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Last updated March 2004.
Program
The
program of preservation and collection maintenance at Cornell University
is concerned with the physical conservation treatment, reformatting, media,
and safe handling of the collection. All these operations are closely
related, and some cross-training of staff will enable
a more flexible response. The collection maintenance
staff must shelve and move large numbers of books every day, and participate
in a massive program of moving materials to remote
storage at the University's remote storage facilities.
Preservation Strategies
As with most research libraries, preservation operations
strategy at Cornell falls into two very broad categories:
1. The regular speedy processing of new, unbound acquisitions on receipts,
the binding of periodicals through a commercial binder, the timely repair
of books damaged by reader use, the facsimile photocopy replacement of
recently circulated books found to have brittle paper. University funds
are used for this category.
2. The preservation of entire collections known to be of national importance
but developed to serve strong local academic programs. Collections are
reformatted, usually through microfilm but also utilizing various combinations
including digital imaging, and conservation treatment projects are carried
out. A combination of outside (usually grant) and University funding is
used for the
category.
Storage Strategy
Most of the nineteen Cornell University research libraries
have reached a practical space limit, and since 1978, lesser-used books
have been moved to an annex facility in the University orchards. In 1996,
a high-density storage facility was constructed, and the large-scale storage
of books begun. A new high-density storage facility is now in the planning
stage and should be completed by 2005.
As the libraries add
approximately 140,000 catalogued items to the collection every year, a
similar number of lesser-used books must be selected for storage and moved
on a continuing basis. No conservation treatment is given to items identified
for storage, and unbound issues of periodicals are placed in boardsand
pratially shrink wrapped. However, if a book is recalled from the annex
for reader use, it is automatically repaired if it is in poor condition.
©
2001-2004 Cornell University
Library
Department of Preservation
and Collection Maintenance