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Storage and Preservation

The Storage Environment

Landmark Facilities Group provides a classification scheme for understanding buildings and rooms in relation to controlling the storage environment for collections.

The Cornell University Electronic Student Records Systems Project Report includes information on the storage environment for electronic media.

This SOLINET leaflet includes temperature and relative humidity specifications for collection storage areas.

This site at the Rochester Institute of Technology provides a link to the Preservation Calculator, freeware that can be downloaded to Microsoft Windows operating systems. By using temperature and humidity data from a repository, one can demonstrate how temperature and humidity affect the longevity of paper collections.

Permanent Paper Standards

The Abbey Publications website contains information on permanent papers and standards for testing papers.

Preservation of Film, Video, and Audio Collections

The National Film Preservation Foundation site provides a basic introduction to film preservation.

At the Video History Project site, Video Preservation - The Basics is a thorough guide to the care, handling, and reformatting of videocassettes.

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National Library of Canada provides an introduction to preserving audio collections.

Gilles St-Laurent. The Care and Handling of Recorded Sound Materials. Originally published by the Commission on Library and Information Resources in 1996, this article is an introduction to how sound is retained on various recording media, why the media degrades, and the appropriate conservation measures.

Library of Congress. "Cylinder, Disc and Tape Care in a Nutshell." A brief leaflet that covers the care of older recording media, including phonograph records and wax cylinders.

Photograph Collections

Part of the Caring for Your Treasures site, this resource is a brief introduction to caring for photographs.

Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions,1992) provides information on caring for photographs as well as an outline of the photographic processes used over time. This is very useful as knowledge of the various processes and materials used in photography should inform conservation decision-making.

Disaster Planning, Response, and Mitigation

NEDCC Technical Leaflet. PROTECTION FROM LOSS: WATER AND FIRE DAMAGE, BIOLOGICAL AGENTS, THEFT, AND VANDALISM by Sherelyn Ogden. A solid, brief overview of hazards that threaten collections.

NEDCC Technical Leaflet. DISASTER PLANNING by Beth Lindblom Patkus. Provides an overview of the disaster planning process.

NEDCC Technical Leaflet. WORKSHEET FOR OUTLINING A DISASTER PLAN by Karen E. Brown. A comprehensive planning tool.

Walter Henry. Outline for a Flood Preparedness Exercise (1988). Henry provides a schema for classifying flood disasters in libraries and practical steps to recover book, archives, and manuscript collections.

This online bulletin by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts provides a detailed guide to salvaging photograph collections.

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Though specific to Connecticut statutes, this URL provides standards for fire-resistive vaults.

Archivists, librarians, and others who have responsibility for historical records should acquaint themselves with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) site and FEMA resources, including the Disaster Salvage and Response Wheel.

The New Hampshire Office of Emergency Management provides a range of information on hazards mitigation, contact information for local emergency management officials, and photographs of disasters. A resource to examine before writing a disaster plan.

Micrographics

Alabama State Archives Technical Leaflet. Preparing a Contract for Archival-Quality Microfilming Services provides practical guidance for local government officials and others in preparing a contract for microfilming services. Includes a sample contract.

New York State Archives publications at http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/nysaservices/ns_pubs.shtml include several leaflets on microfilming, two of which are highly recommended here:

Producing High Quality Microfilm at:

and

Frequently Asked Microfilming Questions at:

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Digital Imaging

Anne R. Kenney and Oya R. Rieger Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging for Libraries [Online Tutorial] (RLG, 2000). Intended to use alone or with the print version of Moving Theory into Practice, the tutorial is among the most complete, online resource for anyone considering a digital imaging project.

Digital Preservation: A Conservator's Perspective by Walter Henry is a concise discussion of digitization as a preservation tool. Henry argues that digitization must be preservation. This is well worth viewing.

Guidelines for Ensuring the Long Term Accessibility and Usability of Records Stored as Digital Images by the New York State Archives and Records Administration.

Last updated: 2/10/05