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Conservation staff provide treatment for books and other paper-based materials that have artifactual value or are rare or otherwise valuable. Conservation treatment differs from book repair (repairs for circulating collections) in that the methods and materials for repairs must be reversible and non-damaging to the artifact as well as follow the professional code of ethics as stipulated by the American Institute of Conservation. Although book repair follows many of the same guidelines as conservation, the repairs are not easily reversible and are primarily meant to be inexpensive and durable. Conservation treatments are done predominantly on materials from Rare Books and Special Collections and the University Archives, but materials are also treated from library units that have special collection materials as well as from the general collections.
Treatments performed by conservation staff include mending torn paper with cooked wheat starch paste and Japanese Tissue, guarding and sewing fragile signatures, leather treatments, cloth and leather case reconstruction, surface cleaning, deacidification, and encapsulation. Additionally, high quality protective enclosures, such as portfolios and clamshell boxes are made by the staff.
Due to insufficient space, equipment, and staff time, only a limited number of conservation treatments are performed at this time. With the future construction of a full-scale conservation laboratory in the Oak Street Storage Facility , the Conservation Unit will be able to perform a wider variety as well as larger number of treatments on the Library's materials.
Contact Information:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library
44 Main Library, MC-522
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, Illinois 61801
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