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A preservation technical reference library serves to inform the preservation needs of its parent institution. Unlike other collections, a preservation library may not directly support curricula or research but, rather, a program which preserves materials for curricula and research. Among the activities the preservation technical reference library is most likely to directly support are: basic planning and management, disaster planning, environmental control, bookbinding and conservation, reprography (i.e., microfilming and preservation photocopying), and staff and user education. The collection informs these activities with technical and material specifications, standards and tests, as well as bibliographies for further research and collection development. If the institution's needs, interests and responsibilities may extend to local, regional, national, and international involvement, the library's collection should inform and reflect any extended involvement.
Continued collection development is as essential to preservation as it is to the curricula of the sciences. Currency of knowledge regarding methods, materials and structures assures adequate preservation. Informed procedures and decision making allow the Preservation Department to assume growing responsibility for the condition of its parent institution's collections, as well as take informed positions when working cooperatively within the national preservation program.
(a) Preservation technical reference library (if extant);
(b) Fine arts library;
(c) Science library; and
(d) Miscellaneous collections in general holdings.
Items relating to preservation and affiliated subjects may be identified through computer assisted or manual means by Library of Congress subject headings, Library of Congress classification values, and Dewey decimal classification values. Scanning of shelf lists and union catalogs may also be undertaken to meet this end. An assessment of the collections and their ability to meet the needs of a growing preservation program should be evaluated. A bibliography, listing identified sources, may be produced. Sources should be considered for their importance and ability to meet current and projected needs. More important sources may be annotated and indexed as time provides. A separate bibliography of bibliographies may be extremely important for later collection development activities. If possible, the bibliography should be computer generated and maintained for updates. More advanced bibliographies may be broken into broad or specific subject areas.
(a.) Bibliographies; and
(b.) Serial publications.
Bibliographies and serial publications in preservation and allied fields should be reviewed and monitored to enhance retrospective and continuing collection development. Given the speed with which preservation is changing, bibliographies provide data for retrospective development, as well as subject indexing and bibliographic control required to locate material on specific topics within preservation. Serial publications, because of their timely nature, might be kept with the serial collections after being routed to the Preservation Department. Serials provide current information as well as references to forth-coming literature. Research and retrospective development with regard to the collection of journal articles may also be undertaken by survey of literature using ART INDEX, the ERIC database and files, LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE ABSTRACTS, and LIBRARY LITERATURE. Important or often consulted articles might be copied and filed in the Preservation Department for ready access. John DePew's article, "The Application of Bradford's Law in Selecting Periodicals on Conservation and Preservation of Library Materials" (COLLECTION MANAGEMENT. v.8(1), Spring 1986. p.55-64), may be helpful in defining areas of subject concentration and in compilation of bibliographies for literature review.
Publishers' announcements provide information on current and forthcoming literature. Receipt of announcements and sales-lists from publishing houses, as well as newsletters from the following organizations might be beneficial.
American Association for State and Local History. American Chemical Society American Confederation of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). American Library Association (especially its Asssociation for Library Collections and Technical Services, Preservation of Library Materials Section (PLMS) and Reproduction of Library Materials Section (RLMS)). *American National Standards Institute (ANSI). *American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Art Libraries Society of North America. Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety (ACTS). *Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM). Association of Records Managers and Administrators International (ARMA). Association of Research Libraries. Office of Management Services (OMS). Systems and Procedures Exchange Center. Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild Canadian Conservation Institute. Center for Safety in the Arts. (formerly: Center for Occupational Hazards.) Commission on Preservation and Access. Eastman Kodak Company. Guild of Book Workers. Institute of Paper Chemistry. International Institute for Conservation (IIC). International Institute for Conservation -- Canadian Group (IIC-CG). Institute of Paper Conservation. International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions (IFLA). *International Organization for Standardization (ISO). * Library Binding Institute. Library of Congress. (especially: National Preservation Program Office.) National Archives and Records Administration. (especially: Preservation Policy and Services Division.) National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators (NAGARA). National Endowment for the Humanities. Preservation Office. *National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). National Information Standards Organization (NISO). National Institute for Conservation. Research Libraries Group (RLG). Rochester Institute of Technology. (especially: Image Permanence Institute and School of Printing Management and Sciences.) Society for Imaging Science and Technology (SPSE). Society of American Archivists (SAA). *Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. *Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI). United Kingdom Institute for Conservation (UKIC). United States. Office of Education. Division of Library Programs. Title II-C.
* Specifications or standards publishing organizations.
Approval plans in the field of preservation may prove impossible to establish for either, if not both, the dealer and the library due to the specificity of the collecting area. A forms plan, which lists titles published in the field, may prove more beneficial. Plans, should they be established, should be drawn to meet the Dewey and Library of Congress classification values or Library of Congress subject headings.
The Association of Research Libraries' Systems and Procedures Exchange Center, part of the Association's Office of Management Studies, serves in a limited capacity as a center for the exchange of policies and procedures through its SPEC Kit publications. Individual SPEC Kits are compilations of materials on single topics. Some of the topics addressed by the Center have been basic preservation procedures, binding operations, brittle books programs, organizing for preservation, and photocopy services. The collection of SPEC Kit publications should be required. In addition, a passive program of acquiring policies, procedures and reports issued by other institutions should be considered. Review of these policies, procedures and reports should simplify definition of policies and procedures by the local Preservation Department for its institution. Shared policies and procedures enhance the level of standardization within preservation and strengthen the national preservation program.
Collection development, file arrangement and information access are enhanced through compilation of subject headings, descriptors and classification scheme values for preservation. An excellent consideration of the topic is found in the editor's foreword of a special supplement on subject headings for information retrieval to The Abbey Newsletter (v.9, no.1, pt.2 (April 1985)). The supplement also contains subject headings and classification schemes designed by Robert Espinosa, Paul Foulger, Gary Frost, Paul S. Koda, and Ellen McCrady. Established subject headings and classification schemes used by libraries provide key element access to preservation information in the automated environment and facilitate shelf scanning and browsing in local collections. Use of headings and schemes, perhaps condensed and simplified, with generalizations and detail to meet local needs, renders a growing preservation technical reference library or vertical file manageable and assures ready access to valuable information. PHOCUS, the Photograph Conservation Universal Decimal Classification System at the Photograph Conservation Division of Public Archives Canada, is an example of one particularly effective use of a classification scheme and thesaurus to index and provide access to preservation information. (Cf, Public Archives Canada. PHOCUS, A BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA BASE FOR THE CONSERVATION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS. Ottawa, Ont. : the Archives, 1985.)