RE: Preservation of sheet music

["Normandy Helmer" <nhelmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We reinforce all our music--we have a school of music and things get heavy
use. Some of the music is used for performance and has to lie flat on a
music stand, some is for study and won't generally be performed. For
treatment decisions we rely on the combined knowledge of our music
cataloger, the senior preservation technician (who's an amateur musician),
and the music-majoring student hired specifically to handle reinforcement of
music. We reformat some scores to gain margin or to create signatures.
Everything we add to Music is considered to be a permanent part of the
collection so it gets the standard preservation treatment.

- Single sheets--and loose leaves that need to stay loose, such as for
percussion--go into pockets in pamphlet binders.
- Single-signature items are sewn through the fold into pamphlet binders.
- Multiple signatures are usually sewn into binders through the first and
last fold.
- Parts accompanying scores are generally housed in pockets in the back of
the score's binder.
- Commercial binding is used rarely, primarily for study scores (not
performance).

Another reason reinforcement is important is that this stuff tends to be
very floppy and is a nuisance to shelve as-is. If it is not reasonable to
pam-bind all your music, you might consider using folders or envelopes to
house them.

We code our automation system to make sure that pocketed parts stay in the
binder--when something is checked in or out, the clerk is prompted to
inspect the parts and make sure they are all there. That has helped cut down
on the need for replacement purchases--music scores need a complete set of
parts.

We used to use the pre-glued strips in pamphlet binders, and it was
devastating--it will be years before we have repaired all the damaged
scores.

Normandy Helmer
Head, Preservation & Binding Dept.
Director, Oregon Newspaper Project
UO Library System?Preservation
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
541-346-1864 ? fax 541-346-3485
nhelmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx