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Please provide a brief narrative description of the preservation program, and describe specific preservation projects being undertaken by the Library and their anticipated duration.
Columbia University Libraries Preservation Program
Organized in 1974, Columbia's Preservation Division is one of the five oldest library preservation programs in the United States. The Division has primary responsibility for maintaining the collections through treatment, which ensures their availability for use, and through reformatting, when use is no longer possible due to unstable condition and embrittled paper. It also provides preventive preservation measures through disaster preparedness planning, consultations on environmental control, planning for library renovation, and staff and user education and training.
Use of digital technology for preservation of materials with oversize, color illustrations is being investigated under a contract from the Commission on Preservation and Access, scheduled to be completed July 1996.
The Preservation Division reports to the Deputy University Librarian. It consists of four units: Materials Processing, the Conservation Laboratory, the Preservation Reformatting Department, and the Modern Social and Economic Project.
1. Materials Processing
Materials Processing includes the shelf processing of materials new to the collection, and the first-time commercial binding of periodicals and paperbacks, commercial rebinding of damaged volumes, and creation by the commercial bindery of preservation enclosures. All materials added to the collection are bound before going to the shelves. The section is staffed by a supervisor, six full-time support staff, and student assistants. The supervisor is responsible for implementing the binding contracts and maintaining the Preservation Handbook, which is distributed to departments. The Handbook is the primary source of information on preservation in the Libraries.
2. The Conservation Laboratory
Most materials printed before 1850 are treated in the Conservation Laboratory. The Laboratory is staffed by a professional conservator and a rare materials technical assistant, a supervisor for the circulating collection repair unit, two technicians, and student assistants. The Laboratory's repair unit is responsible for the physical treatment of circulating materials that are slightly brittle or must be retained in hard copy because of age, format, or historical significance. The conservator and his assistant are responsible for the treatment of special collection and rare materials. This complete conservation treatment includes cleaning and deacidification, repairs to bindings and to pages, resewing and rebinding, rehousing, matting, and encapsulation of maps, posters, works of art, scrapbooks, manuscripts and photographic materials. The conservator is also responsible for coordinating disaster preparedness and recovery activities and for special projects using outside conservator expertise. Currently staff in Conservation are working on repair and encapsulation of materials to be microfiched as part of the New York State funded Theater Poster project, scheduled to be completed March 31, 1996.
3. The Preservation Reformatting Department
The Preservation Reformatting Department (PRD) performs all activities associated with the reformatting of materials that are printed on paper which has become brittle. The Department Head has responsibility for consultation on filming projects, writing guidelines for selection and identification of materials for microfilming, and maintaining outside contracts with microfilm service bureaus. The microfilm preparation unit is regularly staffed by two full-time technicians and student assistants; additional grant-supported staff are added as funds are available. Current projects include two New York State funded projects: Use-Based Microfilming, working on East Asian materials; and Science Serials, working on physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Both projects will end March 31, 1996.
PRD staff are responsible for bibliographic searching, prospective cataloging, preparing targets, collation of materials to be filmed, and quality control inspection of all vendor-produced film. The Reprography Laboratory, a separate unit within the Department, is staffed by a supervisor, clerical assistant, and two camera operators. It fills customer orders for photographs and microfilming of rare materials, especially manuscript items, which Columbia University Libraries prefers not to send to vendors.
4. Modern Social and Economic History Microfilming Project
This project is a three-year effort funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It will complete its work by the end of September, 1996, by which time it will have microfilmed approximately 18,300 monograph and serial volumes from the Watson Business Library. The current project staff administratively located within the Preservation Division consists of the project coordinator, a staff supervisor, 11 full-time bibliographic assistants, and student assistants. Project staff who perform cataloging activities report to the Bibliographic Control Division, and the project bibliographer reports to the Business Librarian. Preservation Division project staff are responsible for bibliographic searching, preparing targets, collation of serials, interlibrary loan procedures, and quality control inspection of the film.