392G - Management of
Preservation Programs
Spring 2008
Class 3
*ARL Preservation Program Models
*Preservation Policy and Planning
*Models for Selection
ARL Preservation Program
Models
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Review models
Preservation Policy
“Developing an institutional sense of
preservation priorities and a firm direction for
the program is critical to the success of the
preservation effort and enables libraries to
make the most effective use of local
resources that can be devoted to
preservation and make their own unique
contribution to cooperative efforts.”
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Carolyn Morrow
Developing a Preservation
Program: What’s Needed?
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Leadership from the library administration
Inclusion of preservation planning in overall library
planning
A highly focused preservation plan
A firm implementation plan that phases in a timeline
for the introduction of new preservation activities
Assignment of responsibility for discrete portions of
the program to competent people
Cost-effective and sensible elements for the
program
Good timing
Preservation Policy
Development
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Policy development allows a library/archives
to establish or shape an institution-specific
contract for preservation activities. Process
can be crucial to acceptance and
promulgation of a program throughout the
institution. Institutional consensus defeats
“turfdome.”
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Policy development establishes lines of
authority and assigns responsibility for certain
activities, such as selection for preservation
or security.
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A preservation policy will list explicitly the
preservation goals and priorities that have
been discussed and agreed upon and will
broadcast those decisions with the cachet of
administrative sanction.
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The development process will reexamine
those activities that it may take for granted such as library binding or reshelving - in light
of overall preservation goals and activities.
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The development of a preservation policy
creates an atmosphere that will support
institutional change.
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A preservation policy reflects the reality that
libraries are systems built on standards and
practices. Standardization is necessary to
maintain order and ensure quality and cost
efficiency; however, unexamined practices
lead to entrenchment.
Developing a Preservation
Program
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Three main sub-activities:
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Articulation of the program components and
strategy
Development of the infrastructure
Implementation of preservation activities
throughout the collection
Elements of a Preservation
Policy Statement
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Statement of need that describes and
qualifies the preservation challenge
Definitions of preservation concepts and
terms
Descriptions of general preservation
practices and principles
Strategies for selection for preservation
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An outline of the preservation program,
including its organization, staffing, facilities,
funding and services to the collection
A discussion of consortial and cooperative
relationships and opportunities with other
libraries
Example Preservation Policies
and Plans
University of Colorado at Boulder
NEH/ARL Preservation Planning Program Final
Report. August 1990.
National Archives of Canada
Context: Revision of 1987 Conservation Policy
*Include technology-dependent records
*Include concept of current and long-term accessibility as
purposes for preservation
*Need to keep users informed of the effects that
preservation actions may have on the meaning which
archival records communicate
*Change of authority for policy
Review policy.
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/preservation/1304_e.html
Columbia University
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/services/preservation/policies.html
Yale University
Selection for Preservation
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Difficulty of determining what collection items
will be needed in the future. Scholarship
responds to intellectual discourse and
disciplinary trends over time. Materials little
used today may be used in innovative ways
by future scholars. What to do?!
Assumptions
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No one institution can afford to preservation
everything in its collection.
Priorities must be set among collections, based on
the quality of the collections and the vulnerability of
materials to loss.
Not every item needs to be preserved.
Ultimately, the decision to preserve must be made
on an item-by-item basis. Each item deteriorates at
an individual rate depending on its physical
composition and use.
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The large scale of preservation issues usually
requires that priorities for preservation action be
based on considering entire collections. (Do we
agree? What do we mean by entire collections?)
Collections as a whole are made of individual items,
thus policies and procedures for treating the
individual items will be based on the physical
condition of the item rather than on the quality of the
work. (Do we agree?)
Identification for Preservation
Most often a by-product of other library processes. This
approach often identifies materials that are currently
used.
Ways to Identify:
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Condition and Use
Condition and Library Processing
Condition at Shelf
Collection and Condition
Scholarly Review
Vulnerability to Loss or Deterioration
Value or Uniqueness
Decision-Making:
“Reselection”
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Defining “reselection”
Many institutions’ policies dictate that treatment for
items that can be done quickly and relatively
inexpensively without consultation with collection
development.
Overarching collection development policies,
created in consultation with preservation staff, can in
many cases obviate the need for direct consultation
with bibliographers.
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For brittle materials and those with artifactual
value, a “reselection” decision must be made,
which involves decision-making by collection
development. The same applies for deaccession and collection transfer decisions.
Reselection involves selectors,
bibliographers, subject specialists or
curators--those responsible for the
development and maintenance of the
collection.
Re-selection Information
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What is the relation of the item to the collection?
Do other accessible copies exist through
cooperative arrangements, in the geographic area,
or through ILL?
Has the item has been preserved elsewhere (e.g.
microfilm)?
Are replacements (reprint, facsimile, microform)
available commercially?
The information gathering process can require
extensive bibliographic searching.
Preservation Options
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Based on the information gathered, there are
various preservation options:
Treat (repair, treatment, commercial rebind)
Reformat
Replace
Send back to stacks (“planned deterioriation”)
with or without protective enclosure
De-accession/relocate
Some combination of the above
Collection Level Decision
Making
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“Great Collections” - Maintain the integrity of
the broader intellectual value of whole subject
areas regardless of use patterns. Collections
may be significant because they meet local
academic or community research priorities or
because they meet national and international
needs.
Research Libraries Group Conspectus