1091 Project: The Plain Brown Wrapper Edition

One of the most rewarding aspects of working in an academic library is the potential for being exposed to all sorts of new and interesting materials which we might not have sought out deliberately on our own.  However, this can also be one of the drawbacks.  For this month’s 1091 Project, Preservation Assistant Mindy McCoy discusses one aspect of her job that she had never anticipated when she started working in the Preservation Department.

Hunched close to my computer, I click, click, click, making sure images are straight, and that the images will print out just right.  I peek out over the top of my computer, which faces a window looking out into our lab – oh shoot, somebody’s coming!  Quick, click to a different screen!  Phew, that was close!  Sometimes I don’t see a co-worker coming into the office, and I am caught red-handed.  I usually confess before the person has a chance to ask what in the world I am looking at.

Boobs.

Yes, it’s true.  Unfortunately we see plenty of damaged books that have missing pages or images cut out of them.  Many of these missing images are of naked body parts, or scantily clad people in provocative poses – you get the idea, no need for more detail. There is always a big groan in the office when these books with missing images arrive, and also teasing comments between me and my officemate: “I have another good one for you!” One of my duties as Preservation Assistant is to track down replacements for these missing images. I request another copy of the damaged book (we have the option to request scanned pages – but there’s no need for everyone to know what I am working on!) through our interlibrary loan system, so I can scan the images and print out new pages to be tipped back into our copy of the book.

Image from: /Visual thinking: methods for making images memorable/ by Henry Wolf (New York: American Showcase, 1988). Note: “Censored” banner added by preservation staff for posting on this blog.

At first, I was kind of embarrassed to be working on these materials, but as time went on, I just realized these books (and the people that take from them) aren’t going away.  These materials are a part of our collection, and need to be preserved just like everything else.  It’s not as embarrassing as it was at first, although I have learned that it’s always nice to have other items (such as the budget, supply orders, or a news website) just a click away in case I do happen to get interrupted.

Don’t forget to visit Preservation Underground to find out what “plain brown paper wrapper” materials Beth Doyle is working on in the Conservation Lab of Duke University Libraries.

 

1091 Project: Portrait of the Student Technician

This month’s 1091 Project highlights the role of student workers in the Conservation Lab.  Quite honestly, many university conservation departments wouldn’t be nearly as productive without these unsung workhorses of conservation. Often the most tedious tasks fall to the students: they make enclosures, tip-in loose pages, surface clean, and vacuum moldy items.  Yet they perform these tasks efficiently and cheerfully, and miraculously, they keep showing up for work.

When I interned at the Conservation Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, many of the students working in the lab were also studying in the GSLIS program.  We don’t have a library school here at ISU, so our students come from other departments. Of our current four student employees, one is a graduate student pursuing her MA in History (although she started working for us as an undergraduate Anthropology major), one is an Anthropology major, one is a Design major, and one is a Elementary Education major.

Hannah makes spine title labels for tux boxes.

Our students tackle a variety of projects according to their handskills and experience.  Hannah just started with us this semester, and she has learned to surface clean, insert tip-ins, sew on pamphlet binders, and construct tux boxes and other four-flap wrappers.  We have a shelf full of items needing other types of boxes which will be next on her plate.

Devin has been with us for about a year, but already had excellent handskills from her experience in the College of Design.  She performs many mid-level treatments such as custom portfolio construction, double-fan adhesive bindings, and shield bindings.  Devin divides her work schedule between Conservation and the Preservation Services unit of the Preservation Department.

Ashley clamps down adhesive bindings in a book press.

Ashley and Hope have both worked in the lab for two and a half years.  Their handskills have developed beautifully during this time, and both are now capable of executing more advanced book repairs such as rebacks, new cases, re-cases, and “full repairs,” which they tackle when the more general student treatment workflow slows down at various points throughout the year.

Hope repairs a volume of color samples. And yes, she knows that our volunteer Martha is giving her mutant bunny ears. She’s good-natured like that.

When we hire new students, we look for hobbies or work experience that show evidence of good eye-hand coordination, but we don’t expect them to have any prior bookbinding or conservation experience. The typical student workflow includes materials preparation (such as cutting spine inserts and hinging endpapers), surface cleaning, box-making, tip-ins, page mending, pamphlet binding, double-fan adhesive binding, shield binding, vacuuming mold, and small-scale deacidification using a compressor and Book Keeper’s spray unit.  The students have also been called upon to assist during disaster recovery.  In fact, when Hope and Ashley first started working in the lab, they spent a month washing Mylar architectural plans which had been damaged during the 2010 Ames flood.

We know our students’ first and foremost goal is to receive a good education here at ISU.  We appreciate being just one of their many priorities, and have been impressed by their reliability, their cheerful hard work, and their diligence in developing their handskills.  We couldn’t run the lab without them!

Don’t forget to stop by Preservation Underground to hear about the student technician experience in the Conservation Lab of Duke University Libraries.

 

1091 Project: The Good, The Bad, The Past Repairs

This week’s 1091 Project considers previous repairs and when to remove them or let them be.  The examples I was able to find here in the ISU Library Conservation Lab were not all repairs per se; some were preservation rehousing decisions.

At some point in the long-distant past, this collection of manuscripts was hinged onto stubs, and bound into a single volume.  In some cases, as shown above in the image on the right, the manuscript sheet was hinged onto a stub and then additional paper was hinged onto the tail edge of smaller sheets to make them all the same dimensions before binding.

Many of the manuscripts’ primary supports are becoming embrittled, so I was reluctant to remove the stubs from the paper supports either mechanically or by introducing moisture.  Instead, the volume was disbound and the stubs were trimmed by hand along the edge of the primary supports.  Some of the manuscripts will be encapsulated, and all will be rehoused in folders in archival document boxes.

Click on image to enlarge.

The above images show a student newspaper from 1902 which had been lined with linen or muslin and bound as a book.  The information is completely legible, but not aesthetically pleasing, and not ideal for potential digitization.  However, the image below shows the deciding factor in the debate whether to disbind this volume and reverse the lining.

As you can see, there are many small tears and losses in the text which were somewhat clumsily positioned in place during the lining process.  While this treatment may be, quite frankly, ugly, the information has been retained intact.  The process of removing the lining could easily result in the loss of many of these tiny fragments, thus defeating the purpose of our preservation efforts.  In spite of this treatment’s shortcomings, the University Archivist and I decided to leave the treated item as-is.

And then there’s the book tape.  I hesitated to include these volumes with book tape on their fraying spines as “previous repairs,” since no self-respecting book conservator would ever use — or condone the use of — pressure-sensitive book tape on collection materials.  However, such items are a common problem in many libraries.  When faced with General Collection volumes that have been taped along the spine, if the tape does not extend too far onto the boards, we simply cut away and discard the original spine with its book tape covering and then perform a reback on the offended volume.  If the tape coverage is too extensive, then we send the item to the commercial bindery for a new binding.

When faced with the sad circumstance of a Special Collections volume so mistreated, we either box the item to isolate the book tape (and its attendant “adhesive creep”) from adjacent items on the shelf, or we commit ourselves to removing the tape and the adhesive residue it invariably leaves behind, a time-consuming process usually involving both mechanical and chemical means.

Finally, there are many preservation housings, such as the old-school pamphlet binders pictured above, which were once widely used, but which we now know have their own inherent vice: they tend to be made from acidic paperboard and non-colorfast cloth.  We routinely discard these and replace them with more conservationally sound materials.  (Three cheers for conservation science!)

Don’t forget to visit Preservation Underground to see how the Duke University Libraries Conservation Lab handles past repairs!

 

1091 Project: From Art to Eyeballs

As any book and paper conservator working in archives knows, a more diverse range of items crowds the shelves than the expected books, documents, and photographs.  While the focus of our training may have been the treatment of books and paper, we often find ourselves responsible for the physical care of other artifacts as well.  Globes, trophies, and medals are, perhaps, not so unusual.  However, the ISU Library Special Collections and Archives also contains the wax drum of the first ABC computer, chemistry equipment, a death mask, a street sign, and a handmade marionette puppet, to name just a few of the more unusual artifacts.  The Conservation Unit of the Preservation Department cares for all of these items and more.  In some cases, a simple condition assessment and rehousing may suffice.  Sometimes, the artifact may be cleaned or treated in-house.  In other cases, we may work with contract conservators to make sure fragile or damaged items receive appropriate conservation treatment.

     

Most recently, we have been assessing artifacts from the Christian Petersen collection.  Among the Christan Petersen “Papers” can be found several plaster models of Petersen’s larger, bronze sculptures from the 1930s and 1940s, as well as a collection of his hand tools.  Right now, these items are stored in the Special Collections vault and restricted from public access.  We are currently working to photodocument the condition of the items, rehouse them in display-worthy enclosures that will allow the public to access them safely, and arrange for any conservation treatment they may need.

Plaster model for Library Girl, 1944

Buffalo

Medal

Tools belonging to Christian Petersen.

Tools belonging to Christian Petersen.

Along with these artifacts, the Christian Petersen collection includes several linear feet of sketches, photographs, letters, and other documents.  We’re excited about working with the Special Collections staff toward the goal of giving researchers the valuable gift of access to all of these materials together, in context.  To see more images of the Christian Petersen collection, visit our Christian Petersen Digital Collection.

Don’t forget to visit Preservation Underground to see what interesting artifacts Beth Doyle has faced in the Conservation Lab of Duke University Libraries!

 

1091 Project: Let’s Celebrate!

This month, the 1091 Project takes a quick peek at one aspect of departmental culture in the conservation labs of Iowa State University Library and Duke University Libraries.  To celebrate the end of each Fall semester, ISU Preservation Department holds a “staff development day.”  The staff vote on a type of project or handskill to work on during the day-long workshop, we gather our resources, and then have at it.  This year, we decided to take our theme from the discussion/debate arising from a recent blog post, and settled on upcycling discarded paper-based materials such as books, dust-jackets, magazines, and maps.  Preservation Assistant Mindy McCoy created this Pinterest board full of project ideas to inspire and instruct us.

A bookcart overflowing with craft supplies and materials to be “upcycled.”

Lori, from Digital Initiatives, meticulously cut strips from pages of children’s books which she will later fold, chain together, and weave into a basket.

One popular project several of us tried was building a gift topper bow out of strips of paper secured with double-sided tape. Pictured here are bows made from dust-jackets from architecture coffee table books, a map, and pages from a Russian dictionary.

Conservation Technician Mindy Moe turned a gift topper bow into an ornament with a button, ribbon, hot glue, and a little ingenuity.

Our conservation volunteer Martha went big! She rolled maps into a sunburst around a decorative mirror.

Jim, from Preservation Services, turned a book about fish into a 3D sculpture.

Jim also created this tribute to his friend’s dog Floyd, who has since moved on to that great dog kennel in the sky, but not before chewing up this case binding.

Now let’s see how they’re observing the end of the semester and the approach of the winter holidays over at Preservation Underground!