Preservation Outreach: Educational Materials for Library Staff and Users
Preservation of the magnificent library collections at Harvard is a widely championed goal with-in the University and library communities. Each year the libraries under-take a broad range of activities in a collective effort to meet a University-wide preservation mission. Rare, fragile, and deteriorating materials are conserved or copied in a manner consistent with their nature, value, and anticipated use. Many strategies are employed to ensure that Harvard's library collections survive - be they recorded on paper, vellum, plastic, or metal, and the many combinations of materials that make up modern media. New preservation challenges emerge with every new development in information technology. As difficult as it is to match a preservation problem to an appropriate solution, approaches to decision making in this area are gradually being codified worldwide.
Because many of the materials that make up library collections are neither sturdy nor long-lived, the need for remedial preservation typically out-strips institutional capabilities. Deterioration and loss of materials can, however, be prevented or slowed drastically by maintaining high-quality building environments and computer storage systems and by careful handling of individual objects within the collections. A series of educational products being developed by the Harvard University Library Preservation Center and the Harvard College Library Preservation & Imaging Services Department is directed toward improved handling.
Why store oversized books flat instead of upright? Why position shelving at least 6" from the floor or hold a compact disk by its edges? Why avoid using rubber bands to temporarily consolidate loose journal issues? These questions are answered in 15 Ways to Save Harvard's Collections: A Guide for People Who Work in Libraries, a poster that is being distributed to every member of the Harvard University Library staff. "Bring damp, wet, and moldy materials to preservation staff promptly," urges message #12. "The sooner such problems are addressed, the more likely the materials can be salvaged successfully." A picture of a warped binding illustrates the point. Message #15 reads, "Help keep library materials clean and libraries pest free. Eat and drink only in areas designated for that purpose and leave books behind." The image of a coffee stain provides justification.
A second poster, designed for display near public copy machines, reads "Make a Lasting Contribution to Harvard: Copy With Care. To prevent broken bindings and damaged pages, please copy from books and journals one page at a time. This is especially important when volumes are fragile or don't open flat." The use of photocopiers and book drops, two relatively recent introductions to libraries, is responsible for extensive damage to bound volumes, which are typically fragile because of their age and/or the use of weak materials and structures in their manufacturing. Modern "book-edge" photocopiers, however, allow for gentler handling.
Finally, signs created for reading room tables remind users that research library materials are a shared resource, meant to be passed unmarked from generation to generation.
In FY2000 expanded outreach efforts will include the production of general care and handling guidelines for library users as well as a series of guidelines for library staff. See, "Conservation Guidelines: Transfer of Materials to the Harvard Depository," and "Guidelines for Cleaning and Moving Library Collections."
The posters and table tents are available from the Weissman Preservation Center. Please call 495-8596 for copies.