Preservation Committee

Welcome to the MU Libraries Preservation Committee website. Our mission is to gather information, educate users, make recommendations to Library Administration, and engage in special projects which we hope will help ensure the longevity of our collections. For a complete 3-page description of the charge, functions, and rules which govern this committee, see the MU Libraries Policy Manual (a pdf document) Preservation Committee section.

Communication is central to our work, so we have created this site through which you can keep up-to-date on the activities of the committee, become informed on best practices in handling of collections, find key policy documents and reports, and more. We hope you will contact us if you have a question or if you discover a preservation problem that needs attention.

Displays in the Colonnade

• Each year a display is mounted in order to help fulfill our mission to educate users.

Guidelines for Selectors

• Please use our helpful guide when deciding whether it is worth the labor and expense to accept gift books which are in poor physical condition.

Disaster Preparedness

• MU Libraries' Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery Manual
  This is a key document which outlines recovery procedures employees should follow after a fire, flood, earthquake, or other disaster has damaged our library collections.
• Emergency Recovery
  Readings on salvage operations
• Disaster Assistance
  Northeast Document Conservation Center, includes a 24 hour phone number
• Expert Assistance
  In case we on the Preservation Committee are unable to answer questions, we have this contact at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas who has promised to provide advice whenever needed.

Damage Prevention

• Stanford
  Caring for your treasures
• Library of Congress
  Caring for your collections
• Care for DVD discs

Restoration of Collections

• Identifying material appropriate for in-house repair
  This site helps user determine whether a book is a good candidate for being repaired after having been damaged.
• California Preservation Clearing House
  Provides good general information and conceptual approaches to book repair: decision-making and prioritizing, risks in repair work, selecting items for particular kinds of repair, and more.
• Economical Repair
  This Cornell University Library site is geared towards helping third world country libraries preserve their collections, but it is useful for any library interested in low-budget undertakings.
• Illustrated Step-by-step repairs
  We don’t agree with all the methods put forth on this website, but we're including it here because it is one of the few sites that give step-by-step instruction and provide pictures for a multitude of repairs.
• Guidelines for Selecting a Conservator

Funding for Preservation

• Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
  In addition to describing NEDCC's mission and services, this site points to a broad range of preservation-related resources. These include: preservation funding opportunities, frequently-asked preservation questions, NEDCC publications, and internet resources that include materials of interest to institutions and individuals concerned with the preservation of paper-based collections.
• Federal funds
  Link list provided by the Northeast Document Conservation Center
• State funds
  Link list provided by the Northeast Document Conservation Center
• Private funds
  Link list provided by the Northeast Document Conservation Center

Further Information

• Conservation OnLine (CoOL)
  CoOL, a project of the Preservation Department of the Stanford University Libraries, covers topics related to the conservation and preservation of library and museum collections. The centerpiece of the site is an extensive, fully-searchable database of the entire CoOL document library.
• Preservation/Archives Resources
  There is now a plethora of library and archives preservation sites on the World Wide Web. This site provides a link list.
• Preservation glossary

Committee Members

• Gary Cox
• Michaelle Dorsey (ex-officio)
• Michael Holland (ex-officio)
• Ann Riley (ex-officio)
• Daniel Dodd
• Nina Johnson
• Amy Lana, Chair (2008-2009 )
• Ruthe Morse
• Amanda Sprochi