Information from: Northeast Document Conservation Center

Craig Fansler 2009

 P
reservation- prolong the existence of materials by
protecting them.

C
onservation- examination, documentation,
treatment, and preventive care

R
estoration- Hands-on treatment procedures
rittle 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.
 
n the widest sense, preservation encompasses
a
ctivities that prevent damage to paper-based and
media collections, such as proper housing,
environmental control, and disaster planning


ND---activities such as treatment, replacement, or
reformatting that address existing damage.
 Environ
ment – it is important to provide a moderate, stable temperature with
low humidity.

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

Securit
y- Protecting your collection from theft or vandalism

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

Reform
atting- reproducing fragile or rare materials onto a stable media for
access and to preserve informational content.
ibrary 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.

igital Collections- Using digital imaging to create

access copies of original materials for access.
 you
cannot save everything
prioritie
s 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
emperature 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.
oil pattern created from expansion and
contraction
ight accelerates the deterioration of library
materials. Light weakens paper and cloth
by bleaching them and causing them to
become brittle.

torage: 1-5 foot candles

isplay: 5-15 foot candles

ost 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.