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Hello All,

I am currently working on developing a preservation program for my library (Yale Center for British Art Reference Library and Archives) and I am looking for other professionals who might have some wisdom or information to share with me about taking on such a task. I am also contemplating turning this into a 2013 ARLIS Conference Session, so if you are interested in collaborating on this topic please let me know! I am interested in other museum libraries, special libraries, or any smaller libraries that do not have any assistance with preservation or conservation for their collections for my own research; however, for the possible session I would be interested to hear from anyone doing preservation activities with ideas from all types of libraries.

About the collection/library:  We are a small library with approx. 35,000+ volumes dating from 1850-present, the collection is non-circulating, and we have 2 FT Professional Librarians, 1 FT Library Assistant, 2 PT Library Assistants, and typically 3 student workers. We are relatively new, opening in 1977, and have not had any real preservation program in place.

The Project: To date I have done a general assessment of the collection to determine the number of items in need of repair and the type of damage that has occurred to these items. I am also looking into hands-on workshops and classes that will teach basic and intermediate book repairs, paper repair, paper enclosures, preservation planning, collections care, environmental monitoring, etc.  I plan to incorporate preservation activities into my job responsibilities (i.e. basic and intermediate repairs, environmental monitoring, teaching basic handling and collections care, etc.).I have researched types of treatment (what can be done in-house and what needs to be sent to professionals), the set-up of in-house preservation programs, and the current state of preservation activities in libraries. Through this research, I have also started to think about the future of preservation, in terms of digital conservation and preservation, digital curation, and local/national collaborative efforts. Also, while my collection is mainly in book and paper formats, I am also interested in hearing about different media formats, reformatting of materials, and extra preservation measures that are occurring as new media changes and ages.

Please share any thoughts or ideas with me, and if most are interested I will collect all responses I receive and send a compilation back out to the list.

If you are interested in collaborating on this topic to form a session in Pasadena, please contact me directly off-list to further discuss your ideas and thoughts. I would love to have a session about preservation activities within art libraries and the steps we are taking now to preserve our information and collections for the future. I feel that this is an ever-present topic that will need more awareness as our collections begin to age and deteriorate. Our “new” collections will become our “rare” collections one day, and I would like to do everything possible to begin to preserve and care for those collections today.

Thank you,

Beth Morris, Assistant Librarian
Reference Library and Archives
Yale Center for British Art

1080 Chapel Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8280

(203) 432-2848
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