All posts by Beth Doyle

Collaboration, Conservation, Digital Production Center

Repairing de Bry, One Piece At A Time

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Written by Erin Hammeke, Conservator for Special Collections.

I recently completed the treatment of three separate volumes from Theodor de Bry’s account of the Americas, and I thought I would share an anecdote from the treatment of one of the volumes, Das vierdte Buch von der Neuwen Welt (Frankfurt, 1594).

This item has an engraved map of the Florida coast and Gulf of Mexico bound in at the front of the text. The curators informed me that this map was missing about a half of the complete printed map, the whole right side. They felt that it would be useful to indicate to researchers just how much of the map was missing by doing a repair and fill to the original dimensions of the plate.

An interesting thing happened. There was a small fragment, apparently tucked in with the map that I assumed belonged along the torn edge, but upon closer inspection, did not appear to line up with any part of the map along that edge.

Lucky for us, UNC Wilson Library has a version of this volume with a complete map. We contacted our conservation colleagues at UNC and arranged to see the map at their conservation lab. I took an image of the fragment with me to see if we could place it while we were there, but we couldn’t, so, we took a digital photograph of their map in its entirety and headed back to our lab.

I blew up the digital image and printed it out to the actual dimensions of the original, and I superimposed this printout onto our partial map on a light table. I was surprised to find that the small fragment actually belonged near to the center of the missing portion of the plate.

After some head-scratching, the curators and I decided that it was best to adhere the fragment in its rightful place. Again, using the light-table and printout as a guide, I adhered it precisely where it belonged.

I was pleased to be able to share this project with scholars who use these works at a recent symposium dedicated to the latest issue of the Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. And I am happy to say that all three of the treated volumes were recently digitized by the Digital Production Center and are now available through the library’s catalog.

Here is a picture of the map after washing, lining, repairing, and adhering the loose fragment with paste.

Conservation, Preservation, Preservation Week

Preservation Video Rodeo Roundup, pt. 5 (The Rest of the Videos)

Welcome to the final day of our Preservation Week video rodeo roundup. Today is a grab bag of preservation and conservation related videos, and a couple plain ol’ library videos, that we like. If you have found others you like that are in this same genre, please leave a link in the comments.

Book artist and author Bea Nettles on learning about preservation and how it has changed her work.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE0cx4gM_fo

LYRASIS (formerly SOLINET) shows you how to safely remove a paperclip. I know you want to send this to all of your processors, don’t you? They will also show you how to remove staples.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI27vwFuEjM

Library security from the T.C. Beirne Law Library at the University of Queensland, Australia.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRNYIdiVdE

Just for fun: In 2009 to take a break from studying, an estimated 3,000 students created a flashmob at the UNC Chapel Hill Davis Library. Hmmm, today is the last day of classes here, I wonder if our students will do something like this?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faXpUBgQnd8

Conservation, Preservation, Preservation Week

Preservation Video Rodeo Roundup, pt. 4 (Insects and Disasters)

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Welcome to part four of our Preservation Week video roundup. Today we have for your enjoyment some fun videos on not-so-fun topics: insects and disasters.

First up, my favorite insect video from the University of Florida Smathers Library Preservation Department. This, my friends, is why you want to keep the lid on the trash cans.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcV-5C8tDP0

From our former colleague comes this humorous video. Thanks to UNC-Greensboro Preservation Committee for a fun look at insects in the library.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SD_HaAw-4Q

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne Preservation Department recently put together some books on shelves to see what happens when a sprinkler head goes off. It’s always fun to watch books get wet.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD66a9cTa_c

After a flash flood hit the Hamilton Library on the campus of the University of Hawaii, the Conservation Department had to clean and repair the damage.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi9jYpWo4oM

Just for fun: Mr. Bean tries to thwart security at his local library.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyDY0hiMZy8

Digitizing, Preservation, Preservation Week

Preservation Video Rodeo Roundup, pt. 3 (Digital Preservation)

Welcome to part three of our Preservation Week video roundup. Today, some videos on preserving digital content. If you have favorite videos on this topic, please let us know about them in the comments section.

Team Digital Preservation always brings humor to the complicated issues of digital preservation. Tune in for their wacky, yet insightful, adventures.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGFOZLecjTc

Abby Smith Rumsey recently gave a lecture at Yale University titled “But Storage is Cheap…Digital Preservation in the Age of Abundance.” Well worth the time to view, and thanks to Yale for posting their Preservation Lecture Series videos online.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk9ccNP9xTk

The Library of Congress presents basic issues of preserving digital content in this short video. Great for the non-preservation professional audience.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEmmeFFafUs&feature=relmfu

The Library of Congress talks to teens about longevity of digital media. We all need to do more to reach out to youth to get them interested now. Have you had success with this dear reader?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fhu7s0AfmM

Just for fun: What would the help desk have looked like back when books were the new technology?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ

Preservation, Preservation Week

Preservation Video Rodeo Roundup, pt. 2 (Care and Handling)

It’s day two of Preservation Week. In today’s video roundup we share some of our favorite care and handling videos. If you have a favorite care and handling video, give us the link in the comment section.

The classic video is “Murder in the Stacks.” Thanks to Columbia University, this timeless (OK, maybe “historic”) video is now online for all to enjoy.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phyFPJD-CGs

This video is one of the best, and shortest, care and handling videos we have seen. Produced by Middlebury College Preservation and Processing Unit (Department?).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kog2yXMRRfs

At George Mason University, taking care of books is FUN.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX1Eiz7rLwg

Daniel Ireton created this fabulous video…modern videos meet olde tyme production. Hey Daniel, what library is this?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfegfUyoxQc

Just for fun: A reminder that food in the library is generally frowned upon.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ZHPJT2Kp4

Conservation, Preservation Week

It’s Preservation Week! Preservation Video Rodeo Roundup, pt. 1 (Conservation)

Happy 2nd Annual Preservation Week to you all.  There are many exciting events happening across the country for PW this year. To find an event near you, simply find one on the ALA PW map.

In our library, the Preservation Office is hosting a lecture by Ryan Shaw on Wednesday, details can be found at our previous blog post.

Here at Preservation Underground we are hosting a Preservation Video Rodeo Roundup. Each day will have a theme, and we will link to videos related to that theme that we have found on the web. There are tons of videos out there, we will link to our favorites. Please participate! If you have  favorite preservation, conservation or digitization themed videos we should know about, tell us about it in the comment section.

Today’s Theme: Conservation

The J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah put together a fine video showing their beautiful conservation lab. This video highlights some of the work they are doing in both the book lab and the paper lab. Hosted by Randy Silverman, Preservation Librarian.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQNmEDkyOEU

Brigham Young University has a hilarious take on the old TV show called ER. In this video, titled “BR” you get to see the work of the “book doctors” in the conservation lab.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyNbUWvq2mM

The Georgia Archives offers this fantastic video on a recent project to conserve a map dating from 1808.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym-NkKcA7LM&feature=share

Our very own Erin Hammeke was interviewed last year by Duke at Work. We have our own videos listed in the “video” category if you want to see more.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDNbU-XW300

Just for fun: Jeff Peachey, maker of wonderful paring knives, shows us just how easy paring leather should be.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB5ZHNdqTPQ

Announcements, Preservation Week

Preservation Week: Save the Date for Ryan Shaw

Written by Winston Atkins, DUL Preservation Officer. For more information on this event, contact him at Winston [dot] Atkins [at] duke ___edu. More information can also be found on the event page.

As part of the Duke University Libraries’ Preservation Week activities, our Office of Preservation is sponsoring a talk by Professor Ryan Shaw entitled “Event as Data: Conceptual Infrastructure for History,” based on his use of technology to examine traditional approaches to organizing knowledge.

This will be an interesting opportunity to hear how faculty use traditional sources and new technology in their research, and to convey their results.  Especially exciting for those of us in preservation, it will offer us an opportunity to see the sorts of presentations of research that we will be called upon to preserve. You can read a more complete description of the presentation here: http://library.duke.edu/news/main/2011/article56.html.

Edible Book Festival

Edible Book Festival VI (2011)

Our sixth annual Edible Book Festival was a huge hit!

Thank you to all of the contestants, bidders and voters. We raised over $1000 for the DUL Memorial Fund in honor of Helene Baumann. Thank you to our sponsors, the Gothic Bookshop, the Sallie Bingham Center, and Duke University Libraries. Thanks, too, to Mark Zupan for taking pictures of all the entries.

The following were the winners of the popular vote:

Most Edible: Custard out of Carolina (Kelly Wooten)

Least Edible: Medium Raw (Beth Doyle)

Punniest: 100 Ears of Salad Dude (Judy Moore, her entry is pictured above)

Best Student Entry: Make Whey for Ducklings (Dana Powell)

Most Book-Like: Things Fall Apart (Winston Atkins)

Best in Show: Cat-a-log (Amy Turner)

The item that got the most votes across all the categories: Things Fall Apart (Winston Atkins)

Check out the other press we got!

Duke News Video

Herald-Sun article

Duke Chronicle [we are in the slide show for weekend happenings]

Thanks again for making EBFVI a success, see you next year!

P.S. If you haven’t taken our blog survey, please do. Last I checked, we were in the lead amongst all DUL blogs….but the attorneys are gaining on us. Vote now and vote often (just kidding…just vote).

Conservation, Exhibits

Best Before Treatment Image Ever

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Conservators take images both before and after treatment to document what the item looked like when it comes to the lab, and what it looks like when it leaves the lab. We also create written documentation that describes the condition of the objects as well as the materials and techniques we will use to fix them.

To get ready for the next exhibit “Animated Anatomies,” Erin is working on repairing two flap books from the History of Medicine Collection that will be on display. Her before-treatment documentation has created some of the best treatment images ever.

The exhibit opens on April 6th. These are rare and beautiful research materials from as early as the sixteenth century. If you are in the area be sure to see visit the library to see them.

Image of Witkowski, “Human Anatomy and Physiology” pt. 7.

P.S. If you haven’t done so, please take a couple minutes to answer the five questions in our blog survey. We are currently the front runner in survey responses, but the lawyers are quickly closing in on us. Please help! Your input is important to us.