Preservation: Back to Basics

Libraries, museums, and archives house a variety of materials, but all of these collections are vulnerable to attacks from similar sources. In this presentation, you will learn how to recognize the presence of the top ten greatest risks to collections of cultural heritage materials, what sort of damage they can inflict, and how to take some simple steps to protect against them.

For collections without a trained preservation staff member, a preservation assessment can help prioritize collections needs and the results can be used to support funding for future preservation projects. This session will present an overview of the preservation assessment process and explain how the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), the Museum Assessment Program (MAP), and Preservation Assistance Grants (PAG) can help an institution meet its preservation needs.

In 2011, Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) was selected by the Dance Heritage Coalition to receive help organizing and inventorying their archive, an internationally important collection documenting the first predominately African-American ballet company in the United States, its allied arts school, and associated artists over a 40+ year history. The collection had been without the care of a trained archivist for 10 years, and staff share how an overwhelming project was managed within a limited time-frame. This presentation highlights the nature of nontraditional archives and collections formed by small- to mid-size arts and cultural heritage organizations, and how their special challenges can be met. A key to the findings from this project is a strategy to break a large initiative into discrete parts, whether by task or by format.

There are things you can do before a disaster strikes, and things you can do after, that are easy on the budget. Where will you find and store your recovery supplies, where will you find people who aren't dealing with the same disaster to help you, and how will you know what to do when it happens? With some planning and courage to ask, you can be prepared for, if not anything, at least the most likely things. Find out who to ask, what you can get, and where to find people who can help.

Together, media degradation and system obsolescence place video and audio collections at risk. Many organizations would like to begin preserving their analog audiovisual materials but don't know where to begin. This session will provide the framework for organizations to initiate audiovisual reformatting project, and include: locating qualified vendors, how to request proposals and quotes, reviewing vendor bids, developing a statement of work, and project management. In this session, the instructors will also highlight the release of a new publication -- The Request for Proposals Template for Preservation-Quality Analog-to-Digital Conversion of Standard Definition Video -- developed by New York University Libraries.

In 2010, Preservation Services staff at the University of Texas Libraries launched an effort to revise a decades-old disaster plan. Several key outcomes were desired in rewriting the plan. Primarily, we wanted to develop a plan that was easy to maintain, as well as a system to ensure that it would be updated regularly. Secondly, we wanted to write a plan that focused solely on collections emergencies, not on an array of life-safety issues and threats. Finally, we wanted to design a plan that allowed for shared responsibility in disaster planning, mitigation, response, and recovery across various functions in the library. The result was the creation of a Collections Emergency Team made up of staff members representing the key functions of collection development, facilities maintenance, communications, preservation planning, conservation and library administration. These team members would collectively develop and implement the new plan.

Now four years into the existence of the Collections Emergency Team, we take a look at the current state of emergency readiness in the Libraries and discuss the successes and shortcomings of the team and the effort to maintain a useful and practical disaster plan.

This session will introduce students to the importance of environmental monitoring and provide tips on how to use Hobo dataloggers to maintain an environmental monitoring program.

Transferring standard analog audio cassette recordings to digital format helps protect the carrier from unnecessary handling, mitigates the risk of format obsolescence, serves as a preservation process, and can help to increase access to these often rare or unique information resources.

This presentation provides practical information for how smaller institutions can establish a standard audio cassette digitization workstation by describing the software, equipment, and standards utilized by the University of Texas Libraries Audiovisual Digitization Services Unit.

Responding to a disaster can be a chaotic experience. When it comes to salvaging your collections, chaos should not enter the equation. This session will cover the basic process of salvaging library and archival collections and touch on museum collections. The four primary salvage techniques will be covered and when to call in vendors and conservation professionals will be discussed.

This session will discuss identification, care, and long-term preservation of images, helping participants locate appropriate resources for the management of their materials from daguerrotypes to JPEG files.

This session will cover simple ways to identify various photographic formats as well as guidelines for proper care and handling. I will also briefly discuss how to make a simple sink mat for broken glass plate negatives and introduce a method for removing photographs from magnetic albums.

There are a range of outside vendor services available to assist with item-level stabilization of cultural collections, including commercial binders, reformatting companies, and trained conservators. In addition to this array of options, an in-house repair operation can be extremely valuable, especially if the focus is on simple, effective and efficient processes that can be sustained with minimal resources. What is the framework for setting up an in-house book and paper repair program, and how can it be done responsibly? This presentation will cover staff roles and responsibilities, deciding what to repair and possible procedures, and setting up a workspace.

Disaster plans have been the cornerstone of preservation activity for decades, but is yours ready for the 21st century? Cultural institutions of all sizes and types are now focusing on broader issues of emergency preparedness in addition to previous efforts dedicated to disaster planning for collections materials. This presentation will review the components of a disaster plan and discuss how to integrate your efforts into broader emergency preparedness activities at your institution or in your community. Attendees will be introduced to resources and tools that are appropriate for smaller institutions or those who are just getting started with emergency planning. This presentation will prepare you to prioritize your next steps in terms of implementing procedures, acquiring supplies, and making contacts.

Many times the intake of new collections can be very daunting - there are many aspects to consider when it comes to initial preservation needs of a new donation. These needs should be addressed in the very beginning rather than sometime down the road when the donation is fully processed. Additionally, often times processing cannot be done correctly if preservation is not performed on objects such as glass plate negatives, framed artwork, etc. But what are the steps that you should follow? How can it be the most efficient and cost effective? Trying to take the guesswork out of this process can mean a much smoother workflow and better end result.

While digitization is the best path to long-term preservation of the information contained in magnetic media, the media itself must be preserved until it can be digitized. In this session, participants will gain an understanding of the components of magnetic media, how they deteriorate and the best ways to slow this deterioration.