ALA Preservation Week is officially at the end of April, but here at the lab we’ve decided to celebrate all month. This slideshow highlights what we’ve been up to lately, some of which can be seen in greater detail in earlier blog posts. We have also set up an exhibit in the West display case of the Wells Library. We encourage you to stop by if you get a chance.
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In preparing for preservation week, we’ve taken the time to look back on our recent work, and it’s really gratifying to see not just the breadth of material that the library collects but also the variety of conservation treatments that we are able to perform, thanks to our fantastic facility and the support of our administration. With these tools at our disposal, we make decisions that take into account nearly every facet of the library’s needs. Of course the condition of the item speaks most directly to the required conservation treatment , but we also use that professional judgment to take into account the context of the collection to which the material belongs. Every new treatment we add to our repertoire enables us to more completely and consistently treat the collection as a whole, while maintaining the care that individual condition assessment entails.
As the library continues to fill the growing demand for digital access, the Preservation Lab works to stabilize materials for digitization and to restore the paper copy to a usable condition when the digitizing efforts have caused damage. We work to preserve those items that have already been recognized as unique, rare or special to the research needs of the University and stand poised to do the same for the material whose significance will be recognized by our scholarly community in years to come. Join us in celebrating the excellence of IU by recognizing the role of preservation plays in achieving the University’s mission and that of libraries across the nation.
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