392G - Management of Preservation Programs

Fall 2006

Class 4

*Collection Preservation Needs Assessments

*Sampling

U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Assessment

Purpose of Assessment Compare data to 1989 survey Learn about a significant portion of the library’s

collections Seize the opportunity to conduct an assessment

of the defined population (move of 100,000 volumes to a new LSF imminent)

Prepare for long-range preservation planning Inability to re-evaluate the 1989 sample Rudimentary nature of 1989 survey; need for more

thorough analysis of collections

Collection Parameters

Central Stacks Collection (50,000+ items; largest and oldest circulating collection in the library) Exclusions:

Microforms (82,000 items) Un-bound periodicals Specialized collections, e.g. Government Docs., Asian

Collection Brittle books and periodicals backlog (6,000 items)

Work Flow, Surveyors and Instruction

Data gathered by 5 student employees Students required to attend a single training

program Overview of project’s goals Introduction to book construction Discussion of assessment techniques and methods Hands on exercise allowing for skill testing and clarification Tour of the stacks; introduction to method for locating

materials using maps and random numbers.

Pitfalls

Some students too quick to note damage when none was present. Possible solution: A trial run and a post-trial

follow-up session with the student group could have been conducted.

Workflow Efficiency

83 hours to to analyze 390 books, averaging 13 minutes per book Some decisions required consultation; others

were straightforward. Familiarity with stacks layout and their assigned

decks (all samples on 2-4 decks) facilitated efficient data gathering.

Assessment Results

In basic terms, results corroborated those of the 1989 assessment.

1989 2002

Embrittlement 37% 36%

Moderate or poor binding condition

29% 25%

Publication Data

Collected to better understand the bibliographic history of the collection

Included data on date and place of publication and size of item

Date of Publication

Analyzed by decade, reveals collection’s development and composition Until 1980, collection growth rate increased nearly

every decade with the exceptions of the decades 1881-1890 and 1941-1950. Authors careful not to make direct attribution to any

one reason for decline in collection growth. See Table 2, Date of Publication…, p. 218

Place of Publication; Size of Items

See Table 3, p. 219 79.23% of collection items standard size

(6 - 10.5” in height)

Survey Terminology and Definitions

Binding Style 8 choices. See Table 4, Binding Style…, p.

219 Library Binding consisted of any binding

performed by a binder after the library purchased an item (1/4-1/2 bound to modern library binding).

External Cover Damage: Hinges and Mechanical Deterioration Detached boards Loose hinges Tears No boards or covers

341,447 items suffer from missing or detached boards.

External Cover Damage: Other Water damage Misshapen boards (16.15%!) Light bleaching Staining (Is it mold?) Insect damage Abrasion Mold (None found. Did students mistake mold for

dust or debris? Does it matter?)

Extraneous Material (4.36%) Book tape and the like

Enclosure Information (1 item = .26%)

Internal Pages Leaf Damage

Marking (11%) Staining (10%) Pest-related damage (3.08%)

Extraneous Material Adhesive tape (4%) Patron-deposited materials

Paper slips (6.4%), paper clips (1.28%), other (3.33%)

Paper Acidity Tested with Abbey pH pen on exterior margin of the last

page of text. 90.26% of collection is acidic. See Table 5 for Acidity to Breakability, p. 221

17.18% of the sampled items were both acidic and embrittled to the point that the paper could not withstand 1 double-fold without breaking.

Authors careful to surmise rather than conclude in regard to the impact of conditioned and un-conditioned storage on level of collection embrittlement.

See Table 7 for Acidity to Date of Publication, p. 223

Assessment Conclusions and Programmatic Development

3 areas of general need Education and outreach

Which data may point to the need to educate and train staff and users?

Collection repair and maintenance 12% of collection are in soft covers; 23% are misshapen. 39% of these items were purchased since 1989. Collecting patterns changing; binding policies need to follow

suit.

Administrative development Justify facilities improvements based on specific needs. The rate of acid deterioration is having an impact that

presently outpaces the rate of acid-free transfers into the collection. The % of collection embrittlement is stable even though newly acquired materials are often non-acidic.

The ability to contrast the replacement and reformatting needs of the collection against the costs of introducing environmental controls is valuable. The costs of environmental control is dwarfed by the costs of replacement, reformatting and deacidification.

Yale University Survey

Purpose of Assessment Yield a detailed description of the collections in

the discrete units of the Yale system. Examine the complex relationships between the

nature of materials, their condition and the environment in which they are housed.

Estimate how many volumes require immediate attention, how many will need attention soon, and what kind of attention will be needed.

Collection Parameters

Entire library system 40 separate library units Main library (4 million volumes of 7,725,000; 1 million

circulated in 1982) 36,500-item sample 15 of the 16 major libraries divided into 36 sub-units, each

of which was treated separately in terms of its statistical framework and generation of results.

Surveyed libraries varied greatly in size, age and nature of buildings and collections, reader access and circulation patterns.

Exceptions Rare Books Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library Folios

Pilot Study

Helped eliminate problems in sampling design 1,000 items in 1 stratum surveyed Emphasized need for the following:

Consistent method of locating books Detailed instructions on how to fill out questionnaires and

guidelines for answering questions Knowledge of book structure and ability of recognize

different methods of leaf attachment and book covering materials.

Workflow, Surveyors and Instruction

6 groups of 4 interns over 2.5 years Each group stayed at Yale for 5 months, spending

1/2 of each day surveying collections 3,800 hours for surveying (16 minutes/book) Instruction

Sample materials for study Time in stacks practicing evaluation techniques and

standardizing findings Discussion session with statisticians on statistical theory

Data Gathering

College Board form IBM-H45352 used. Form eliminated errors sometimes introduced

when data are input into a computer manually.

Form and cardboard overlay supported by a jig.

Reference materials included with each survey packet.

See Appendix B: Survey Instructions, p. 175.

Survey Questions

Is the leaf attachment intact? Is the paper very brittle? Is the paper very acidic? Is the printed area of all pages intact? Is the book mutilated? If the book damaged by environmental factors? Does the volume require immediate treatment?

Is the book circulating or non-circulating? What kind of primary protection does the book

have? What kinds of materials cover the joint? How are the leaves of the book attached? What is the width of the gutter margin?

Data Intersections

See Figure 4, Significant Intersections…,

p. 169.