   
Newsletter of the IFLA Section on Preservation and Conservation
Issue 8
November 1998
ISSN 1028-3714
This issue was prepared by Jean Whiffin, a member of the Standing Committee of the IFLA Section on Preservation and Conservation, and formerly Preservation Officer at the University of Victoria Library, Canada. It deals with activities in Amsterdam, August 1998, of the IFLA Section on Preservation and Conservation.
Permanent Paper
Professional Resolutions on Permanent Paper
IFLA spearheaded an initiative to promote the use of permanent paper worldwide by preparing a draft resolution to UNESCO. This resolution was adopted at the UNESCO General Conference in 1997. (For further details, see: Newsletter, Issue 7, June 1998). In continuation of this work, the Standing Committee approved in principle a second resolution, to be submitted to the IFLA Pro-fessional Board by Ralph Manning and Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff, as a joint proposal of the PAC Section and the PAC Core Pro-gramme. The Professional Board will consid-er this resolution for presentation to the membership at the 1999 annual conference in Bangkok.
The August 19, 1998 text reads as follows:
IFLA strongly supports the 1997 UNESCO Resolution on Permanent Paper and should take action at the highest level to urge its members to intensify efforts among paper producers to provide local supplies of perm-anent paper meeting the requirements of ISO 9706, and to promote the use of permanent papers in publications and other documents which contain information of lasting value.
Progress is also being made with regard to collection of statistical data on the extent to which permanent paper is being used world-wide. The current UNESCO survey on book production (publishing) includes some ques-tions on paper production: enquiring if such data is available, if there is a government policy dealing with permanent paper, and the percentage of alkaline mills.
It is hoped UNESCO may be able to report results and any problems to IFLA at the 1999 conference.
IFLA Open Session On Permanent Paper
Over 60 people representing 32 countries attended the Open Session of the Section on Tuesday, August 18 at which four presentations on Permanent Paper were given. The Standing Committee was particularly pleased to welcome delegates from several developing countries. Most papers were available in English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Rolf Dahlø (Riksbibliotektjenesten, Oslo), Chair of ISO/TC46/SC10 Information and Documentation/Physical Keeping of Documents, and programme co-ordinator, gave the first presentation, The Rationale of Permanent Paper. He summarized the history of papermaking, the problems of impermanence when industrial papers replaced traditional ones with their good properties for long-term storage, efforts since the 1980s to increase public awareness of the causes of deterioration, and his own motivation for participation in a field which culminated in his signing the form authorizing the publication of ISO 9706.
He examined the nature of permanence. All organic substances degrade sooner or later, and the term permanent ought not to be used in the sense of perennial or infinite. Permanence is the ability to remain chemically and physically stable over long periods of time. The problem is defining technical requirements for paper permanence in this context. The two tasks facing us are how to preserve existing records on crumbling paper, and how to decrease the escalation of the number of contemporary records needing preservation treatment.
Ivar A.L. Hoel (Royal School of Librarianship and Information Science, Copenhagen), in his presentation Standards for Permanent Paper, covered the background and development of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards that define permanent paper (ISO 9706) and archival paper (ISO 11108). He outlined the technical way of formulating a requirement so that it excludes lignin from a permanent paper, drew attention to the parallelarity in development and technical content between ISO 9706 and the American standard, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1997. He reported on the most recent example of the use of ISO 9706 as a basis for national standards--its acceptance as a European Norm, compulsory for all European countries.
Beatrix Kastály (National Széchényi Library, Budapest), in her presentation Permanent Paper and the Brittle Book Problem in Hungary, reported on the extensive micro-filming projects for acid and brittle newspapers, and on research on permanent paper, in her country. The composition of a permanent paper suitable for copying of newspapers was developed by the National Library and the Paper Research Institute. By the early 1990s, all Hungarian mills which produce writing and printing papers converted their technology for alkaline paper-making, and the ratio of acid paper in book publishing in Hungary changed from 98.5% to 15% between 1986 and l996.
Inga-Lisa Svensson (Mo & Domsjö AB, Örnsköldsvik, Sweden) presented A Paper-maker's View of the Standard for Permanent Paper, ISO 9706, prepared by herself and Ylwa Alwarsdotter (Stora Fine Paper AB, Nymölla, Sweden), and focussed on the lignin controversy--whether lignin is harmful or not, the possibility it might even be a benefit to permanence, what we know about it, and the lack of a stated limit for lignin content in ISO 9706. She came out in favour of the existing international standard. "We think that the standard accepted in 1993 should stay as it is until new results have proved that other criteria can describe the requirements for permanence. The International Standard is based on the present state of knowledge and as long as nothing new has been proved we cannot recommend a revision of ISO 9706. We are convinced that if new knowledge comes out which proves lignin to be harmless it will be possible to revise ISO 9706 in due time." She concluded by urging the participants to take part in any process of revising ISO 9706, either by joining ISO/TC46 through the national standardization organization, or through liaison members such as IFLA.
This Open Session reflected a renewed debate in the preservation community about the reasons for excluding lignin as a component of permanent paper. Concern was expressed that some countries are changing standards, and detracting from ISO efforts to achieve one which demands the highest quality paper for information that will become the heritage of future generations. Ralph Manning (National Library of Canada, Ottawa) stated that a committee of the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) is now working on a Canadian standard for mechanical permanence of paper. On the basis of research undertaken by a joint industry/heritage project in Canada, it has been determined that lignin does not cause mechanical deterioration to papers, and the current draft does not, therefore, limit the amount of allowable lignin. However, because it is known that lignin does cause discoloration, efforts will be made to ensure that the standard only covers mechanical permanence. In conclusion, Rolf Dahlø emphasized the need for the preservation community to promote the international standard, while acknowledging that it, too, cannot be viewed as something permanent, and should be revised in the light of new knowledge and better products from the world's paper mills.
UNESCO Memory of the World Programme
Clemens de Wolf (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague), a member of the team which carried out an external evaluation of the Memory of the World Programme between June and November 1997, reported the findings were now available and had been accepted by UNESCO. The Programme is moving towards the realization of its object-ives, but a prerequisite for the endeavour is increased staffing and funding.
Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff (Director of the IFLA Core Programme on Preservation and
Conservation) announced that UNESCO has contracted IFLA to produce 2,000 bilingual English/French CD-ROMs containing some 500 to 1,000 images on the preventive preservation of the documentary heritage, in order to serve initial or permanent training purposes. The CD-ROM will illustrate the causes of degradation of library and archive collections, and the measures to be taken to prevent them. Astrid-Christiane Brandt (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), who initiated the project, is the co-ordinator, and will be pleased to supply further information (e-mail: brandt@culture.fr).
Mass Deacidification
On August 20 the Standing Committee took advantage of an opportunity to tour the Dutch Archimascon company, a licensee of Preservation Technologies L.P. of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., providing book and paper preservation services through its Bookkeeper mass deacidification system. This study visit proved particularly rewarding for IFLA delegates not familiar with the facilities of a company which is experiencing remarkable growth. (A second contract has recently been awarded by the Library of Congress for book preservation services for the next four years. Other established customers include the University of Notre Dame and Northwestern University, while the Northeast Documentation Conservation Center has licensed its own Bookkeeper system for on-site use.)
The Bookkeeper installation in Heerhugo-waard, Netherlands, has been fully operational since late December 1997, after two weeks of equipment setup, training and testing. At present, it employs three fulltime personnel, operating one shift per day. The principal customer is the Netherlands State Archives, and Archimascon has treated about ten tons of its material in the first six months of 1998. The firm also deacidifies books from the National Library of the Netherlands, and contracts with libraries and archives in Belgium are pending.
The Archimascon system includes one vertical book-treating cylinder and one horizontal treating cylinder. The vertical one is designed to treat 8 "normal sized" books per batch. The horizontal one is used for archival materials (10-12 kilograms per batch) or oversized books. Archimascon also has a system that allows it to hand-treat, by spraying, either very brittle materials or oversize flat stock materials. The total cycle takes about 2 hours per batch (20-30 minutes to treat the documents and about 90 minutes to dry the materials and recover the carrier fluid). The facility is designed to operate 24 hours per day, to treat 32,000 books and 48,000 kg. of archives per year. It is expandable by adding more treatment cylinders.
The major advantages of this relatively simple process are as follows:
- no pre-conditioning is necessary
- materials used are non-toxic, non-carcin-ogenic, non-flammable and odourless
- it does not use ozone-depleting CFCs
- it is non-aqueous
- it has a cleansing effect
- it does not physically damage bindings; book pockets; plates; shelf labels; security strips; bar codes; leather covers; plastic book jackets; foil-stamping; gilded edges.
According to the Library of Congress, the Bookkeeper process meets that Library's basic preservation requirements by:
- raising the pH level of treated paper to the acceptable range of 6.8 to 10.4 pH
- achieving a minimum alkaline reserve of 1.5% or more
- extending the useful life of paper (measured by fold endurance after accelerated aging) by over 300%
The Standing Committee much appreciated the arrangements made by James E. Burd, President of Preservation Technologies, L.P., and the opportunity to talk informally with Niek van Langen, Managing Director for Operations, and Tonnie Jongbloed, equipment operator, at the Heerhugowaard plant.
Additional information may be obtained from:
Forthcoming IFLA Meetings
A Satellite Meeting on Collecting and Safe-guarding Oral Traditions will be held in Khon Kaen, Northeastern Thailand, from August 16 to 19, 1999, i.e., immediately pre-ceding the 65th IFLA Council and General Conference (August 20 to 28, 1999) in Bangkok.
The theme of the 65th Conference is Libraries as Gateways to an Enlightened World. Under the sub-theme of Conservation of documentary heritage and provision of wider access, the Standing Committee on Preservation and Conservation is planning an Open Session on Collection Preservation as a Management Strategy and a Workshop on Binding, Boxing and Storage. Sophia Jordan (University of Notre Dame) and Olga Perminova (Russian State Library) are co-ordinating the arrangements for these programmes.
Preliminary planning is under way for an international symposium on Preservation of Serial Publications 2000, as a follow-up, with new developments and changes, on a previous IFLA conference in 1989. (For proceedings, see: Managing the Preservation of Serial Literature: An International Symposium. München: K.G. Saur, 1992. (IFLA Publications, 57) ISBN 3-598-21783-8.) It is hoped to hold this meeting at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, probably as a Satellite Meeting either before or after the 66th IFLA Conference in Jerusalem in 2000.
The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands), the IFLA Preservation and Conservation Core Programme (IFLA-PAC), and the European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA), are jointly organizing a conference on Preservation Management : Between Policy and Practice. It will be held in The Hague, 19-21 April l999, and will focus on organizational, financial and managerial aspects of preservation. The central theme will be the interaction between theory and practice. Case studies will be presented that are illustrative of efforts at institutions in various European countries, and should shed light on such questions as how one plans and costs a large preservation project, and how a preservation programme can be realized step by step. Technical aspects of preservation will only be dealt with insofar as they bear on the general theme. The conference fee will be ECU 150.00, including lunches and a copy of the proceedings. Participants are expected to make their own hotel arrangements.
Further details and registration forms are posted on the Internet at:
P.O. Box 19121,
1000 GC Amsterdam,
The Netherlands;
E-mail: ecpa@bureau.knaw.nl
Recent Publications
Copies of the following items were available at the Amsterdam Conference:
Library Preservation and Conservation in the '90s: Proceedings of the Satellite Meeting of the IFLA Section on Preservation and Conservation, Budapest, August 15-17, 1995. Edited by Jean I. Whiffin and John Havermans. München: K.G. Saur, 1998. (IFLA Publications, 84) ISBN 3-598-21809-5. Price: DEM 98.00; IFLA members: DEM 73.50.
IFLA Principles for the Care and Handling of Library Material. Compiled and edited by Edward P. Adcock, with the assistance of Marie-Thérèse Varlamoff and Virginie Kremp. [Paris]: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, Core Programme on Preservation and Conservation, 1998. (International Preservation Issues, no.1) ISBN 2-912743-00-1. Price: FF25.00; IFLA members: Free.
Preservation and Availability : Theses of Reports and Communications of the Research and Practical Conference, August 10 to 12, 1998. Moscow: Russian State Library, 1998. ISBN 5-7510- 0157-5.
European Commission on Preservation and Access. Catalogue of Publications. Amsterdam: E.C.P.A., 1998.
European Directory of Acid-Free and Perm-anent Book Paper =. Répertoire européen des papiers d'édition sans acide et permanents. 3d ed. Brussels: Librime, 1998.
Protection et mise en valeur du patrimoine des bibliothèques: Recommandations Tech-niques. Paris: Direction du Livre et de la Lecture, 1998.
International Advisory Committee for the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
Sub-Committee on Technology. Safeguarding the Documentary Heritage: A Guide to Standards, Recommended Practices and Reference Literature Related to the Preservation of Documents of All Kinds. [Paris]: UNESCO, [1997?].
"Memory of the World" Programme: External Evaluation. Prepared for UNESCO by Guy Petherbridge, Christopher Kitching, Clemens de Wolf. (CII-98/WS/5) [Paris]: UNESCO, 1998.
Comments, Queries, Suggestions?
Section on Conservation
Chair:
Ralph W. Manning
National Library of Canada
Ottawa K1A 0N4, CANADA
Tel: 613-943-8570
Fax: 613-947-2916
email: RALPH.MANNING@NLC-BNC.CA
Secretary:
Ms Maria Skepastianu
65 Egnatia Str.
54631 Thessaloniki
Greece
|
