Newsletter of the Section on Preservation and Conservation Newsletter

January 1997
Issue 5
ISSN 1024-2414

Editor’s comment

Susan Garretson Swartzburg - 1938 - 1996

Preserving our Documentary Heritage - The Case for Permanent paper

A copy of this new publication is enclosed with this mailing. Additional copies are available upon request. You are encouraged to make copies of this document for further dissemination. The IFLA Section on Preservation and Conservation hopes to be able to make arrangements for translations into various languages.

Call for Nominations of Standing Committee Members for IFLA Sections

The deadline of March 1, 1997 will be strictly applied by IFLA Headquarters.

Preservation of Documents is our Responsibility to the Future

The Russian State Library (RSL) is Russia’s greatest document depository and one of the largest depositories of the world. In compliance with its social and cultural purpose it keeps and places at readers’ disposal collections of Russian and foreign publications, including handwritten and other documents on different information carriers.

One of the main duties of the library is to ensure the preservation of the collections guaranteeing the successful functioning of all other activities.

The RSL has the challenge of preserving the national written heritage as part of the world’s intellectual resources. The present conditions of the library are not in line with the vastness of this mission and as result priceless materials are deteriorating little by little.

To improve this situation the library has drawn up a strategic holistic Programme to modernize its preservation and conservation activities. Assuring the preservation of the holdings is a single continuous process starting at the moment of receipt in the library and going on steadily during the entire period of maintenance and use. This holistic approach embraces several simultaneous activities which together result in the attainment of our objective of preserving our history and culture.

The implementation of the Programme, given the current conditions of the library, is an exceeding-ly intricate and complex issue. A number of problems must be solved.

I. Ensuring that the storage conditions at the RSL are in line with international guidelines:
• Shelving documents in compliance with norms, using appropriate equipment for documents of various material design;
  
• Maintaining the optimum temperature and humidity for each type of carrier;
  
• Maintaining sanitary and hygienic norms for document storage;
  
• Adhering to fire prevention guidelines;
  
• Implementing theft protection measures.

II. Improving the efficacy of preventive measures against deterioration and loss of documents:

• Increasing the number of books and newspapers that are bound, right up to the complete inclusion of those available in the stacks and to 95% of annual accessions of unbound publications;
  
• Introducing the new technology of keeping the most precious documents in nonacid cardboard boxes made according to the individual size of documents;
  
• Increasing the microfilming of documents and their conversion to machine-readable form in order to create an insurance stock of the cultural heritage of the country and to avoid using valuable and rare original publications;
  
• Introducing the technology of reformatting manuscripts, maps and graphic publications to permit their use in electronic form;
  
• Introducing a system of automatic control to prevent publications from being taken from the library in an unauthorized manner.

III. Perfecting a system of restoring damaged and deteriorated documents:

• Creating a system of timely preventive document repair;
  
• Introducing mass deacidification of paper;
  
• Introducing an operational system for the selection of materials for binding and restoration, based on scientific principles;
  
• Elaborating and introducing advanced methods of stabilization and restoration of documents, with long-lasting restoration materials.

IV. Creating a system of reformatting documents that cannot be restored:

• Assuring high quality for microfilm and other information carriers under the conditions of special laboratories;
  
• Ensuring the conditions for their active storage.

Without doubt, the transfer of information to modern carriers with large capacity (mainly digital optical discs) will secure its preservation and speedy access.

New technologies are making a considerable contribution to the solution of the problem of quick service to readers. Nevertheless one ought not to forget that while dealing with new materials or technologies one is usually inclined to perceive only positive features at first. Negative after-effects are usually discovered only in the course of time. For the time being it is not fully known what new problems the future will pose for librarians.

The RSL has already run into trouble with the storage of microfilms and the observance of special storage conditions as well as with the storage of documents on other carriers such as optical discs.

Moreover, one ought not to underestimate the significance of preserving the original document as a monument of the given historical age.

During the last decade, the scale of the preservation problem has gained ever growing recognition throughout the world and in Russia. The principles of the IFLA PAC Core Programme are close to and in accordance with the preservation policy of the RSL.

The realization of a world-wide programme is possible only if close cooperation exists both on the national and international levels with it being clearly realized that each country is to accept responsibility for the preservation of its own printed output as well as for the preservation of further materials pertaining to the given civilization and culture. These principles allow the correct policy of preserving library materials.

The physical preservation of documents in the RSL is based on modern scientific concepts of document preservation taking into account the following factors:

• Initial durability of documents;
  
• Rate of the aging of documents as a factor of their storage and use;
  
• Stabilization and restoration of documents as a means of preventing damage and of enhancing durability.

In the RSL preservation measures are of both prospective and retrospective character. Pro-spective preservation covers measures aimed at averting damage or reducing the rate of natural aging of documents. It provides for the development of the following directions:

• Long-term planning (technical requirements, modernization of equipment and construc-tion of depositories, evaluation of the state of the holdings, creation of the insurance stock and so on);
  
• Planning for disasters and extreme situations;
  
• Developing research on the use of nondestructive methods of control over the state, care and handling of documents;
  
• Working out new technologies for the stabilization and restoration of documents and using long-lasting restoration materials;
  
• Drawing up training and education pro-grams for library staff.

Retrospective preservation involves the restoration of damaged documents. It includes restoration of bindings, application of mass treatment (disinfection, disinfestation, neutral-ization, deacidification, strengthening), and reformatting of information to different media.

The history of restoration activities in the RSL looks back upon more than 50 years. In 1936, at the Collections Department of the RSL (former Lenin State Library of the USSR) the Group of Book Hygiene was organized to take preventive measures with regard to the preservation of stocks (examination of book collections, dusting, disinfection).

In 1938 the Group was elevated into a Section and undertook restoration as part of its respon-sibilities. The staff was trained in the main archives administration which ran restoration training courses. In 1941 the personnel of the section numbered 35, of which 13 were conservators. In February of 1944, the section was raised to the independent Department of Hygiene and Restoration and in March of the same year a research laboratory was established at the department. Within the department there were sectors of hygiene, restoration and book binding. In 1960, the Group of Restoration of Faded Texts was added to the department structure. Since that time its structure has remained fairly stable.

The Research Centre of Conservation and Restoration of Documents was set up three years ago in the department. The creation of the Centre in the RSL responded to the need for an organization to coordinate national strategy for preservation of material in the RSL and in all of Russia’s libraries.

In its daily practice the Center is doing the following:

• Elaboration of methods of conservation, restoration and storage of most types of library materials by using modern scientific achievements (chemistry, physics, biology);
  
• Implementation of new methodologies into the restoration process;
  
• Practical restoration: yearly the Centre restores 200,000 standard leaves including material from the Manuscripts and Rare Books departments, and binds 1,500 precious, rare and handwritten books;
  
• Provides advice and assistance to libraries, museums and restoration agencies concern-ing questions on the preservation of monuments of history and culture;
  
• Fellowship stages and upgrading courses for Russian and foreign specialists in the field of restoration;
  
• Preparation and publication of method-ological and instructional materials;
  
• Promotion of achievements in the field of conservation and restoration by means of participation in exhibitions;
  
• Organization and conducting of seminars, meetings, conferences.

No single institution can handle alone the com-plex character of these activities, and solutions therefore depend on cooperation from other specialized institutions and laboratories. Of course, expertise from branch institutions of paper, leather, chemical industries and other departments are also enlisted in this research work.

Preservation of documents depends not only on the extent of deterioration due to readers’ use but in large measure on the environmental conditions which can either slow down the processes of the natural aging of documents or hasten them.

The ecological system of a depository includes light, temperature, humidity, mechanical and gaseous admixtures in the air and contamination by biological pests Any change to the para-meters of a single factor entails alterations of the entire system.

The Centre engages in applied research. In particular the State standard Conservation of documents : general requirements drawn up in 1990 on the basis of an analysis of experiences gained both in Russia and abroad, outlines requirements for storage buildings, their tech-nical equipment, a regime of collection main-tenance, stabilization and restoration, rules for the stock location and organizational order of control over the physical condition of the stocks.

The Centre’s research is done mainly in the fields of chemistry and biology. Chemical research involves methods, materials and technologies for the conservation of documents and biological research covers prevention and control of insects and fungi.

The RSL has significant holdings bound in ancient leather bindings which have not been well preserved. Consequently, the Centre has been carrying on research into the conservation of leather bindings and has developed a new technology permitting the conservation of the leather binding without dismantling the inner book. Effective methods for removing dirt from the surface of leather bindings have also been recommended.

The aspect of our chemical research concerns restoration of paper-based documents. Ques-tions under study include dirt removal, strength-ening texts written in pencil and water unstable dyes, strengthening dilapidated and brittle paper and neutralizing and separating the leaves in cemented inner blocks.

In the work of the Centre a significant place is occupied by preventive conservation. The dura-bility of documents is enhanced by preventive conservation including mycological and entomological control over the state of documents and the creation and maintenance of optimum macro- and microclimates in depos-itories.

As a part of the UNESCO Memory of the World programme, the RSL has initiated a Memory of Russia programme. Reformatting rare and unique handwritten and printed documents has raised concerns among curators and conser-vators about how scanning will affect documents now and in the future. Research in this area has only just begun and much knowledge needs to be gained.

Recently, the attention of the Centre has turned to the newspapers in the RSL collection. The work has started with Russians abroad, which is a precious newspaper collection kept for many years in special storage. Our research is aimed at the establishment of priorities for reformatting to different media, including microform. Micro-filming of newspapers has been going on in the RSL for about 30 years now. This task is rather complicated but very important as the use of originals with their extremely poor quality of paper always causes premature deterioration. The establishment of priorities is essential and critical because it is impossible to consider reformatting all of our newspapers. As part of this process, storage requirements are being determined and collection gaps identified in both the originals and microform copies.

Today the RSL and the Centre are increasing their focus on the preservation problems of other Russian libraries. Particular attention is being paid to the following issues:

• Assessing the preservation needs of the collections of all libraries in the country as a whole; developing and implementing a long-term programme of conservation and restoration of the country’s scientific, cultural and historical treasures;
  
• Reformatting of holdings to microformats in order to create a preservation collection and a service collection;
  
• Accession of modern publications in lasting versions to libraries;
  
• Introduction of the optimum storage conditions for documents on diverse media; this involves further research into micro-climates, air flows resulting from air-conditioners and ventilation, chemical air pollution, mineral and organic dust and the impact of biological pests;
  
• Development of procedures for mass conservation and restoration;
  
• Development of approaches dealing with the restoration of documents with varied physical conditions and value; determination of the economic efficacy of restoration of library stocks;
  
• Providing continuous education and training on the basis of current research and knowledge;
  
• Creation of a data base on the activities of libraries, archives and museums in the field of conservation and restoration of documents.

It is clear that in order to solve all these questions on a national scale state financing must be assured. In addition it will be essential to elaborate a national policy on preservation in libraries. Only combined efforts by specialists from all libraries of Russia and abroad can assure a high level of research and the imp-lementation of the results of this research.

Russian Translation Available

Section on Conservation Changes Name

The change of name was recommended because of the ambiguity inherent in the words conservation and preservation. It is generally accepted that in the English lang-uage, the word conservation refers to inter-vention techniques applied as treatment to the physical form of an item to extend its life. Conservation is an aspect of preservation which deals with all matters including pre-ventive measures, storage and accom-modation provisions, policies, reformatting, treatments, etc. which are involved in extending the physical life of an item or the information contained in it. Conservation is therefore the narrower of the two terms. The scope of the IFLA Section deals with all aspects of preservation, including conservation and is not limited to matters dealing with conservation alone.

These arguments would favour the use of Section on Preservation. However, there remains confusion between the terms con-servation and preservation in some English-speaking countries. More importantly, other languages, notably French, reverse the terminology such that preservation translates to la conservation and conservation translates to la préservation. For these reasons, the Section recommended that both terms be used in its name.

In addition, the close relationship that exists between the Section and the IFLA PAC Core Programme justifies the use of similar terminology in their names.

A formal proposal to change the name of the IFLA Section on Conservation was submitted in November 1996 to the IFLA Professional Board and at its meeting on December 9-10, the name change was approved to Section on Preservation and Conservation.

Comments, Queries, Suggestions?

Section on Preservation and Conservation

Chair:
Beatrix Kastaly

Secretary:
Ralph W. Manning