Review of the Preservation Program
Input from University Libraries' Staff

An important part of the review is to seek input from University Libraries staff. The comments and suggestions that have been received are presented below (the review group is aware that for some topics there are conflicting suggestions). These are just suggestions; after any additional comments and suggestions are received the review group will begin to formulate recommendations.

The review group encourages you to review these suggestions; we welcome your comments and any additional suggestions that you would like to make. Send comments and suggestions to the Preservation Review Group.

We are also interested in knowing which of the suggestions you think should become high priorities. If you prefer, you may speak directly with any member of the review group.

John Bewley
Gary Byrd
Charles D'Aniello
Kathleen DeLaney
Jean Dickson
John Edens
Cynthia Kloss
Karen Spencer

Please let us have comments and suggestions by Tuesday, December 3rd.

Additions are being added in blue italics.

|What we have been told about the Preservation Program

• Expertise of Preservation staff is valued highly.
• The services provided through the Center for Book Preservation are valued highly.
• There is the capability to put material back into circulation quickly.
• Conservation Technicians are capable, well trained, and true innovators in their craft.
• The program is considered well-equipped to handle the repair, reformatting, and storage preparation needs of the Libraries.
• The expertise of Preservation staff in other areas is also appreciated, e.g., repairing a globe in Archives and devising and making shelf dividers/guides for the bound thesis collection in Archives.
• The program has suffered because of staff turnover resulting in loss of momentum.
• The program has never been accepted/recognized as a viable resource with the University Libraries. Preservation staff may feel that the program is seen by others as esoteric and not really part of the library community as a whole.
  
• Preservation should have a larger role in supporting public programming and development efforts of the University Libraries via technical/artistic support for exhibits, public programs, celebrations of gifts.
• The preservation programs in all of the eleven comprehensive research libraries, including UB, consist of the following areas. Suggestions have been made about each of the areas.

Suggestions

Material repair/conservation

• Promote the idea of quick turnaround for reference items, heavily used material, and special projects for units.
• Respond to the need to deal with the significant amounts of non-circulating material which have missing spines, for example, many volumes of some older periodical runs in SEL.
• Increase the capability to perform more advanced conservation procedures including the expertise and equipment needed for treating rare materials.
• Make the replacement page process less tedious and time-consuming and more effective.
• Establish two branches for the program. One branch would be concerned with general collections, rebinding, and reformatting. The other branch with conservation of rare materials.
  
• A second branch could be devoted to the conservation and exhibition of collections.
• Purchase more pre-formed preservation enclosures in lieu of making them locally.
• Investigate possibilities for outsourcing some routine conservation procedures.
• Explore possibilities for contracting for advanced conservation procedures.
• Seek outside advice on the status of equipment available in the Center for Book Preservation. What is out-of-date? What additional equipment could be used?

Reformatting

• Increase the amount of preservation photocopying.
• Re-establish reformatting policies (preservation photocopying and microfilming).
• Initiate collection-based or project-based preservation photocopying.
• Also create a digital copy when a preservation photocopy is made.
• Upgrade the capability of the DocuTech for use for preservation photocopying.
• Consider outsourcing preservation photocopying.
  
• Consider digitizing programs for the purpose of access and preservation, for materials with potential for use by the public [would require additional funding and grants].

Environmental controls and monitoring

• Recognize the potential value of a storage facility in improving the environmental conditions for some library materials.
• Involve the Preservation staff in establishing environmental standards for a storage facility.
• Ensure that environmental conditions in areas housing special collections meet national standards.
• Use the occasion of redesigning existing library space to improve environmental conditions and fire suppression systems.
• Post in each library the policy regarding food and drink.
• Provide support for food and direct policy, e.g., provide trash receptacles appropriate for the food and drink policy.

Preservation training/education

• In the Center for Book Preservation focus on training fewer students but ones with higher level skills.
• There is need for more preservation awareness and training for all staff throughout the Libraries.
• Students and staff in some circulation areas need more training-the proper way to shelve and handle material, how to screen circulation returns for damaged material. Use the web to help do this.
• There is a need for recurring tours of the Center for Book Preservation and introductory sessions on proper preservation practices.
• Do a better job with outreach. Try having annual exhibits illustrating how books can be harmed and the use of the web to illustrate the best way to handle material.
• Overcome the resistance of some units to basic preservation/conservation practices
• The program's web site should remain active and should focus more on becoming a tool for unit liaisons. Develop the potential for the site to serve as a gateway for preservation and digital resources on the web.
  
• Train students to assist with preparation of material for exhibits and other public programming initiatives.

Disaster prevention/recovery

• Identify keys causes of disasters in academic libraries and have each library develop a check-list for monitoring purposes.
• Keep the disaster recovery manual current.
• Continue to hold regular meetings of the disaster recovery team.
• Maintain adequate disaster recovery supplies centrally and in individual libraries.
• Consider removing the financial and organizational responsibilities of the Disaster Prevention, Response, and Recovery program with only minor participation in the recovery of material in the event of a disaster.
• Develop and promulgate a disaster prevention checklist.
• Encourage units to establish and publicize emergency responses procedures.

Commercial binding

The scope of our Preservation Program does not include the responsibility for preparing material to go to a commercial bindery (the programs in some libraries do include this responsibility). Our program does utilize rebinding by a commercial binder as a conservation technique, however. The only suggestion which has been received is to maximize rebinding as a means of preserving general collections material.

Other suggestions

• Need to survey all of the libraries for special conservation projects.
• Assess each unit to determine their specific needs. Prioritize the needs and develop an action plan to meet them.
• The program needs to be respected within the university community and in the field.
• The program should provide direct support for exhibits as long as there is system support for staff and supplies.
• Work with others to identify areas of the collection for which special attention is needed or which present possibilities for grant funding.
• Create an acquisitions fund to be used for purchasing replacements when Preservation staff determine that replacement is preferable to repair or rebinding.
• Determine those areas of the general collections which are of the greatest value to the institution in terms of use and relevance to mission; then make the preservation of that material a higher priority.
• Identify those special collections which have the greatest potential to generate external funding; work with development staff to use the material as the basis for fund raising.
  
• Identify collections/materials for which digital access would be adventageous (stimulate use; digital format would replace use of original, thus preserving original.)

Role of the Preservation Program

The Preservation Review Group is also interested in what role the Preservation Program should play within the University Libraries and the University, in the Western New York area, and within the group of eleven comprehensive research libraries in New York State.

Within the University Libraries

• Need for a stronger sense that the Preservation Program is part of the University Libraries.
• The program should be reaching out to the units.
• The program has to adopt a holistic approach with unit liaisons as well as system-wide.
• Publicize special projects when they have been completed.
• Promote the role of the program in larger Libraries issues-more integration into the overall mission of the Libraries.
• Instead of the current Preservation Council or the former Preservation Committee with their focus on financial and other administrative issues, create a Preservation Advisory Group to focus on defining special projects, identifying grant opportunities, etc.

Within the University

• The proper environment exists to support instruction of students planning to be future practitioners.
• The program must make accommodations for student workers and should start to become more active with the Department of Library and Information Studies.
  
• Have a representative of the program speak to students in DLIS 505 (Introduction to Libraries and Library Science) classes about what the program encompasses.
  
• Have a representative of the program make a presentation to the local ALA student chapter on a topic within the field of preservation or on a specific aspect of the Center for Book Preservation.
• Promote the role of the program in University issues-more integration into the overall mission of the University.
• Take advantage of opportunities to work with other departments to do conservation research. For example, work with UB science departments to acquire equipment needed to do material analysis or to do a joint research project on the treatment and analysis of rare materials.
• The preservation story needs to be told outside the Libraries.
• Determine if there are other areas of the University which need conservation or preservation expertise.

In Western New York

• If the program supported the treatment of rare materials, it could be possible to help others in the area.
• Form relationships with other institutions with similar conservation concerns-Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo and Erie and County Historical Society, the Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State, the UB Art Gallery, and others
• Expand as a preservation/conservation education resource center for the area.
• Serve as a clearinghouse for information on how to preserve or restore formats such as photographs.
• Collaborative grants among institutions in the area could lead to the purchase of specialized equipment.
• Assume a leadership role in efforts to preserve the resources of the Western New York area and reformat such resources for external use.
• Work with other institutions in securing NYS discretionary grant funding for preservation/conservation projects.
• Preservation staff should be active participants in the WNYLRC Preservation Committee.
• Determine ways in which expertise can be shared with others in the region.

As one of the eleven comprehensive research libraries

• Explore the possibility for sharing expertise in dealing with special formats.
• Be the lead institution for a coordinated preservation grant.
• Maximize the opportunity to interact with the preservation staff in the other ten comprehensive research libraries and to gain from their experience and expertise.

Suggestions for future directions for the Preservation Program

• Explore the availability of grant funding. The potential to receive grants will only be enhanced by the increased amount of interaction the program has with the University Libraries and other institutions.
  
• The Preservation Program needs to be able to handle molded material in some way; also fumigation of archival collections
• For the general collections there needs to be more concern with mass deacidification and proper shelving.
• Conservation of electronic media has to be considered.
• Consider outsourcing as a way to handle rare book conservation and audio conservation.
• Digitization should not be undertaken at the expense of resources which should be used for preservation of print and other traditional formats. Grant funding would be needed.
  
• Grant funding should be sought to support digitization projects.
• Create digital copies in addition to preservation photocopies.
• There is a greater need for external funding (grants, endowments or other development-generated funding) since the state aid is static and we may have reached the limit as to how much the Libraries can provide.
• Maximize the opportunities for state grant funding; work within the Big 11 and independently for federal grant funding; and capitalize on membership in OCLC Preservation and Digitization Cooperative.
• Encourage the creation (or designation) of a Libraries position for grant seeking.
• Recognize the potential value of a storage facility to the overall mission of a preservation program and have Preservation staff play significant roles in the planning for, and implementation of, a storage facility.
• Support for exhibits and public programming.
  
• Selective digitizing projects for the purpose of access.

• The Preservation Officer needs to provide overall direction for the program.
• Someone with broad perspective is needed.
• Need a working manager to provide a central contact point, help with the workflow, initiate special projects, and promote communication and involvement.
• The program will not need to be as heavily staffed if the labor intensive production work can be scaled down.
• The program must become more integrated with CTS in order to eliminate duplication of services and to reduce the amount of staff needed.
• A team approach in Preservation staffing should be considered.
• Positive, visible changes need to happen to promote the program overall.
  
• Investigate increased use of students.