The Preservation Management Handbook

A 21st-Century Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Second Edition

Revised by Donia Conn - Ross Harvey and Martha R. Mahard

Preservation how-to for every medium.

Cultural heritage professionals—museum curators, museum professionals, archivists, and librarians— use their specialized knowledge to prioritize the needs of their collections. Preservation managers and collections care specialists draw from experts in climate control, fire safety, pest management, and more in assessing a collection and its needs. And all the special materials within the collections have their experts too.

This revised second edition contains a wide range of topic-specific expertise that comprises both an enduring text for preservation and collections care students, as well as an essential one-stop reference for cultural heritage professionals—particularly those in small- to medium sized organizations where resources are limited and professional help, is not always accessible.

Chapter coverage includes:

PART I: FUNDAMENTALS

Chapter 1: Mapping the Preservation Landscape for the Twenty-first Century

Chapter 2: Preservation Principles

Chapter 3: Managing Preservation: Policy, Assessment, Planning

Chapter 4: Security and Disaster Planning

PART II: COLLECTIONS

Chapter 5: Artifacts and Information

Chapter 6: The Environment

Chapter 7: Creating Preservation-friendly Objects

PART III: MEDIA AND MATERIAL

Chapter 8: Putting it all together – environment and storage quick reference guides

Chapter 9: Paper Objects and Books

Chapter 10: Photographic Materials

Chapter 11: Digital Prints (A. Carver-Kubik)

Chapter 12: Sound Materials

Chapter 13: Moving Image Materials

Chapter 14: Digital Storage Media and Files

Chapter 15: Textiles

Chapter 16: Paintings

In addition to updated and expanded existing content, a new chapter on digital prints has been added to the Media and Material. Also new is

Expanded information on disaster planning;
A quick guide to good, better, and best preservation practices to help institutions strive to improve their own activities;
A comparative terminology guide to assist in greater understanding between LAMs;
and two quick references for temperature and relative humidity preferences for a wide range of collection materials.

This comprehensive handbook is an invaluable reference.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 390 • Trim: 7⅜ x 10¼

978-1-5381-0900-7 • Hardback • February 2020 • $140.00 • (£108.00)

978-1-5381-0901-4 • Paperback • February 2020 • $77.00 • (£59.00)

978-1-5381-0902-1 • eBook • February 2020 • $73.00 • (£56.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science / Archives & Special Libraries, Business & Economics / Museum Administration & Museology

Courses: Library & Information Services; Preservation & Conservation, Museum Studies; Preservation & Conservation, Archival Studies; General

The Preservation Management Handbook

A 21st-Century Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums, Second Edition

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Preservation how-to for every medium.

Cultural heritage professionals—museum curators, museum professionals, archivists, and librarians— use their specialized knowledge to prioritize the needs of their collections. Preservation managers and collections care specialists draw from experts in climate control, fire safety, pest management, and more in assessing a collection and its needs. And all the special materials within the collections have their experts too.

This revised second edition contains a wide range of topic-specific expertise that comprises both an enduring text for preservation and collections care students, as well as an essential one-stop reference for cultural heritage professionals—particularly those in small- to medium sized organizations where resources are limited and professional help, is not always accessible.

Chapter coverage includes:

PART I: FUNDAMENTALS

Chapter 1: Mapping the Preservation Landscape for the Twenty-first Century

Chapter 2: Preservation Principles

Chapter 3: Managing Preservation: Policy, Assessment, Planning

Chapter 4: Security and Disaster Planning

PART II: COLLECTIONS

Chapter 5: Artifacts and Information

Chapter 6: The Environment

Chapter 7: Creating Preservation-friendly Objects

PART III: MEDIA AND MATERIAL

Chapter 8: Putting it all together – environment and storage quick reference guides

Chapter 9: Paper Objects and Books

Chapter 10: Photographic Materials

Chapter 11: Digital Prints (A. Carver-Kubik)

Chapter 12: Sound Materials

Chapter 13: Moving Image Materials

Chapter 14: Digital Storage Media and Files

Chapter 15: Textiles

Chapter 16: Paintings

In addition to updated and expanded existing content, a new chapter on digital prints has been added to the Media and Material. Also new is
- Expanded information on disaster planning;
- A quick guide to good, better, and best preservation practices to help institutions strive to improve their own activities;
- A comparative terminology guide to assist in greater understanding between LAMs;
- and two quick references for temperature and relative humidity preferences for a wide range of collection materials.
This comprehensive handbook is an invaluable reference.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 390 • Trim: 7⅜ x 10¼

978-1-5381-0900-7 • Hardback • February 2020 • $140.00 • (£108.00)

978-1-5381-0901-4 • Paperback • February 2020 • $77.00 • (£59.00)

978-1-5381-0902-1 • eBook • February 2020 • $73.00 • (£56.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science / Archives & Special Libraries, Business & Economics / Museum Administration & Museology

Courses: Library & Information Services; Preservation & Conservation, Museum Studies; Preservation & Conservation, Archival Studies; General

Author

Dr Ross Harvey has held academic positions at universities in Australia, Singapore, and the United States. His research interests focus on the stewardship of digital materials in libraries and archives, particularly on its preservation. Ross has published widely in the fields of bibliographic organization, library education, the preservation of library and archival material, and newspaper history. His most recent books are (with Jaye Weatherburn) Preserving Digital Materials, 3rd ed. (2018) and (with Gillian Oliver) Digital Curation, 2nd ed. (2016).

Martha R. Mahard managed the print and photograph inventory projects at the Boston Public Library. Before joining the BPL, she was a Professor of Practice at the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons in Boston, where she taught courses in the management of photographic archives, art documentation, and preservation management. She also held a variety of positions in the Harvard University libraries, including the Harvard Theatre Collection, the Graduate School of Design Library, and the Fine Arts Library, where she was Curator of Historic Photographs. During her 35-year career at Harvard she was instrumental in the development and implementation of their first online union catalog for visual materials. She holds a B.A. in English literature from Barnard College, an M.A. in Theatre History from Tufts University, and an M.L.I.S. and a Doctor of Arts degree in Library Administration from Simmons. She is the co-author of Libraries, Archives and Museums Today: Insights from the Field (2019).

Donia Conn is on the faculty at Simmons University School of Library and Information Science and a private conservator with over 20 years of experience in the preservation of cultural heritage collections. Throughout her career, she has also been active in the profession chairing committees for the American Library Association, acting as a delegate for the United States on the International Standards Organization Working Group on ISO 11799, reviewing grants for the NHPRC, the IMLS the NEH, and the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, and acting as subject specialist reviewer for professional journals.

Ms. Conn has years of experience in training and assessment for a wide range of cultural heritage institutions. In addition to teaching for Simmons University, she has also developed curricula and taught for Heritage Preservation, the state of Connecticut, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and for the American Library Association.

Donia earned her BA in Mathematics from St. Olaf College and her MLIS with Advanced Certificate in Conservation from the University of Texas-Austin. Past employers include the Northeast Document Conservation Center, Northwestern University, Syracuse University, The Folger Shakespeare Library, and the University of Kentucky. Donia is also a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation and a member of AIC’s National Heritage Responders. As an independent consultant, Donia has worked for such institutions as the Saratoga County Historical Society, Lake Placid Olympic Museum, Skidmore College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, the University of Rochester, Vanderbilt University, and Washington University.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
List of Figures
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgements
PART I: FUNDAMENTALS
Chapter 1: Mapping the Preservation Landscape for the Twenty-first Century
Chapter 2: Preservation Principles
Chapter 3: Managing Preservation: Policy, Assessment, Planning
Chapter 4: Security and Disaster Planning
PART II: COLLECTIONS
Chapter 5: Artifacts and Information
Chapter 6: The Environment
Chapter 7: Creating Preservation-friendly Objects
PART III: MEDIA AND MATERIAL (authors from first edition, they may change for this one)
Chapter 8: Putting it all together – environment and storage quick reference guides
Chapter 9: Paper Objects and Books
Chapter 10: Photographic Materials
Chapter 11: Digital Prints (A. Carver-Kubik)
Chapter 12: Sound Materials
Chapter 13: Moving Image Materials
Chapter 14: Digital Storage Media and Files
Chapter 15: Textiles (Frances Lennard)
Chapter 16: Paintings (Heather Hole)
Bibliography
Standards
Index
About the Contributors

Reviews

[T]his book brings together a variety of expert voices with the goal of reaching a wide audience. . . . Whether the reader is new to the topic of preservation or a seasoned professional, the second edition of The Preservation Management Handbook is a worthwhile investment. For students and new professionals, the revised handbook provides clear guidance on preservation principles and best practice, quick reference tools, sample policies and procedures, and definitions that reflect the current preservation landscape across multiple cultural heritage organizations. For more experienced professionals, the updated information on digital media, the collaborative emphasis the authors place on preservation, and their philosophy of approaching analog and digital preservation with the same guiding principles provides thought provoking ways to take a fresh look at preservation.

— Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture

I recommend this book to my clients as the best preservation reference available and assign it to my students because it provides a thorough foundation in theory as well as practical knowledge of the care needed by the materials they are most likely to encounter in their careers. It’s essential reading.
— Rebecca Elder, Preservation Consultant and Adjunct Faculty, The University of Texas at Austin School of Information

The Preservation Management Handbook represents a critical resource for 21^st century librarians, conservators and archivists. It provides the foundational knowledge for developing priorities and an action plan necessary to assure long term retention of intellectual content. The authors effectively cover both physical and digital assets and their respective challenges.
— Roger Smith, Interim Associate University Librarian for Collections and Director, Digital Library Development Program, University of California San Diego Library