What do preservation librarians do? Proper book handling.

Librarians involved in the preservation and conservation of information resources may be involved in many activities. Perhaps the duty that most people think of is repairing damaged books, and that is certainly one aspect of their job. But there are many others. For the next several posts, we will discuss some of the general duties of preservation librarians, beginning with the topic of developing guidelines for the general care and handling of library materials.

Several issues affect the proper care and handling of paper materials such as books:

Temperature: Excessively high temperatures can cause mold or mildew to grow on the books. They also affect the acids in the paper, causing it brown and become brittle. Fluctuations in temperature cause paper and bindings to swell and contract, which causes warping of the book. The optimal temperature for books is between 65-75° Fahrenheit.

Humidity: Excessively high levels of humidity can also cause mold or mildew to grow on books and variations of humidity levels cause paper and bindings to swell and contract, which causes warping of the book. The optimal relative humidity for books is between 35-40%.

Exposure to UV light: Ultra-violet light, from sunlight or florescent lights, fades the bindings of books and contributes to the breakdown of leather. Such problems can be avoided with UV filters (or blinds) on windows and by avoiding the use of the types of florescent lights that emit the UV spectrum.

Proper shelving: Leaning taller books against shorter objects can cause permanent distortion to books and will damage spines. Store oversized and heavy books flat or with the spine down. When storing books vertically, place similar sized books next to each other on the shelf when possible. Do not pack them too loosely or tightly. And do not let book spines hang over the edge of the shelf. Instead, push them back onto the shelf at least one inch.

Proper handling: Never pull a book from the shelf by its headcap (the top of the spine), as it will tear. To remove a book that is packed very tightly onto a shelf, push the ones on either side of it forward and grip the book on either side. If this cannot be done, press down firmly on the top of the text block and tip the book toward you. Once the book has been removed from the shelves, if it will not lay flat when it is opened, do not use force to open further. Doing so will damage the spine. Also, the covers should be supported when the book is open.

Avoid writing on top of a book. This can make permanent indentations on the book. Do not put paper clips, clip bookmarks, post-it notes, pencils or other foreign objects into books or lie them face down while open. Doing so can damage pages or put pressure on the spine of a closed book. Finally, do not store books on carts awaiting shelving fore-edge down. This damages the hinges.

Insect management: Keep food and drink away from books. Food particles attract bugs to paper. Cockroaches, silverfish, certain types of moths, book lice and book worms consume or soil paper. Good house keeping and pest management can help avoid these problems.

It is the responsibility of the preservation librarian to train other librarians and users in these proper book handling principles.

Library of Congress. (1998). Care, Handling and Storage of Books. Available
http://www.loc.gov/preserv/care/books.html

State of Florida Bureau of Archives and Records Management. Preservation Information. Available
http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/preservation/conservation/books/index.html

Let's begin by defining our terms: preservation, conservation and restoration

The concept of preservation is a broad one. On the surface it seems simple: preservation is the process of maintaining access to information resources. These resources may be printed materials, such as rare books. They may also be maps, photographs, materials on microfilm or CDs. Or they may be other cultural heritage items such as paintings, etchings, textiles, three dimensional artifacts such as statues or architectural elements... The list is nearly endless. To make matters worse, the term used to describe the act of maintaining these information sources is far from clear. Some use the term preservation to refer to the fact that, "libraries are responsible for the care of materials which are physically endangered, and library preservation encompasses everything which serves to prolong the life of those materials and/or their informational content...reserving the term "conservation" for those activities which involve physical treatment of individual items by a "conservation technician" or professional conservator." Others prefer to use the term conservation to refer to the broader process of maintaining access to information sources while using the term prevention to refer to "preventive maintenance activities, or to saving information through replacement or reformatting, as in preservation microfilming." To make matters worse, the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), makes the same distinction between the overall process and the specific maintenance activities, but it refers to these maintenance activities using a third term: restoration. The AIC states, "Restoration refers to the reconstruction of the aesthetic appearance of an object. Although restoration can be one aspect of conservation, the latter encompasses much more. Conservation involves examination, scientific analysis, and research to determine original structure, materials, and extent of loss. Conservation also encompasses structural and environmental treatment to retard future deterioration." In this blog, I will be using the terms preservation and conservation interchangeably. I will use the term restoration to refer to processes used to improve the condition of information resources.

Darling, Pam. (1985) Abbey Newsletter, 9(6) (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/abbey/an/an09/an09-6/an09-604.html, last viewed May 27, 2008)

Guidelines for Selecting a Conservator, American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (http://aic.stanford.edu/public/select.html last viewed May 27, 2008)