Preservation Services on YouTube

The Preservation Services is releasing its first film about procedures in conservation treatments that are performed in our Division of the University Libraries. The film was possible through a joint effort with the Digital Media Commons, especially Cheryl Cross, who patiently recorded hours of  this treatment, to then be reduced to just eight minutes of viewing. What a fast conservation treatment!!!

The book, I Vespri Sicilliani, is part of our Cello Music Collection and was a donation received in 2013 from George Darden Piano and Opera collection.
http://uncgspecial.blogspot.com/2013/10/george-darden-martha-blakeney-hodges.html

PRESERVATION WEEK at UNCG

ALA Preservation Week is a nationwide event held in many libraries across the country every year. The intent of this event is to connect communities through promoting and creating awareness on how to handle and care for collections in general.

The University Libraries, at UNCG, is participating in this journey with the support of the Preservation Lab. On the week of April 28 to May 2, 2014 we are having a few events, at Jackson Library, focusing on preservation and conservation of our collections. From a small exhibit on conservation procedures in the main lobby and the "Take A Look, Grab a Book" point, in front of the main desk, with books about preservation and conservation ; to an open Preservation Lab tour, where you will be able to ask us questions regarding your personal collection and what we do here.

Below is the schedule and the details for that week:

JACKSON LIBRARY.

Exhibit

You will see several types of enclosures we create and build at the Preservation Lab; they go from the simplest phase boxes to those with a more complex design to house a specific book or artifact.  Browse some of our books and the conservation treatment performed, including restoration. 

If you enjoyed what you saw and want to learn more, you can go to the next point of our preservation week tour and grab a book from our collection at the:

Take A Look, Grab a Book display near the Access Services desk

Browse some of the titles we picked at Jackson Library especially for you about bookbinding, books about books, conservation and preservation!

Last but not the least, the last point of the tour,  visit our Preservation Lab, where we do "magical things" like a patron said to us one time. All are welcome, students, staff and patrons, to visit and ask us a question and see, ‘in loco’, our space, the tools and materials we use and what we have been working on. 

Preservation tour hours and days:

Monday - April 28th 2014, from 10 am to 12 noon.

Tuesday - April 29th 2014, from 10 am to 12 noon.

Thursday - May 1st, 2014, from 10 am to 12 noon.

Friday - May 2nd, 2014, from 10 am to 12 noon.

Useful links

ALA Preservation Week

http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/preswk

Preservation at Your Library

http://www.atyourlibrary.org/passiton

University Products – Preservation and Conservation Products

http://www.universityproducts.com/

Some people just don't get it.

Denver Bibliophile’s Bedbugs Take a Bite Out of ILL

Denver Public Library has destroyed 31 books and fumigated four areas of its central library after a bedbug infestation caused, ironically, by a patron dedicated to preserving classic literature.

The contaminated books, which are rare works that were borrowed from DPL through interlibrary loan, had been checked out by Roger Goffeney, a retired poet and minister, who volunteers for the online collection Project Gutenberg. Goffeney checked out the books to compare DPL’s print editions to the digital versions to ensure that the works had been scanned accurately. “Not a one [of the loaned books] belonged to us,” DPL spokeswoman Celeste Jackson told American Libraries.

However, in early September library staff discovered bugs, their larvae, and droppings inside books returned by Goffeney. DPL banned him from the library and asked him to bag his outstanding books and return them outside the library building rather than through the book drop. However, he placed them in the book drop a week later, causing a reinfestation, ABC affiliate KMGH-TV reported September 24. “He flat-out refuses to cooperate and has recontaminated the facility,” DPL Manager of Security and Safety Tom Scott said in the September 22 Denver Post. “At this point, it’s an intentional act,” he asserted, noting that this was the first bedbug infestation he has encountered at DPL in his 34-year tenure there.

Goffeney declined to comment to American Libraries, other than saying he expected the library would sue him for the cost of the books and fumigation, and that he would hold off on making a statement until after his anticipated court appearance. However, he told local media that the bedbugs come from his downtown apartment in Cathedral Plaza, which is owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. “We’ve always had some kind of insect infestation, but it's never been to this degree,” Goffeney told KMGH.

DPL spokesperson Jackson told AL that the replacement cost for the books is estimated at $12,000 and the cost of fumigation at $6,000. She also said the library would likely seek remuneration from Goffeney through a collection agency, per the terms of its borrowers’ agreement. “I have no intention of paying a dime,” Goffeney told KMGH, adding that he’s considering filing a lawsuit to get his borrowing privileges restored.

—Gordon Flagg, American Libraries Online
Posted on September 30, 2009.

This is not really a cactus.

Here is a great New York Times article on the unique challenge of preserving the Blaschka collection of glass flowers at Harvard University. These were commissioned in the late 1800's to use as teaching aids for botany students. The collection features hand-blown glass replicas that look exactly like the real thing. Some of the 847 species in the collection are very rare or even extinct so it is important for these models to be preserved for future scholars.
I highly recommend a stop here if you are ever in the Boston area!
"The curators cringe at the thought of decades of schoolchildren's feet vibrating like jackhammers on the fragile models, truncating an iris leaf and shaking green chips off a shrubby trefoil."

Do no harm.

Here is an interesting article on preserving antique books from the Antiques Roadshow website.

Three-storey, walk-in bookcase anyone?

Bookstore Selexyz Dominicanen designed by Merkx+Girod architects in Maastricht, Netherlands