Conservation Facilities | Activities and Projects
Definition of Rare Materials at the AMNH Library
Proper Care of Library Books: A Guide for Museum Staff
Preserving Personal Books and Papers
Suppliers of Archival Materials

Conservation Facilities

The Library has a fully equipped conservation laboratory where the latest preservation technology is used to protect the Library's unique collections. The Library's conservation laboratory began operation in 1989, and expanded into larger quarters in 1993. The laboratory supports a wide range of physical treatment, from box-making to minor repair to full conservation treatment of materials from the Library's collections. Equipment includes a sink with a water filtration system for aqueous treatments, a fume hood for solvent work, an ultrasonic welder, a cast iron board shear, as well as equipment for hand bookbinding.

Activities and Projects

The Conservation Department undertakes a wide range of preservation and conservation activities on an ongoing basis. The most important of these is maintaining a suitable environment for storage of Library materials 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Storage temperature is kept at 68 degrees F. and 40-45% relative humidity for all but the photographic materials, which are kept at 65 degrees F. and 35% RH.

Priority is given to the welfare of the collections as a whole, though individual treatments have not been neglected. The collections have been extensively surveyed in order to gather the information necessary for planning and decision making. Some of the projects which have been undertaken and completed, or which are still ongoing, include creating protective enclosures for fragile or damaged items which cannot be treated immediately (the Conservation Department creates on average over 2,000 enclosures of various kinds per year); repair and/or rebinding; full conservation treatment; aqueous and non-aqueous deacidification; preservation microfilming; facsimile reproduction onto alkaline paper; and polyester encapsulation.

Other activities include training Library and Museum staff in the correct ways to handle, clean, enclose, and shelve materials; consultation with the Acquisitions and Cataloging staff in making decisions concerning reformatting; the implementation of screening procedures to catch individual conservation problems in acquisition, in circulation, and during shelving; and assistance in the mounting of materials for exhibits.

The Library also has a long history of involvement in cooperative and regional activities, including membership in groups and organizations concerned with conservation and preservation, participation in and presentations given at conferences, seminars, and workshops, as well as contribution of articles to publications in the field.

Publications

Rhodes, Barbara J.  Copy pencil.  In: Media & techniques of works of art on paper  New York: Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, 1999

----------.  Before Photocopying: The Art and History of Mechanical Copying, 1780-1938 (New Castle DE: Oak Knoll Press and Heraldry Bindery, 1999).  (with William W. Streeter)

----------.  18th and 19th century European and American paper binding structures:  a case study of paper bindings in the American Museum of Natural History Library.  The Book and Paper Group Annual  Vol. 14:51-62, 1995.

----------.  Consolidation of leather bookbindings with Parylene ‘N’: some observations. Leather Conservation News  Vol. 10:30-33, 1994.

----------.  Hell’s own brew: home book renovation from nineteenth century receipts to today’s kitchen chemistry; its legacy for preservation. The Paper Conservator  Vol. 15:59-70, 1991.

----------.  Preservation at the AMNH Library. Conservation Administration News  No. 44:3, 27-29, January, 1991.

----------, ed..  Hold everything!  A storage and housing information sourcebook (general editor)  New York:  METRO, 1990.

----------, ed..  Hell and high water: A disaster information sourcebook New York:  METRO, 1988.

----------.  The Columbia conservation internship. Conservation Administration News  No. 28:9, 28,  January, 1987.

Gennett, Mary. Conservation of research library collections at the American Museum of Natural History. Science and Technology Libraries  Spring, 1987.

Root, Nina J.  Preserving and maintaining museum library collections. In: Museum librarianship  John C. Larsen, ed.  Hamden, CT:  Library Professional Publications, 1985.

Haas, Pamela.  The conservation of photographic collections. Curator Vol. 26:89-106, 1983.

Additional Information

The Conservator has compiled additional information about conservation and preservation available from the following links:

Definition of Rare Materials at the AMNH Library
Proper Care of Library Books: A Guide for Museum Staff
Preserving Personal Books and Papers
Suppliers of Archival Materials