The theme of MLC’s Preservation Conference, “Who Are You Going to Call? Library-Vendor Partnerships in Preservation Projects,” is libraries working with preservation/conservation vendors on physical preservation projects.
Shannon Zachary, University of Michigan Library, will address “Mass Deacidification from Inside Out” at MLC’s Preservation Conference on June 4-5 2009 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing, Michigan. Mass deacidification is precisely the sort of preservation treatment – with high demands for technology, equipment, space, and experienced staff – that makes sense for almost any library to outsource rather than attempt in-house. The University of Michigan Library has been engaged in an outsourced mass deacidification program since 1998. This talk will discuss what mass deacidification is, making decisions about what to deacidify and why, as well as work flow, risks, costs, and benefits.
Jennifer Hain Teper, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will present “Mold Remediation in the University of Illinois’ Rare Book & Manuscript Library – Our successes and compromises.” In late September of 2007, Conservation identified mold in the storage vault of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Over the course of 8 months, the staff of the RBML, Preservation & Conservation, Library administration, and Facilities & Services worked closely to plan for and implement a remediation plan. Blackmon-Mooring-Steamatic Catastrophe (BMS CAT) was contracted to complete the cleaning of the collection materials, storage areas, and HVAC systems in a ten-week period. With the outsourced cleaning of collection materials and spaces complete since May of 2008, we have since evaluated what worked well, what compromises were made, and what we would have done differently to achieve the best result.
For detailed information on the two-day Preservation Conference, and to register online, see MLC’s Workshop Registration page: https://members.mlcnet.org/workshops/viewcourse.html?id=197
