Preservation and Conservation   Tags: conservation, preservation, preserving  

Caring for Personal Collections:  

Mission: To Preserve and Protect the Emory Libraries Collections.

The Preservation Office of the Emory University Libraries was established in September 1985 to support preservation activities in all of the Emory Libraries. The Preservation staff act as a resource for the latest techniques and information, maintains the disaster plan for all Emory libraries, writes and implements the libraries’ binding contract (thus reducing the cost per volume and increasing overall quality of the bound volumes), and monitors environmental conditions and lighting levels in exhibition areas in all library buildings. The Conservation Unit, established in 1987, provides care for the physical condition of all Emory University library collections.

Staff of the Preservation Office have played active roles in local and regional preservation efforts, such as teaching LYRASIS (formerly SOLINET) repair workshops, participating in Heritage Emergency Response Alliance and the Southeast Regional Conservation Association, and acting as consultants. Nationally, staff have been or are involved in the American Institute of Conservation, The Guild of Bookworkers, American Library Association (participating as committee chairs and in program and conference planning committees), the Library Binding Institute, the Association for Information and Image Management, the Research Libraries Group, and NISO. All staff are committed to acting as information resources to the community concerning preservation issues.

One conservator and two full-time conservation technicians specializing in book and paper collections staff the conservation laboratory along with numerous student assistants. Our prime responsibilities are for physical treatment of the general circulating collections and conservation of the special collections of all the Emory libraries.

Conservation Unit staff provide both preventative services and a broad range of conservation treatments including:

·       Environmental monitoring of collections areas (including 24/7 temperature and humidity recording, monitoring light levels in exhibition areas, and pest management monitoring);

·        Emergency response, recovery and salvage of materials damaged from floods, fire, and other misfortune;

·       Staff and student assistant training in the care and handling of library materials;

·        Collections condition/conservation needs assessment and preservation planning surveys;

·        Special projects including preparation of materials for digitization or going on loan or exhibition;

·        Supporting the Woodruff Library’s Exhibition Team;

·        Quality control on items returning from commercial library binding.

The physical treatments we perform include:

·        Book repair for general collections including paper mending, spine repair, pamphlet binding and in-house rebinding;

·        Full scale complex treatments: washing, mending, resewing and rehousing for special collection materials;

·        Constructing various custom-fitted protective enclosures, and encapsulation of paper documents;

·        Matting, mounting or other preparation of library materials for loan and/or exhibition.

Take a workshop!

Learn about Preserving your personal collections and treasures, how to care for and handle books and library materials, and other preservation topics.

See the library workshops page for our current schedule.

Administration

 Lars Meyer
Preservation Officer
(404) 727-2437
lmeyer2@emory.edu 

Book & Paper Collections Conservation

Ann Frellsen
Collections Conservator
(404) 727-0307
libavf@emory.edu

Kirsten Wehner
Conservation Technician
(404) 727-9042
kwehner@emory.edu

Julie Newton
Conservation Technician
(404) 712-3426
jnewt01@emory.edu

Kim Knox Norman
Conservation Technician
(404) 712-3423
kim.norman@emory.edu