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1934 - 35
The Mending Division was established as a part of a Federal Emergency Relief
Administration (FERA) grant as a Division of the Binding Department. The division
reported to the Binding Librarian, Miss Josie B. Houchens, who taught bookbinding
and mending techniques and supervised the student workers in both Mending and Binding.
The Mending Unit was initially located in Room 124 of the bookstacks with the Marking
Unit on the half stacks level above Mending. Binding Preparations was located across
the hall in Room 128.
The Mending Division - Room 124 |
1936 - 49
Employing between eighteen and twenty-five students, the Mending Division, led by Mrs. Ethel Richbark from 1942-1954,
bound pamphlets, performed spine repairs, and completed page repairs. Binding Preparations prepared materials
to be commercially bound. In 1940, students received thirty-five cents per hour.
Ethel Richbark |
1950 - 60
Processes and techniques were evaluated and new supplies, materials, and techniques
were introduced to the unit.
A photograph of the Mending Division Staff in the 1950s |
1965 - 66
Binding, Marking, and Conservation (re-named from previous "Mending Division") moved
into room 12 of the Main Library.
1968 - 69
Fumigation was introduced as a method by which to combat mold outbreaks.
1972 - 73
Single item deacidification treatments were introduced as an option in the Conservation Unit.
1978 - 79
Two major water disasters, in the Geology Library and Remote
Storage, promoted the need for centralized disaster preparedness
and the establishment of a preservation fund for disaster salvage. In 1979, the
Binding and Preservation Division was moved to report under Collection Development.
1981 - 86
After another water disaster in the Geology Library prompted the writing of the first
Library Disaster Plan. Additionally, monies provided by the Kappauf Fund allowed for
a lab remodeling including a sink, spray booth, and new workbenches.
1986 - 87
Binding, Marking and Conservation were reorganized into two separate departments.
Binding and Marking were shifted to the Acquisitions Unit, and Conservation reported
to the Preservation Librarian, Bill Henderson (formerly the Head of the Binding and
Preservation Division).
1988 - 89
The Conservation Unit was split into two discreet sub-units both reporting to the
Preservation Librarian: Pamphlet Binding, led by Norma Linton and Special Conservation,
led by Jane Gammon.
1998
Five thousand dollars in private money in 1998 permitted Conservation to purchase vitally
needed equipment. Large items included a board crimper for phase box construction, a
polyester welding machine for encapsulation of flat paper items, a HEPA filtered vacuum,
an ultrasonic humidifier, and a Preservation Pencil.
1988 - present
Since 1988 the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign participated in many
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
preservation microfilming projects. Funded by the NEH, cooperative projects coordinated by the
Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC)
and NEH grants secured directly by the University of Illinois, permitted the institution to
participate in the national brittle books program by filming 78,945 volumes and repairing
10,800 volumes.
2001 - present
In 2001, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign established a centralized preservation
program for the Library. The Head of Preservation, Tom Teper, was hired to oversee the functions of
Bindery Preparations and Reformatting (transferred in 2001 to the Library from the Office of
Printing Services), as well as to develop a brittle books program and to
oversee the preservation administration functions of the Library, left unmanaged
since Bill Henderson's retirement in 1996. The sub-units of Pamphlet Binding and
Special Conservation were relocated into room 44 of the Main Library and form
the current Conservation Unit under the direction of the Conservation Librarian,
Jennifer Hain. The unit continues to make all repair decisions for damaged
materials in the Library System, performing pamphlet binding and book repairs,
constructing protective enclosures, and performing conservation repairs. Both the
Preservation and Conservation Units report to the Associate University Librarian for
Collections and are part of the Technical Services Division.
This history compiled by Jane Gammon, who has worked in the Library's Repair and Conservation Unit since 1953.
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