The Graduation Day Leak

The Graduation Day Leak: Mitigation/Preservation/Conservation Efforts

We open Preservation Week with a disaster recovery success story from Stewart Plein at West Virginia University, where a severe storm on Graduation Day 2013 caused a leak in the WVU College of Law Library storage area.

Storm water entered through a section of the College of Law renovation construction destroying one of the clinics and damaging some of our earliest copies of the WV Law Review, from the first volume, printed in 1894, through the 1930s. The mitigation/preservation process took most of the summer.  Books were fanned open to dry, fans operated 24 hours a day to facilitate drying and pages were interwoven with paper towels, pressed with weights, with the process repeated on a weekly basis.

Furry, live mold growth appeared almost overnight.  Each book with mold growth was wiped clean, fanned out near air circulation and checked on a daily basis for regrowth.  When active mold growth halted, all books were hand vacuumed to ensure no spores remained.

Due to these efforts the library only had to send two books to the Wert bindery for conservation.  These books absorbed an excessive amount of water and required rebinding.  Any provenance information that was to be retained was discussed with Wert representatives.  The books had been rebound prior to the water damage, and they were rebound with similar bindings. All provenance information retained to ensure continued connection with previous students.

Stewart Plein Curator, Rare Books Collection Managing Director, West Virginia Digital Newspaper Project Assistant Curator, West Virginia and Regional History Center West Virginia University Libraries

#disasterrecovery #PreservationWeek #waterdamage #WestVirginiaUniversity

National Digital Stewardship Residency

The mission of the National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) sponsored by the Library of Congress is to build a dedicated community of professionals who will advance our nation’s capabilities in managing, preserving, and making accessible the digital record of human achievement.This will enable current and future generations to fully realize the potential of digital resources now and for years to come.  The inaugural class of ten residents began their nine-month residency in September 2013.

Application information for the 2014-2015 class of NDSR residents should be posted soon.  NDSR Residents work on a digital stewardship project, or series of projects, in one of many Washington, D.C. institutions. Additional NDSR experiences are being planned in Boston and New York.  The selected project(s) allow the resident to acquire hands-on knowledge and skills involving the collection, selection, management, long‐term preservation, and accessibility of digital assets. Students accepted to the residency program complete an intensive digital stewardship immersion workshop at the Library of Congress before transferring to selected host institutions to work on digital stewardship projects that complement their learning objectives. Residents will receive a bi-weekly stipend to cover living expenses.

#DigitalStewardship #NationalDigitalStewardshipResidency #NDSR

Seeking preservation expertise and experience

Do you have a background in preservation or conservation?  Do you perform basic preservation tasks on the materials in your collection?  Have you created physical or digital resources to help promote preservation in your library?

The Legal Information Preservation Alliance and the AALL TS-SIS Preservation Committee are looking for individuals to share their preservation experiences with us for this year’s Preservation Week (April 27-May 3).  We’re looking for those willing to show their expertise with book repairs and handling techniques in short videos, as well as those willing to tell their preservation stories.

If you would like to participate in this Preservation Week effort, please contact Margie Maes (LIPA Executive Director, mkmaes@gmail.com) or Lauren Seney (TS-SIS Preservation Committee Chair, lpsene@wm.edu).

Thank you.

Margie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Margaret K. Maes Executive Director Legal Information Preservation Alliance P. O. Box 5266 Bloomington, IN  47407 Phone: 812-822-2773 mailto:mkmaes@gmail.com

http://lipalliance.org/

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