Practical Preservation And Conservation Strategies For Libraries

Designed as a “how-to” manual, Practical Preservation and Conservation Strategies for Libraries provides librarians with practical information to help them grapple with specific preservation challenges by identifying areas of concern, optimizing the use of resources put towards preservation, and establishing goals for continual improvement over time. Straightforward and pragmatic, it helps a library to reduce immediate and long-term preservation costs, and strengthen a library’s collection development goals. Topics include: Preservation in the digital age Establishing long-term preservation goals Environmental conditions Preservation needs of specific collections Understanding use patterns for library materials Identifying potential threats to a collection Recognizing readily available preservation resources Almost 50 photographs, figures, checklists, and other tools make this a practical guide libraries will use on a day-to-day basis.

The preservation of library and archival materials can encompass everything from bookbinding and paper repair to new techniques for maintaining and exploiting digital text, sound or images. Managing Preservation for Libraries and Archives brings together an international team of contributors presenting the latest findings on key areas of preservation and addressing the most common storage and retrieval problems for different types of media. The authors also revisit traditional preservation and conservation approaches and suggest how to develop policies for the future. First summarising historical developments, the book sets out key preservation principles, rationales for selecting materials for preservation, and how to choose the best methods. Different contributors report on state-of-the-art preservation techniques for paper media and sound archives, explain how the appropriate techniques can be applied and how storage and access can best be managed in the long term. Later chapters analyse the benefits and problems of digitising different types of materials; the long-term viability of digital media; issues of access to digital surrogate documents as opposed to the original medium; and the challenges in the digital context of bibliographical control, cataloguing, metadata, distribution and copyright protection. An extensive chapter on international information sources provides signposting to a wealth of guidance on the latest techniques. Managing Preservation for Libraries and Archives will guide readers working in the library, archives, museum and heritage sectors through the choices between digital and traditional preservation techniques, and prepare them for likely future developments in managing both preservation and access.

This book presents the causes, nature, & extent of the preservation problem, paying particular attention to the physical deterioration of library materials. It looks at preventive measures by examining why materials deteriorate & offers models for integrating preservation into all aspects of library management. (TOPICS IN LIBRARY & INFORMATION STUDIES)

Preservation: Issues and Planning provides a definitive and authoritative analysis of how to plan for and ensure the long-term health of an institution's collection in this digital age.

For any library, archive, or historical society committed to getting materials back into circulation as quickly as possible, this reference offers a one-stop solution. From the issues relevant to directors to hands-on instructions for technicians, it's an excellent reference for the entire library.

Much has happened in libraries and information in the last ten years and preservation and conservation issues have developed accordingly. The authors carried out a survey of around 500 British libraries to study preservation management practices over that period and the results of this questionnaire are the basis of this book. In analysing the responses it was clear that the fundamental issues about the access to and use of books were being addressed; preservation and retention of materials and media being the foundation of access. Having put the research into its historical context, the book moves on to the findings about management attitudes and practices. Policy issues are considered, and some of the national and international prescriptive policy documents issued by professional organizations are compared with those from the British libraries. The differences between the two form the basis of suggestions about how individual libraries might develop preservation policies and also what national policies could be considered. This is a book that will enable all librarians from all sectors to understand the importance and nature of preservation policies and to begin to create or improve their own.

Keep your cultural resources safe for generations to come! Culled from papers presented at a Library of Congress symposium in October 2000, The Strategic Stewardship of Cultural Resources: To Preserve and Protect examines the challenges you face in preserving and safeguarding your library's resources. Twenty-two leading library and archival professionals address critical issues on the preservation and security of collections in cultural property institutions, including libraries, museums, and archives. The book explores the connections between physical security and the preservation of our cultural heritage. The Strategic Stewardship of Cultural Resources identifies the risks involved in preserving cultural resources and presents effective strategies for security. The book guides you through the process of evaluating preservation and security programs, budgeting costs, determining the right amount of facilities security, meeting the challenge of preserving digital information, and coping with the negative effects of theft and vandalism. The Strategic Stewardship of Cultural Resources focuses on four keys that are central to safeguarding your heritage assets: physical security—protection from theft, mutilation, damage by water, fire, etc., with strategies used by the Library of Congress and other major libraries preservation—protection from deterioration through conservation and reformatting, using examples from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library of Congress, and other institutions bibliographic control—knowing what your library has inventory control—knowing where your collections are The Strategic Stewardship of Cultural Resources: To Preserve and Protect also examines the FBI's Art Theft Program, national and institutional requirements for preservation funding, and measuring the effect of environmental elements (temperature, humidity, etc.) on your collection. The book is an essential resource for library, archive, and museum directors, preservation officers, security professionals, curators, and archivists.