Conservation Unit
The Conservation Unit is based in Special Collections. We aim to ensure long-term access to the Library’s collections and raise awareness of issues that affect their condition. We practise two types of conservation, according to recognised professional standards: preventive conservation and remedial conservation.
What is Preventive Conservation?
Library collections are vulnerable to a poor environment and physical wear and tear. Preventive conservation is indirect action aimed at keeping deterioration to a minimum. This means that the collections are protected for the future. Preventive conservation includes:
- safe storage, handling, transport and display
- maintaining good environmental conditions
- reformatting (e.g. microfilming, copying onto archival paper)
- managing insects and other pests
- disaster planning and prevention
What is Remedial Conservation?
Remedial conservation involves direct action. The aim is to stabilise damaged objects and slow further deterioration. It is time-consuming and expensive and cannot alter the fact that damage has occurred. We routinely carry out the following:
examination
of the object and recording its condition and treatment - surface cleaning to remove superficial dirt
- washing to remove acidic compounds and discolouration
- deacidification (alkalisation) to neutralise acids and leave an alkaline residue in the paper to slow down future degradation
- removal of harmful or unsuitable repairs and backings
- removal of mould
- tear repair and infilling areas that are missing with suitable paper or paper pulp
- flattening
Projects
Recent projects:
- The conservation and re-housing of documents from the Marrick Priory archive, a collection relating to lands formerly belonging to the medieval Benedictine nunnery of Marrick in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. The project was funded by the Esmée Fiairbairn Foundation and took two conservators a year to complete.
- The conservation of works of art on paper originally from the ERS (Educational Resource Service)of the West Riding County Council and now part of the University Art Gallery collections. Objects that have been conserved include works by Camille Pissarro, Vanessa Bell and Edward Bawden.