Preservation encompasses the activities that prolong the usable life of materials. Preservation activities are designed to minimize the physical and chemical deterioration of materials and to prevent the loss of informational content. These activities include providing a stable environment for materials of all media types, using safe handling and storage methods, duplicating unstable materials (e.g., nitrate film, thermofax) to stable media, copying potentially fragile materials into a usable format (e.g., microfilming or digitization), storing materials in housings made from stable materials (for example, document boxes made from "acid-free" paperboard), repairing documents to maintain their original format, establishing a pest control program, and instituting a disaster recovery plan that includes plans for emergency preparedness and response.
(Definition adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration by Fred R. Byers)
For do-it-yourself repairs on your own books (not ours!), check out this site at Dartmouth College.
Comments or Questions? Please address them to
mathews@ucsc.edu
URL: http://library.ucsc.edu/preservation/
