Preserving Library Collections Whats Your Role

1
Preserving Library CollectionsWhats Your Role?

• Preservation Training Module 2005
• Yvonne Carignan Emily Bell Brenda Morris
• Emily Candela Jacqie Ferry Susan Koutsky

2
Introduction

• Library materials belong to everyone
• The investment in them is enormous
• We all can protect and care for them
• Improper care creates damage!

3
Agenda

• Introduction
• Test your Preservation IQ
• Care Handling
• Shelving
• Bookzilla!

• Identification Costs of Damage
• Decision Making Exercise
• Disaster plan
• Review test
• Summary

4
Overview

• Preserving the Libraries collections is YOUR job

5
Key Terms

• Preservation all the activities that maintain
  collections in original or some other format
• Conservation treatment to stabilize or
  strengthen collections, sustaining the original

6
Anatomy of a book
7
Kinds of deterioration

• Chemical
• Mechanical
• Biological

8
Good Shelving Practices

• Shelve books vertically and upright.
• Shelve a volume so that the books on either side
  gently support it, or use appropriately sized
  bookends.
• Avoid shelving too loosely.
• Avoid overcrowding shelves.

9
Handling Oversized Books

• Create separate areas for regular size and folio
  size to use space more efficiently.
• Place books spine down if they are too tall for
  the shelf.

10
How to Load a Truck

• Balance weight distribution so that book trucks
  will not tip.
• Use appropriately sized bookends to support
  items.
• Move trucks carefully on and off elevators and
  around corners.

11
Care and Handling Practices

• Avoid damage and protect library collections by
  care in
• Carrying
• Stacking
• Holding books open
• Keeping pieces together
• Packing

12
Carrying

• Use both hands
• No more than four at a time
• Larger books on the bottom

13
Carrying

• Avoid dropping books or hurting yourself!
• Use a truck if carrying more than four books at a
  time

14
Stacking

• Large on bottom
• Not too high
• Not overhanging

15
Holding books open

• Use a book snake
• Not sharp objects

16
Keep Pieces Together

• Use ribbon (also called grip-tites or string
  ties)
• NOT rubber bands, sharp string, or anything that
  CUTS into edges

17
Packing

• Protect during transport
• Pack flat or spine down
• Fill empty spaces with packing material

18
Gently Photocopy
19
Rough Copying Damages Bindings
20
Avoiding Food and Drink

• Spills weaken, warp, stain paper and bindings
• Attracts pests
• Leaves greasy fingerprints

21
When to Send Items to Conservation

• Identifying different types of damage
• Anatomy of a book
• Structural Damage
• Food and Drink Damage
• Wet Books
• Moldy Books
• What to send now
• What can continue to circulate

22
Spine/End Cap Damage

• What to send
• Spine missing or completely detached
• Significant tearing, such as along entire
  shoulder
• Less tearing, but threatening information such as
  title on spine
• Small tears if other books with more damage are
  not waiting to be sent

23
Spine/End Cap Damage

• What not to send
• Minor, small tears at head with loss not imminent
• Minor abrasion at tail (from sliding on shelf and
  general handling)

24
Glue Failure/Loose Pages

• What to send
• Broken adhesive bindings with pages starting to
  detach
• Any other books with detached pages, including
  errata, indexes or other supplemental material

25
Glue Failure/Loose Pages

• What not to send
• Books with loose pages that do not belong to
  original publication (pages of notes, bookmarks,
  photocopies of pages, etc.)

26
Damage Inside Gutter

• What to send
• Text block completely detached from cover at
  front or back
• Exposed fabric in gutter (end-sheet torn apart or
  separated from text block)
• Text block sagging significantly out of case

27
Damage Inside Gutter

• What not to send
• Minor separation between text block and case, if
  other, more damaged books are waiting to be sent

28
Brittle Materials

• Identifying Brittle Materials
• The double fold test

29
Brittle Materials

• What to send
• Crumbling pages with losses to the edges
• Pages breaking out of binding
• Pages that cannot be turned without damage

30
Brittle Materials

• What not to send
• Books with brittle paper but otherwise intact and
  not losing parts of pages

31
Food and drink damage

• What to send
• Any currently wet or sticky spills these should
  be isolated from other books
• Dried spills with wrinkled, stained, or fused
  pages
• Crumbs
• Dirty fingerprints
• Oil stains
• Other unidentified foreign substances (paint,
  charcoal, tree sap, etc.)

32
Food and drink damage

• What not to send
• Minor water spills that have already dried, as
  long as book is otherwise stable

33
Wet or Damp Books

• Send to Preservation PROMPTLY!
• Mold can begin to grow within 48 hours!
• Some pages can fuse together if not dried
  properly
• Temporary solutions if preservation is closed
• Damp books should stand upright, with covers
  opened and pages fanned out, with a fan blowing
  on them.
• Soaking wet books should be wrapped in plastic
  bags or waxed paper and placed in a freezer to
  prevent mold growth.
• Wet book procedures are on the web at
  http//www.lib.umd.edu/TSD/PRES/wetbk.html

34
Moldy Books

• Identifying moldy books (what to send)
• Powdery or fuzzy-looking growths or patches
  (often green or black, but can be any color)
• Slimy texture
• Musty or mildew smell

35
Moldy Books

• Handling moldy books
• Immediately isolate moldy books from other
  materials to prevent cross contamination
• Seal in plastic bags
• Wear disposable gloves if possible and wash hands
  thoroughly after handling
• PROMPTLY send to preservation!

36
Moldy Books

• Things that look like mold but arent (what not
  to panic about)
• Mud or dirt
• Soot
• Dye transfer previous water damage can cause
  some colors to bleed onto nearby pages
• Charcoal, chalk, paint, or other art materials
• Some foods, especially sticky ones with dust or
  dirt embedded in them

37
Costs of Damage Remediation or Replacement

• Types of costs
• Monetary
• Staff time
• Book absence time

38
Treatment of Non-Brittle Materials

• Binding
• Commercial recase
• 9-11 per book
• Book is off the shelf for a minimum of 3 weeks

39
Treatment of Non-Brittle Materials

• Binding
• In-house recase
• 22.00 minimum cost per book including labor,
  materials, and end-processing.
• Cost increases if more extensive repair such as
  sewing is needed

40
Treatment of Non-Brittle Materials

• Other Conservation Treatments
• Page-mending, hinge-tightening, or photocopying.
• Minimum 1.50 per book for simple repairs
• Off-shelf time is minimum one week

41
Treatment of Non-Brittle Materials

• Other Conservation Treatments
• Pamphlet binding
• Preventative
• Costs less than repairing damaged pamphlets

42
Other Treatments

• Wet Books
• Staff time to dry a single wet book
• Cost of vacuum freeze
• drying for large
• quantities of wet
• books averages 1.50
• per book. This does
• not include staff time for
• packing, shipping, etc.
• NOT REVERSIBLE!!!!

43
Other Treatments

• Mold Remediation
• Widely varying costs
• Very expensive!
• This procedure cost 60 per book during our most
  recent disaster.

44
Brittle Materials

• Purchase Replacement
• Reprint, microfilm, or out-of-print replacement
• Costs range from five dollars to hundreds of
  dollars and does not include staff processing
  time
• Can be off the shelf anywhere from a month to a
  year

45
Brittle Materials

• Preservation Photocopy
• Over 100 per item including vendor cost plus
  staff cost.
• Average time at vendor is 3 months

46
Brittle Materials

• Boxing
• Interim solution does not solve problem of
  brittleness but keeps item stable (in case of low
  use items).
• 18.00 per book including materials and staff
  processing time

47
Preventing Brittleness

• Deacidification
• Prevents brittleness for acidic materials
• 16.00 per book including vendor and staff time
• Off shelf for 3 weeks

48
Disaster Plan

• Kinds of Disasters
• Flood/Water
• Fire
• Mold Outbreak
• Insect Infestation
• Earthquake
• Severe Weather
• Power Outage
• Civil Disorder/War

49
What is the Disaster Plan?

• A document that details procedures to follow in
  an emergency or disaster.
• Who to call
• What to do first, next, etc.
• Emergency supplies
• Who to consult
• How to take care of damaged materials

50
Where is the Disaster Plan?

• The Disaster Plan can be found at
  http//www.lib.umd.edu/TSD/PRES/
• disasterplan.html
• It can also be found in a red binder in various
  office and desk locations.

51
React Pak

• Supplies in branch libraries that are for use
  during the first 20 minutes of a disaster.

52
Summary Discussion

• Quiz review Tell us the answers
• Identify ways to apply training
• Complete evaluation forms!

53
More Information

• Preservation home page http//www.lib.umd.edu/TSD/
  PRES/1Preshp.html
• Educational opportunities in preservation and
  conservation http//palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopi
  c/education/