Syllabus - The University of Texas at Austin

INTRODUCTION TO PRESERVATION

INF 392D

Fall 2010

Room: UTA 1.504

Tuesdays 9:00-12:00 PM

Instructor: Sue Murphy, 512.477.6741, smurph@mail.utexas.edu

or suemurphy2@mac.com

Office Hours: Tuesday after class, and by appointment; Office: UTA 5.456

TA: Lauren Algee , 812.219.8186, lalgee@gmail.com

Overview of course, including course prerequisites, description:

Introduction to the administration of preservation programs for students not enrolled in the Preservation and Conservation Studies program. The focus is on issues and problem-solving in the preservation and conservation of cultural heritage collections, focusing on library and archival materials. Topics include types and causes of deterioration, preventive care and stabilization of collections, conservation treatment, reformatting and digitization, and the basics of running a preservation program. Graduate standing required.

The emphasis of the course is on key preservation issues for libraries and archives and how those concepts are manifested particularly through conservation surveys and preservation needs assessments. In addition to the instructor’s weekly lectures, a series of experts will provide guest lectures to enhance the class experience.

The course will be presented in a seminar format with weekly lectures. Students will work in groups to write and present solutions to dilemmas posed during site visits to university libraries and archives. Other possible venues for visits include nearby historic facilities and archives.

Grading policy for course:

The majority of each student’s grade in the class will be based on a ten-page Preservation Needs

Assessment and associated individual class presentation (50%). In addition, after four guest lectures and videos, two-page summaries of key take-aways will be due the following Friday no later than noon. These summaries will be submitted via e-mail will constitute 40% of the student’s final grade. Class performance including a review of some of the readings for at least one class will constitute10%.

The final written Preservation Needs Assessment is due at the beginning of the next to last day of class,

November 23 rd . Presentations will be scheduled for the last two class periods. There will be no final exam.

Two-page written take-aways of some of the guest lectures are to be sent to the Instructor, and the TA , via email as a PDF attachment, and are due no later than NOON the Friday after that class. Late papers are not accepted. Each summary counts 10% of the student’s final grade.

The Preservation Needs Assessment will require a two-hour site visit to the assigned facility. Students will be required to work in teams, and each team will be assigned a specific library or archive for their project.

All students are required to give individual 15-min presentations on their Preservation Needs Assessments, including visuals. See the Course Outline regarding scheduling of the class presentations. It is required that teams take photographs during their on-site visits to use in their presentations.

Each student will be responsible for giving a summary and review of at least two readings for one class period. This presentation, along with the student’s class participation will count 10% of her/his grade.

Required materials for the course:

A readings packet will be available for purchase at the Copy Center of the Union. The required text by

Balloffet & Hille is available through the American Library Association. A recommended text by Boersma is available through Archetype Publications online. Some items, including the required text, are available at

the PCL on reserve. All other materials are available online; URLs are provided in the

Course Outline.

Course Outline:

The tentative outline on the next pages indicates the planned dates when selected topics will be discussed.

All readings are to be completed before class on the date indicated. When changes in the schedule are necessary, students will be held responsible for such changes that will be announced in class.

Readings:

The course will make use of texts and a number of articles. A course packet of readings will be available for purchase at the Copy Center at the Union. Some readings are on reserve in the PCL, and must be used on site. Many reading assignments are available online; note URL in the Course Outline when it is listed.

Required:

Balloffet, Nelly and Jenny Hille. Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Chicago:

American Libraries Association, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8389-1005-4.

Available in paperback for $85 plus tax and shipping online at http://www.alastore.ala.org/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=274

This is the primary source for class.

Optional purchase:

Boersma, Foekje. Unravelling Textiles: A Handbook for the Preservation of Textile Collections.

London: Archetype Publications, 2007. Translated from the Dutch publication of 2000.

This is an excellent source for environmental topics for collections in general. It provides a more advanced treatment of conservation topics than the Balloffet. Available through Archetype for $65 plus tax and shipping. http://www.jgpubs.com/archetype.html

Also available on reserve at the PCL.

Suggested:

Ogden, Sherelyn, ed. Preservation of Library & Archival Materials: A Manual, 3 rd Edition. Andover, MA:

Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), 1999.

This is a good but expensive book. A copy will be on reserve in the PCL.

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn. Preserving Archives and Manuscripts . SAA Basic Manual Series. Chicago:

Society of American Archivists, 1993.

Out of print. Good book, but some of the information is dated. Plans are to release a new edition; date

TBD. Some old used copies are available online, but they are expensive. At least one copy will be available on reserve.

Computers in Class:

Students are encouraged to bring laptops to class, primarily to take notes during lectures. Some in-class activities may involve searching the Internet. It is NOT appropriate to use computers in class for email, social networking, or searches not relevant to the day’s class or assigned by the instructor.

Note:

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at

471-6259, 471-6441 TTY.

Course Outline

August 31 st

Introduction – Managing and Caring for Collections

Students will be asked to examine their background and motivation to focus in their respective areas, as well as to discuss what they expect to take away from the class.

Discussion of planned Preservation Needs Assessments.

10:30 Jennifer Lee, Head Librarian, Preservation Services & Wendy Martin, Manager of Digitization

Services and Conservator, UT Libraries. Students to sign up for site visits.

September 7 th

Condition Surveys and Preservation Needs Assessments

REQUIRED READINGS:

Boersma, Foekje . Unravelling Textiles: A Handbook for the Preservation of Textile Collections . Archetype

2007. Chap. 11 “Documentation”, pp. 137 – 151.

Child, Margaret. “Preservation Assessment and Planning.” In Preservation of Library and Archival

Materials . Andover, Mass.: Northeast Document Conservation Center, 2008. http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/1Planning_and_Prioritizing/02PreservationAssessment.php

Chrzastowski, Tina, David Cobb, Nancy Davis, Jean Geil, and Betsy Kruger. “Library Collection

Deterioration: A Study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.” College & Research Libraries

50, no. 5 (September): 577–84.

Frost, Hannah. Survey of Sound Recordings. In Proceedings from the Sound Savings: Preserving Audio

Collections Symposium. Association of Research Libraries, July 24–26, 2003. http://www.arl.org/preserv/sound_savings_proceedings/Surveying_sound-2.shtml

Ogden, Sherelyn. “The Needs Assessment Survey,” Andover, Mass.: Northeast Document Conservation

Center, 2003.

http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/1Planning_and_Prioritizing/03NeedAssessmentSurvey.php

Teper, Thomas H., and Stephanie S. Atkins. “Building Preservation: The University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign’s Stacks Assessment.” In College & Research Libraries 64, no. 3 (May 2003): 211–27.

September 14 th

No Class

Students are to use this week for scheduled 2-hour group site visits, followed by at least one hour afterward for discussion with teammates.

September 21 st

REVIEW SITE VISITS

Prolonging the Life of Cultural Heritage Collections


Applebaum, Barbara. Criteria for Treatment: Reversibility. AIC 1987, Volume 26, Number 2, Article 1 (pp.

65 to 73)

http://aic.stanford.edu/jaic/articles/jaic26-02-001.html

There is no need to read this entire article thoroughly. The abstract offers a good overview and overall the piece is a good example of the kinds of discussions conservators face when dealing with the AIC Code of Ethics.

Banks, Paul. “Preservation, Library Collections, and the Concept of Cultural Property.” In

Libraries and

Scholarly Communication in the United States: The Historical Dimension . Edited by Phyllis Dain and John

Y. Cole. Westport, Conn: Greenwood press, 1990, pp. 89–110.

Balloffet, Nelly and Jenny Hille. Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives . Vocabulary pp. 199-203.

Balloffet, Nellie and Jenny Hille. Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Introduction, pp. xvii-xix.

Balloffet, Nelly, and Jenny Hille, Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Section 1

“The Basics of Preservation” pp. 10-11.


2007. Glossary pp. 159-60.


2007. Chap. 12 “Collection Management”, pp. 153 – 157, especially 12.1 Collection Plan.

Smith, Abby. The Future of the Past: Preservation in American Research Libraries.

Washington, D.C.:

Council on Library and Information Resources, 1999. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub82/pub82text.html

Darling, Pamela W., and Sherelyn Ogden. “From Problems Perceived to Programs in Practice: The

Preservation of Library Resources in the U.S.A., 1956–1980.” Library Resources & Technical Services 25

(January/March 1981): 9–29.

Heritage Health Index Report. 2005 report from the Institute of Museums and Library Services. http://www.heritagepreservation.org/hhi/

Full report: http://www.heritagepreservation.org/hhi/full.html

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, “Nature of Archival Materials,” in Preserving Archives and Manuscripts, Chap.

3, pp. 19-43. “Glossary” pp. 155-158.

Familiarize yourself with the following online information for class:

American Institute for Conservation (AIC) http://www.conservation-us.org/

Including especially, Specialty Groups, About Us, Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice (under Core

Documents)

A recent questionnaire was sent to AIC members regarding their background. The results can be seen at: http://www.conservation-us.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=957

International Institute for Conservation (IIC) http://www.iiconservation.org/

The Library of Congress (LOC) Preservation Directorate http://www.loc.gov/preserv/

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) http://www.archives.gov/

Note on the home page there is a link to Recovering From Disaster that is meant to offer immediate advice for those in need.

Also note the following Preservation and Archives Professionals: Preservation at the

National Archives: http://www.archives.gov/preservation/internal/index.html

September 28 th

Building-Wide Concerns

Environmental readings scheduled for this week.


Banks, Paul N., and Roberta Pilette, eds. Preservation: Issues and Planning. Chicago: American Library

Association, 2000. Particularly Chapter 7, “Environment and Building Design,” by Paul Banks, pp. 114-

118 only; and Chapter 10, “Library and Archives Security,” by Richard Strassberg, pp. 166-177 only.

Balloffet, Nelly, and Jenny Hille, Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Sec. 1 “The

Basics of Preservation” pp. 1-9.


2007. Section 3 The Museum Environment, Section 4 Light, and Section 5 Insects and Fungi, pp. 31-79.

Museum Exhibit Lighting 2007, Classic Issues, New Light, AIC 35 th Annual Meeting, Richmond, VA.

April 16-17, 2007. Section 1, Glossary of Terms and Ideas, pp. 1-14.

NARA 1571, Archival Storage Standards www.archives.gov/foia/directives/nara1571.pdf

October 5 th

Structure and Deterioration of Multimedia Materials

Preserving Audio Visual Collections

BEFORE CLASS, please watch the videos on the preservation of audio and video collections on the

Website of the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), approximately one hour long in total. http://www.ccaha.org/education/videos

9:00 Quinn Stewart, Instructional Technology Specialist

Tour of School of Information Digitization Labs: The Computer Classroom and Media Production Lab

Two-page summary of the video talks and tour is due by Friday at noon.


CLIR pub 148: The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub148abst.html

This is a long important document that has just been published. Read at least the Forward by Librarian of

Congress James Billington, pp. vi – vii, and Introduction pp. 1-8.

Paul Conway. Preservation in the Age of Google: Digitization, Digital Preservation, and Dilemmas. Library

Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 61–79]. The University of Chicago: 2010.2010 by The University of Chicago.

October 12 th

Preservation Reformatting

9:00 Meet at PCL Preservation Department, MEET FIRST FLOOR ELEVATORS for PCL2.504.

10:15 Tour of Reformatting Section, followed by discussion.


ARL Preservation of Research Library Materials Committee. “Recognizing Digitization as a Preservation

Reformatting Method,” May 2004.

http://www.arl.org/preserv/digitization/index.shtml

Balloffet, Nelly and Jenny Hille, Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Sec. 1 “The

Basics of Preservation”, Work Flow Charts, pp. 29-31.

Hazen, Dan, Jeffrey Horrell, and Jan Merrill-Oldham. Selecting Research Collections for Digitization.

Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources, August 1998.

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/hazen/pub74.html

Smith, Abby. Why Digitize? Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources, February

1999.

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80.html

Weissman Preservation Center, Harvard University Library. Principles for Reformatting Collections,

September 2002.

http://preserve.harvard.edu/guidelines/reformattingprinciples.html

October 19 th

Collection Stabilization and Preventive Care


Balloffet, Nelly, and Jenny Hille. Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Sec. 3

“Simple Preservation Techniques: Rehousing Library and Archive Materials” pp. 54-74.


2007. Section 3 The Museum Environment, Section 11 Documentation and Section 12 Collection

Management pp. 137-156.

Greene, Mark A. and Dennis Meissner. "More Product, Less Process: Pragmatically Revamping Traditional

Processing Approaches to Deal with Late 20th-Century Collection," 2005. American Archivist, 63.2

(Fall/Winter). Pre-print available online at: http://ahc.uwyo.edu/documents/faculty/greene/papers/Greene-Meissner.pdf

National Archives and Records Administration, Holdings Maintenance http://www.archives.gov/preservation/holdings-maintenance/

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn. “Handling Archival Materials,” and “Conservation Treatment”, in Preserving

Archives and Manuscripts.

Chap. 6 & 10, pp. 67 – 75; 133 –154.

Waters, Peter. “Phased Conservation”. The Book and Paper Group Annual , Volume 17. The American

Institute for Conservation,1998. Read “Abstract” and sections on “Phased Conservation Philosophy”,

“Creating a Balanced Conservation Office Management Structure”, “Preservation and Access vs.

Preservation on Demand”, and “Summary.” http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v17/bp17-17.html

October 26 th

Structure and Deterioration of Paper-Based Materials

Structure and Deterioration of Photographs

Dana Hemmenway, guest lecturer on photographs

Two-page summary of Hemmenway’s talk due by Friday at noon.


Archival and Special Collections Facilities: Guidelines for Archivists, Librarians, Architects, and Engineers

Society of American Archivists, SAA Standards Board, SAA Task Force on Guidelines for Archival

Facilities. © 2009 Society of American Archivists. Read the section on Light. Copy on reserve at PCL.

Also available for purchase on ALA Website, http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2874 for $37 plus

P&H.


2007. Chap. 2, part 2.1 only Natural decay of cellulose, pp. 21-23 only. Also 1.2 Vegetable fibres, pp. 4-7.

Lavedrine, Bertrand. “Chapter 1: The Vulnerability of Photographs.” In A Guide to the Preventive

Conservation of Photograph Collections . Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2003, pp. 3–142.

Copy on reserve at PCL.

Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn. Chapter 4: “Causes of Deterioration.” In Preserving Archives and Manuscripts.

Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1993, pp. 45-50 .

Shelley, Marjorie. “Warning Signs: When Works on Paper Require Conservation.” In Conservation

Concerns: A Guide for Collectors and Curators , edited by Konstanze Bachmann. Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.

Identification of Prints:

Familiarize yourself with the following Website: http://www.graphicatlas.org/identification/

Photograph Information Record (form): http://www.conservation-us.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=949

November 2 nd

E-Documents: Creating and Preserving Digital Collections

Unmil Karadkar & Pat Galloway, guest lecturers

Two-page summary of these talks are due by Friday at noon.


Galloway, Patricia. "Preservation of Digital Objects" from ARIST 38 (2004). On reserve.

Galloway, Patricia. "Digital Archiving" from ELIS Third Edition (2009). On reserve.

The following documents to be sent to students:

Buckland, Michael K. What Is a ‘‘Document’’? , 1997.

Crane, Gregory. Cultural Heritage Digital Libraries: Needs and

Components, 2002.

Mikeal, Adam, James Creel, Alexey Maslov, Scott Phillips, John Leggett, Mark McFarland. Large-scale

ETD repositories: A case study of a digital library application, 2009.

Naaman, Mor, Rahul Nair, Vlad Kaplun. Photos on the Go: A Mobile Application Case Study, 2008

November 9 th

Security and Disaster Planning

Building a Preservation Program

James Stroud & Connie Brooks, guest lecturers

Two-page summary of talks by Stroud and Brooks are due by Friday at noon.


Security & Disaster Planning:

Frost, Gary and Randy Silverman. "Disaster Recovery in the Artifact Fields - Mississippi After. Hurricane

Katrina," International Preservation News n°37. http://www.ifla.org/VI/4/ipn.html

Balloffet, Nelly, and Jenny Hille, Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Sec. 1 “The

Basics of Preservation” Disaster Planning and Response pp. 12-19.


2007. Chap. 12, review 12.3 Disaster plan, pp.155 – 157.

Schlotzhauer, Nonny Disaster relief: Starting points for learning. C&RL News, Vol. 67, No. 2. 2006.

Accessed Online 4/8/07

The COSA form downloadable at this URL. http://www.statearchivists.org/prepare/framework/assessment.htm

Guild, Sherry and Maureen MacDonald. TB #26 Mould Prevention and Collection Recovery: Guidelines for Heritage Collections. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Conservation Institute, 2004. Summary and ordering instructions. This will also available on reserve later in the semester. https://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/bookstore/viewCategory-e.cfm?id=18&thispubid=500

November 16 th

Conservation Treatment Options

Tour of Ransom Center Conservation Labs

9:00 MEET IN THE LOBBY


Balloffet, Nelly and Jenny Hille, Preservation and Conservation for Libraries and Archives. Sec. 4 “Paper

Conservation Techniques” pp. 75-93 and Sec. 5 “Book Conservation Techniques” pp. 94-147.

Jan Paris, Choosing and Working with a Conservator, NEDCC Leaflet http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/7Conservation_Procedures/07ChoosingAConservator.php

November 23 rd

PRESERVATION NEEDS ASSESMENT PAPERS DUE, at beginning of class

PRESENTATIONS OF PRESERVATION NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

Brief information regarding writing notes and bibliography from the Chicago Style Manual http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/chicagonotesgd.php

November 30 th

ELECTRONIC COPIES OF REPORTS AND POWER POINTS DUE BY TODAY.

PRESENTATIONS OF PRESERVATION NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

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