Volume 18, Number 4-5
Aug-Sep 1994

Literature

[Note: The classification number that follows each entry is an aid to indexing by subject in the yearly index.]

"Guidelines for Preservation Photocopying," compiled by ALA's Subcommittee on Preservation Photocopying Guidelines. Library Resources and Technical Development 38(3) April 1994, p. 288-292. (2E2) [See corrections in Oct 1994 issue]

"A Review of Published Temperatures for the Control of Pest Insects in Museums," by Thomas Strang. Collection Forum, Fall 1992, p. 41-67. The author, who is at CCI, tabulated and compared the reported extermination temperatures for 46 museum insect pests, and the times and temperatures recommended in published guides. He proposes a "lethal boundary model" as a provisional guide to thermal extermination of insect pests. (2H3.2)

"Zur Ausbildung von Restauratoren für Bücher, Archivalien und Papier: Die Staatliche Fachakademie in München (The Education of Conservators for Books, Archives and Paper: The State Professional Academy in Munich)," by Cornelia Heinisch et al., Restauro 4, July-Aug. 1994, p. 266-270. This illustrated article describes the aims and methods of the school, and gives an address for those who want more information: Fachakademie zur Ausbildung von Restauratoren, Ludwigstrasse 16, 80539 München, Germany, Tel.: 0 89/2 86 38-2 38, Fax: 0 89/28 57 73. It looks like the next class will not be admitted until Fall 1997. (1D6)

Library Conservation News is issued from the National Preservation Office at the British Library. The Summer 1994 issue is only 8 pages, but the material is well chosen and edited. There are four items of interest:

1. "Canadian Cooperative Preservation," by Ralph W. Manning - A description of the Canadian Cooperative Preservation Project, organized with the aid of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation.
2. A conference report by Ed King, of the symposium, "Digital Imaging Technology for Preservation, A Research Libraries Group Symposium," 17-18 March 1994, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. The author is Head of Preservation, Selection and Planning, Collections and Preservation [sic] at the British Library. He comments, "It was particularly interesting to hear the idea that '...if the information is not used, then it will not survive [in an electronic information environment].' The fact this statement provoked no floor discussion suggested acceptance by the participants that this may be true. This seems very much out of keeping with what research libraries have often been highly regarded for, that is the retention of information, some of it little used, for future generations of scholars."
3. "Early Photograph Albums and Their Contents - Conservation and Ethical Problems," by Mark Browne, p. 4-5. A camcorder was hired for a day to record the identity and positions of a series of similar unmarked photographs in an album. Browne says it worked well, was precise and saved hours of painstaking descriptions and reference. To fix flaking photographic emulsion, they used a solution of gelatin 5%-10% and put a droplet at the point where the emulsion was separating. Capillary action drew the emulsion flakes down firmly onto the paper, where it dried.
4. An announcement of a recent 88-page publication of the British Library Research and Development Department, Library Material Digitization Demonstrator Project, by Arthur Shiel and Roger Broadhurst, which focuses on the scanning of microfilm for large ventures. ISBN 0-7123-3278-2. It is available for £28 from Turpin Distribution Services Ltd, Blackhorse Road, Letchworth, Hertfordshire SG6 1HN (fax 0462-480947).
5. A description of 3M's Self Issue Library System, which works like an ATM and combines "self-issue" with effective library security, which should be a boon to small special libraries like those in preservation departments, if their needs are not being taken care of by the main library's circulation system. (2)

"Writings for Archivists, 1991," a regular feature of the American Archivist, is a bibliography edited by K. Corbitt and D. Klaassen from a list of citations provided by ALIC, the Archives Library Information Center, at the National Archives. It appears on p. 750-792 of the Fall 1993 issue. References are grouped by subject, and preservation matters appear mostly in four subsections, two of which are in the section on record formats and contain many technical references:

General Works and Bibliographies
Preservation and Security (91 refs.)
Paper-based Textual Records (8 or so refs.)
Visual Materials (including photos) (2.1)

"Working with Polyethylene Foam and Fluted Plastic Sheet," by Carl Schlichting. Canadian Conservation Institute, 1994. (Technical Bulletin 14) The stable plastic materials better known under their trade names Ethafoam, Micro-Foam, Cor-X, Coroplast, and Hi-Core, are useful, even essential, for certain processes in book conservation (storage, shipping, exhibition), but because they cannot be worked like paper and board, they have been underused. This booklet describes the materials and gives illustrated instructions for making, adapting and using the tools needed for working with them. (3.7)

LabTechnique: A Multimedia Manual of Conservation Treatment Techniques for the Repair of Artifactual Library and Archival Materials. This is apparently a Macintosh disk with a printout, the first module in a series. It covers board attachment and rehinging options for leather bookbindings; book repair/textblock consolidation (broken spine); and mending techniques using magnetic weights, for single sheets and bound volumes. Contributors are Gail Harriman and Steven Puglia of NARA, and Anna Stenstrom and Marc Reeves of NYPL. For more information contact Anna Stenstrom, Conservation Lab, Room 60, New York Public Library, 5th Ave. and 42nd St., New York, NY 10018 (212/930-0723). (3A3)

"Techniques--Sewing Variations" (a report of Betsy Palmer Eldridge's presentation at the Guild of Book Workers' 13th Seminar on Excellence last December in Boston). Binders' Guild Newsletter, vol. XVII #4, p. 5-17 (June 1994). Ms. Eldridge is the compiler for the sewing section of the Book Conservation Catalogue of the AIC Book and Paper Group. She has identified over 60 types of sewing and made yarn mockups on 5" x 8" cards that can be easily photocopied for handouts. They are pictured and described in detail in this unusual report. (3A3.1)

Rare and Valuable Government Documents: A Resource Packet on Identification, Preservation, and Security Issues for Government Documents Collections. Compiled and edited by Jim Walsh, Barbara Hukyk and George Barnum. ALA RBMS/GODORT/MAGERT Joint Committee on Government Documents as Rare Books, 1993. 121 pp.

This preservation resource packet is an outgrowth of the Regional Depository Library Program in Rosslyn, Virginia, on October 17, 1989. It is printed in looseleaf format, in reduced format (two pages reproduced on each sheet), so it can be easily updated, but it is hard to read because some of the materials reproduced herein at 50% of the original size are copies of copies to start with. Still, it makes the material available, and it is being widely disseminated: 1400 copies went out to depository libraries, and a full-size edition was sent to ERIC. It is now available under abstract number ED 357 746, from ERIC Document Reproduction Service (800/443-ERIC; 703/440-1400). Paper copies are $17.65 + postage, and fiche is $1.23 + postage.

One reason for the urgency about dissemination is that many government documents have become rare and valuable, and the only people who realize this are the thieves who come in to steal them. They are commanding "stupendous prices," according to Robert Martin on p. 28. "Serial Sets," he says, "have been systematically looted at many institutions," especially the volumes containing papers on Western Americana.

The sections of this document are: Bibliography, Policies, Identification of rare documents, Conservation/ preservation, Security, Disaster planning, and Directory information. (3A5.3)

Boxes for the Protection of Books: Their Design and Construction. Compiled by Lage Carlson, John Bertonaschi, Margot Healey, Lynn Kidder, Nancy Lev, Bob Muens, Carol Paulson, and Carrie Beyer. Illus. by Margaret Brown. Washington: Library of Congress Preservation Directorate, 1994. About 140 pp, not consecutively paged. Unbound format on card stock for insertion into a 3-ring binder. $14 from Supt. of Documents, New Orders, PO Box 37954, Pitts-burgh, PA 15250-7954 (Fax 202/512-2250). Credit card purchasers call 202/783-3238. Stock No.: 030-000-00253-9; ISBN No. 0-16-041956-5.

This is a revised and updated version of the edition published in 1982. Types of boxes for which instructions are given are: Simple housings, Phased boxes, Portfolios, Double-tray clam shell box, Book box with portfolio smaller than the book, and Book box with portfolio larger than the book. All sections of the book are generously and clearly illustrated. The index refers to subjects by chapter and page number within the chapter.

It is not on alkaline paper as stated in the book, but now that they know this, they will see what they can do to get it reprinted. (3A8.1)

Le papier permanent. (Les nouveaux enjeux du patrimoine, No. 1) CLLR (Coopération pour le livre en Languedoc-Roussillon) 1992. Proceedings of the Colloque de Nimes, 22-24 Nov. 1990, organized by CLLR. ISBN 2-9506684-0-2. 128 pp.

CLLR's missions are "Regional cooperation among archives, libraries and organizations of documentation for the encouragement of reading and research; for safeguarding, development and enrichment of documentary heritage." These proceedings should go a long way toward carrying out these missions, because the book is well-edited, including transcripts of the discussion following each paper, a 40-page record of a round table discussion, and two little appendixes documenting a survey of French libraries on the preservation measures they were taking. Topics covered by the papers include mass deacidification, permanent paper progress in the United Kingdom, and standards. The speakers were Jean-Marie Arnoult, Angès Marcetteau, Astrid Brandt, David Clements and Corinne Le Bitouzé. (From the Alkaline Paper Advocate, June 1994; 3A9.4)

"Washi no g-sen syôsya (I) (Gamma Irradiation of Japanese Paper, I)," by Masamitsu Inaba. Kobunkazai no kagaku no. 36, p. 1-7, Dec. 1991. In Japanese. Gamma radiation (cobalt 60, 49 to 390 kGy) and/or thermal accelerated aging (80°C, 60% RH) were used to simulate aging, in a project to make repair papers resemble the material needing repair. Neither irradiation nor thermal aging by itself discolored the paper very much, but the effect of irradiation followed by thermal aging was pronounced. Both the appearance and the strength (fold and TEA) of the papers decreased markedly. (3B1.21)

"Investigation of the Effect of Alkali on Cellulosic Fibres, Part 1: Rag and Processed Wood Pulp Paper," by Helen Burgess, Stephen Duffy and Season Tse. In the book, Paper and Textiles: The Common Ground: Preprints of the Con-ference held at the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, 19-20 September 1991. Published 1991. p. 29-47. This reports the first part of a CCI study on the effect of washing and alkalization on various cellulosic fibers. It reports the effects of washing with pure water and how magnesium salts, both neutral and alkaline, affect stability. Results show that various types of paper can react very differently to the same process. (3B1.6)

Leather: Its Composition and Changes with Time, edited by Christopher Calnan and Betty Haines. Leather Conser-vation Center, Northampton, 1991. 90 pages. ISBN 0-946072-04-3. Includes 14 papers presented at a 1986 conference of the same title. (3D3)

"Confessions of a Videotape Restorer; Or, How Come These Tapes all Need to be Cleaned Differently?" by Jim Lindner. AMIA Newsletter (Association of Moving Image Archivists), No. 24, April 1994, p. 9-10.

The author says, "...While I have heard that many are looking for a 'holy grail' solution that cures all tapes of their illnesses at least long enough to get a decent transfer, my personal observation is that such a single cure-all is highly improbable, and that there is no one solution to the various maladies that have come my way." He discusses differences in the design of videotape and the machines that play them, and the different things that can be wrong with the tapes. (3G1)

"Saving Those Historic Videotapes: It May Already be too Late," by Joseph W. Palmer. Public Libraries, March/April 1994, p. 99-101. The author recommends copying and cataloging historic videotapes, and storing under the best environmental conditions possible. He has a section on "How and Why Videotape Deteriorates," but he is realistic and does not recommend that public librarians bake the tapes or adopt any other cure-all procedure. (3G1)

"CD-ROM Longevity: A Select Bibliography," by Marcia Watt and Lisa Biblo. 2 pp. Feb. 1994. This bibliography for the layperson is available from Marcia Watt, Preservation Office, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322-2870 (404/727-0306; Fax 727-0053). (3G2)