Neil Offen of the Herald Sun came to interview us last week. You can see his wonderful story about us in the June 24, 2010, edition. And yes, the banana book gets mentioned (we know you love that book).
Category Archives: Conservation
New Photos On Flickr
If you haven’t checked our Flickr page lately, I invite you to do so. We’ve added several images to our TRLN Bookbinders and the What’s In The Lab albums.
And if you haven’t done so already, please friend us on Face Book. We have 183 friends so far, not bad since we started last October. But you can never have too many friends, right?
Celebrating 10 Years of Preservation: 10 years, 10 People
This year marks the Preservation Department’s tenth year serving the Duke University Libraries. We are planning several events to mark the occasion which will include exhibits, an open house, and interviews with staff members.
We will start our staff interviews with our longest-serving team member Winston Atkins, Preservation Officer for the libraries. Winston came to Duke from NC State a decade ago and was tasked with starting the Preservation Department. You can also find this and other videos at our Duke University Libraries You Tube channel.
We would love to hear from you if you have favorite Preservation, Conservation or DPC story to share, or would just like to give us a shout out and let us know how we are doing. Contact me and I’ll compile them for a blog post later.
Confessions of a Conservation Librarian
Yesterday I said to myself, “Self, you haven’t backed up your computer files lately. Perhaps you should.” To whit I replied, “Meh, maybe after I download this software so I can stream videos.”
Of course my computer crashed this morning. I tried rebooting, rebooting again, and again. Nothing. All those files and images…perhaps they can be saved but my luck doesn’t normally run that way.
*Sigh* How many times during the semester do I tell my preservation students about the fragility of electronic media and documents? How many times in my professional life do I tell people that they really need to back up their files regularly because you don’t know when a problem will strike and you risk losing everything? I told you so…and I told myself so.
So, loyal readers, go to your computer right now and back up your files. Go. Now. I’ll wait for you to come back….there, don’t you feel better?
The Elves Have Left the Tugboat (or Thoughts on Binding Music)
Conservation does a lot of pamphlet binding for the Music Library. You would think that music scores would be fairly easy to work with, but then you would be wrong.
Scores come in a variety of sizes from miniature to over two feet tall. They often come with CD’s or multiple parts that need to go into a pocket. They can be folios printed on two sides that have been folded down the middle and stapled, or they may be printed as single-sided sheets that need to be put together in some way so the sheets don’t get separated. Scores can be adhesive bound, stapled through the fold, spiral bound or comb bound. Sometimes they are paginated, often they are not. Then there are the random arrangements wherein the musician decides on what order to play the piece.
There is nothing straight forward about getting music scores ready for the shelf. Reading music helps, and paying attention to the frontice material is a must.
Last year 30% of the pamphlets we bound came from our Music Library. Every now and then we get a title that we all fall in love with. If you have ever played Dead Elf Tugboat, we would love to hear from you!
What Good Is A Box?
A brittle book from the general collections came in today whose binding is holding on only by its spine lining. The paper and sewing are brittle and several pages are loose. It failed even a single fold of a (very very tiny) double-fold test, so it is too brittle to repair. No problem, we’ll make a box and give the librarian the option of having a digital or paper surrogate made.
What caught my eye, however, was the note she wrote saying “Please repair spine, don’t put in a box since that won’t help.” Until we decide to make a surrogate, boxing actually does help:
- It keeps a fragile book with loose pieces contained in one place
- It provides protection from wear and tear
- It reduces light exposure
- It alerts a reader that this is a fragile book
- It keeps a brittle book in the stacks and available for the next use (this book can still be used, as long as the patron is very careful…we trust that they will be)
We try to repair everything that comes to us but sometimes we just can’t and we need to do something else. Creating a protective enclosure is one of those things we can do to keep a brittle book in the collections.
What’s In Conservation? A Map the Size of London (almost)
What’s 6-3/4 feet high by 13 feet long? This London map printed in 1747 by John Rocque of course! Originally issued in 24 panels, this map is a very detailed map of the city complete with pubs, churches and other points of interest. It came to our attention through a cataloger in RBMSCL who needs it opened and flattened so he can describe it.
This arrived in six rolls, each roll having four, 40 by 70 centimeter panels attached to a linen backing (pictured above). The first step was to meet with the curator to discuss treatment options. Everyone decided that separating each panel would make it easier to catalog and store, and ultimately much more usable as an object. As these were originally printed in panels we all felt that separating them was acceptable.
After getting the go-ahead we carefully cut the panels at the “seams” leaving each panel adhered to its linen support. Next we dry-cleaned the front and back of each panel to remove surface dirt. Each roll will go into a humidification chamber (pictured left) to relax the paper and fabric so it can be unrolled and flattened between felts and a heavy weight. Once flat, we will repair the damaged areas and create a housing for them as a group. Then back they go to cataloging and ultimately the shelf so that you, too, can request to look at them.
Duke Magazine Highlights Conservation
Aaron Kirschenfeld of Duke Magazine wrote a nice piece on the Verne and Tanya Roberts Conservation Lab that appears in the January/February Duke Magazine. An online version is also available.
Apparently, a few years ago Aaron heard through the grapevine that there were people in Trent Hall doing interesting things to books. That, of course, was us when we were off site waiting for our beautiful new lab facilities to be constructed. Thanks to Duke Magazine and to Aaron for allowing us to share what we do with the Duke alumni community.
P.S. The now-famous banana book makes an appearance in the print version.
Of Birds and Bindings
As a conservator I tend to break books down into their parts: paper, thread, adhesive, ink, binding style. Each of these components requires careful consideration before proceeding with a treatment. It happens every day, we look at a Blaeu atlas, or a Whitman manuscript and we get to work repairing them. Sure, these are marvelous items, but the bottom line is that we need to put them back together so our patrons can use them. Then you encounter something that reminds you just how special your job really is.
John James Audubon’s Birds of America came up on our condition survey list this week. These double-elephant folios are truly magnificent. Each volume is over 100 centimeters (39 inches) in height and very heavy, heavy enough that it takes two people to move them. I followed my survey form, recorded the binding information then the text block information, wrote down the damage I saw and determined what priority we should give them. 
Then I did something I don’t normally do, I took a few minutes to admire these books for what they are. The masterful drawings, the tiny details that inform us of how these creatures live, the beautiful colors of these birds. I thought about the skill it took to draw these animals, to print the plates, and to bind these big volumes.
I feel lucky to have the opportunity to handle these books, to be a small part of their history, and to work for an institution that trusts me to do right by the collections. The funnest part was working with the RBMSCL staff to choose the new openings. If you are in the vicinity of the Mary Duke Biddle Room, stop by and see our feathered friends.
Happy Boxing Day
Traditionally, Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26th. Often cited as having British origins, it is the day the wealthy give to those less fortunate. December 26th is also St. Stephen’s Day on the Christian calendar, and Wren’s Day in Ireland. If you are looking for some nice music to go with these two celebrations, look no further than the Elvis Costello song “St. Stephen’s Day Murders” from the Chieftans album The Bells of Dublin. Hopefully, things are going a little better in your household today.
In the Conservation Lab we celebrate boxing day twice a month. We started this tradition in 2006 as a way to focus on making custom enclosures for the Rare Books, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library. 
On the first and third Wednesday of the month everyone in the lab works on making boxes. We started with the early manuscript collection and have since moved on to other areas of the collection in need of enclosures. Last fiscal year we made just over one thousand boxes for boxing day with a total of over 2,500 since we started boxing day. For a few examples of items we have worked on, head over to our Flickr page.
As the year winds down and we look forward to 2010, we wish you all a joyous Kwanzaa, and a very happy and peaceful new year. Stay safe, keep healthy, we’ll see you all back on campus soon.