State University of New York at Buffalo
2001/2002 Preservation Program
Narrative Report
Introduction
This report covers preservation activities performed in the University Libraries for the period July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002. We continued to place priority on collection conservation and reformatting, disaster preparedness, and Preservation staff training. State aid was used to fund, either in full or in part, the salaries of Conservation and Reformatting Technicians, the Conservation Manager, and student assistants. Institutional support covered all other expenses associated with the program.
Conservation and Reformatting of General Collections
Identification of damaged books continued to be done in unit libraries through the circulation process while brittle book review and reformatting decisions continued to be done by subject bibliographers. A combination of well-developed internal procedures and highly capable and motivated staff enabled us to stay current with conservation and reformatting activities.
The use of protective enclosures was increased. For large volumes, too brittle to repair and not considered good candidates for reformatting, enclosures have become a viable option. A variety of brittle materials from the Science and Engineering Library and the Closed Stacks area of Lockwood Library received this treatment.
The extensive project with NASA publications continued for a second year. Prior to cataloging, bound volumes containing numerous NASA monographic titles within a single binding, are being disbound with individual titles pamphlet bound.
The work of our outstanding technicians who provide treatment to the Libraries' circulating collections through book repair, rehousing, and rebinding and through the reformatting of brittle books through preservation photocopying is truly the hallmark of our conservation activities.
Conservation and Reformatting of Specialized Collections
Work continued with the microfilming of the Buffalo Medical Journal. From the mid-1800s until the early 1900s the journal was the record of the activities of the medical community in Buffalo. This will be a multi-year project. Preservation Resources will continue to be our contractor. Also filmed were the most recent volumes of the Buffalo Law Journal and retrospective and current volumes of University publications The Reporter and The Spectrum.
Work also continued with efforts to reformat or rehouse the Music Library's extensive collection of manuscript material continued. Preservation staff constructed wrappers, portfolios, and envelopes for many of the non-traditional size scores. Also, additional scores were photocopied and pamphlets were bound in-house.
We concluded the work of reformatting and rehousing of the University Archives' holdings of the records of the Ecumenical Task Force of the Niagara Frontier relating to the Love Canal and other hazardous waste issues for Western New York in the period 1979-90. Student assistants paid by the University Libraries prepared the extensive number of newspaper articles included in the collection for photocopying and used the Xerox DocuTech to reformat the clippings.
Disaster Preparedness
In 2001/2002 the University Libraries Disaster Prevention, Response, and Recovery Team continued regular meetings. These meetings continued to be a useful forum for sharing information and experiences among the numerous libraries and special collections which make up the University Libraries. We continued to have good control over disaster preparedness supplies. All unit libraries now have sufficient plastic sheeting to allow them to respond immediately to potential water damage to collections.
An important meeting was held with the Associate Vice President for University Facilities and members of his staff. The Associate Vice President and his staff discussed what the University is doing to control temperature and humidity within the Libraries. As a result of this meeting we undertook a pilot project to monitor environmental conditions in the special conditions of the Music Library. Following the recommendation of University Facilities, we acquired a temperature and humidity data logger to use in this pilot study.
Preservation Staffing and Staff Training
Judith Jungels, one of the Conservation Technicians, was granted a leave of absence at no pay in order to begin a three-year program at the State University of New York College at Buffalo which will culminate in the receipt of the degree of Master in Art Conservation.
The Conservation Manager attended NELINET workshops on beginning and secondary book repair held at the Northeast Document Conservation Center.
The Conservation Manager also attended a workshop on the care and preservation of scrapbooks and albums offered by the Western New York Library Resources Council and taught by staff of the Northeast Document Conservation Center.
A Conservation Technician trained a staff member from the University's Anthropology Research Museum to make enclosures for brittle books.
Two student assistants who had expressed interest in pursuing professional conservation careers were given a range of experiences in the Center for Book Preservation; subsequently one of the students was hired by the Smithsonian Institution.
The Preservation Council
The Preservation Council's role was continued. All areas of the University Libraries are represented on this group which is charged with 1) monitoring goals and objectives of the preservation program; 2) advising how best to realize the goals and objectives of the preservation program's current five-year plan; 3) assisting in the compilation of an annual preservation calendar; 4) assisting in the preparation of an operational plan, budget, and report; 5) participating in the identification of projects for which grant funding would be appropriate and in the identification of possible sources of external funding; and 6) assisting in the preparation of successive five-year plans.
Preservation Awareness and Outreach Activities
A major update and expansion of the Preservation web site was accomplished. Accessible at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/preservation/, the site includes sections devoted to the organizational and administrative aspects of our program, local disaster prevention and response information, locally-produced images illustrating conservation procedures, a link to a glossary of preservation terminology, links to web sites for preservation programs at other institutions, and the locally-maintained guide "Resources for Digitization."
The involvement of Preservation staff in the staging of exhibits helps create attractive exhibits while also ensuring that materials are displayed properly. Staff assisted with mounting, matting, and framing; they also participated in the design of the numerous exhibits which were staged as part of the University Libraries' recognition of centennial of the Pan American Exposition. Other exhibits for which Preservation staff provided assistance and support were the Music Library's Beethoven exhibit and the several exhibits mounted in the University Libraries as part of a cooperative effort with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery to celebrate American culture of the 1950s.
Institutional Support
The University Libraries continued to make a significant contribution to the staffing for preservation activities. In addition to the time of the Preservation Officer, part of the salary of Conservation Manager, and most of the wages paid to student workers were institutional contributions. We are also using part of the time of the Head of the Cataloging Department in Central Technical Services to help oversee the conservation activities and to work with unit library staff in the area of disaster preparedness and recovery. The Director of Central Technical Services continues to be the administrator overseeing the preservation program.
Institutional support was used to purchase all supplies needed for conservation treatment, preservation photocopy activities, and disaster preparedness, to support preservation microfilming, and to finance all preservation staff travel and continuing education activities.
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