey tool: Excel worksheets

• Training guides used to identifying media with Wikipedia articles about magnetic, optical and flash media

OUTCOMES

THANK YOU

jwaxman@cjh.org

@jwax55