[PADG:1230] Re: Preservation assessment survey of multiple libraries and collections

[Julia Merkel <merkeljm@xxxxxxx>]

Lene,
We received an NEH Preservation Assessment grant to have a consultant 
come in and assess our collections, buildings, etc.
It has been very helpful to us particularly in regard to the environment 
in a building circa 1939.
I created a preservation internship program and selected a student 
intern to assess the preservation needs of our Special Collections.
She systematically did acidity testing and counted needs for replacement 
boxes and folders and even furniture. We've been systematically making 
and ordering phase boxes for at-risk books.  I wonder if a few interns 
could tackle certain pieces of your survey for you?  Katherine was so 
good and reliable that I ended up hiring her when the preservation 
student assistant position became available.  She is now looking at 
conservation and library programs for graduate school...it was a win-win 
situation for the library and for a talented student.
We too have a main library and 3 satellite libraries.  If you'd like to 
visit sometime, please do.  We're 2 hours from Fairfax.  I'm the only 
FTE and rely on student assistants for much of the conservation 
repairs.  I work closely with our binding manager and wear several hats...
Good luck--I might try to make the Solinet class you're hosting this Fall.
Julia

Lene Palmer wrote:

> I am the preservation librarian at George Mason University, a fairly 
> large public university in Northern Virginia.  We are instituting a 
> preservation program, and one of our initial actions will be to 
> conduct a survey of the collection to establish its condition.  We 
> have a distributed library system which means that we have one main 
> library and three smaller "branch" libraries all in one system with a 
> shared catalog.  I have two basic questions: 
>
> 1.  How should we deal with the fact that we have one collection 
> distributed in one main and three smaller libraries?  A sample of 400 
> randomly selected volumes seems to be sufficient for a statistically 
> valid sample, but is that enough for the entire collection, or should 
> I select 400 volumes from the main library and then smaller samples, 
> say 150 volumes from each of the other three libraries?
>
> 2.  What should we survey?  If we survey only the circulating 
> collection, how to we then assess the reference collection and its 
> preservation needs?  The reference collection, of course, is much more 
> heavily used than the circulating collection and will have different 
> needs, so if we survey them together, the results will probably be 
> skewed.  Should I simply concentrate on the circulating collection 
> first and then consider the reference collection, government 
> documents, maps, etc. later as we gain more experience and hopefully 
> more staff?  We intend to do the survey using our current staff as 
> there is no budget for hiring a consultant.
>
> Any insight or good advise anyone can give me on either or both of 
> these questions will be very much appreciated. 
>
> Thank you.
>
> Lene Palmer, Collection Development and Preservation Librarian
> Fenwick Library
> George Mason University
> 4400 University Drive
> Fairfax, VA 22030
> Phone 703-993-2667
> email: lenep@xxxxxxx