Collection Care blog

Poor handling is one of the main causes of damage to library and archive collections. The damage is accumulative occurring over many years, and is not always immediately apparent. Conservation work is costly and can mean that certain items are not accessible for long periods. All users have responsibility for the care of collections, and information and advice on how to handle collections should be available to all users. If you are unsure about how to handle an item here at the British Library, then don’t hesitate to ask our very experienced staff in the Reading Rooms.

There are guidelines published by the Preservation Advisory Centre outlining the differences in handling protocol for books and bound volumes; documents and letters; maps, rolls and charters; prints and drawings; photographs; papyrus; and even globes. There is such a variety of material available for consultation that it is well worth reading through carefully. Loose items should always be kept in order, seals should be supported with flat foam, the surface of photographs should never be touched, papyrus leaves mounted in paper should be turned by the supporting paper, and although gloves are not recommended for flat material, they are required for touching certain materials such as lead seals or the surface of globes.

Collection Care icons have been designed for use in the British Library reading rooms and we share them under a creative commons license. Heritage organisations are encouraged to use them freely in their own publications. Image files can be copied from the Collection Care icon page or higher resolution .eps versions are available on request ([email protected]).

Graphic icons illustrating do’s and don’ts of the British Library

Graphic icons illustrating do’s and don’ts of the British Library

Graphic icons illustrating do’s and don’ts of the British Library

Graphic icons illustrating do’s and don’ts of the British Library

 Collection Care icons by The Brtish Library Board is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License

You can also find out more about handling collections in our British Library Collection Care videos.

Christina Duffy

The R. B. Kitaj Tapestry If not, not was rehung in the St Pancras Entrance Hall last Monday night after being removed for intense conservation cleaning. The tapestry is based on the painting of the same name by R.B. Kitaj, and measures 6.75 metres high and 6.75 metres long; it was the largest in the world when created by the Master Weavers of the Edinburgh Tapestry Company for the British Library. The tapestry had not been cleaned since its installation at St Pancras in 1997 and was displaying visible surface dust which had to be removed.

View of the British Library foyer with the Kitaj Tapestry hanging on the wall

 The Kitaj tapestry

The tapestry was taken down on 28 September 2012 by Collection Care staff guided by experts from Textile Conservation Ltd. who would undertake the mammoth task of cleaning at their studio in Bristol. 

The tapestry was taken down and rolled before being taken away for intense conservation cleaning

Samples of thread of various colour and locations were removed to monitor fading and colour change in the tapestry. A remarkable eight miles of  warp was threaded vertically between steel rollers during its production.

View of the vibrant threads on the back of the tapestry after being removed from the wall.

The tapestry was originally hung using lengths of beige hook and loop fastener. Six lengths divided into three pairs (10 cm apart) were stitched along the top edge. Along the sides were lengths measuring about 55 cm with gaps. These lengths were removed and the turned in sides were released by cutting and removing the stitching. It was here where casings from carpet beetle larvae and degraded moth cases were found. Luckily these were desiccated and no signs of damage were apparent. (Read more about how we deal with pests in a previous post: The Bookie Monster: attack of the creepy crawlies!).

Where to start with cleaning such a huge tapestry? With a hoover of course! The optimum level of suction was determined and the entire front and back surfaces were cleaned using a low powered vacuum suction. The hoover dust consisted of fine dust, brick dust and larger fibrous dirt found mainly on the front. This bag of dust has been retained by Collection Care staff for further scientific analysis. We are very serious when it comes to dust as you may have read in A-a-a-chooo! Collection Care’s Dust Busters.

Once clean it was important to ensure that no insects or eggs remained in the weave. The tapestry was rolled and taken to Harwell Document Restoration Services where it was placed in a freezer unit at -18°C for two weeks. It was fully defrosted over four days and taken back to Textile Conservation Ltd. where a new lining and Velcro hanging system were attached, as well as reinforcement work on any loose stitching. It was then rolled with interleaving layers of tissue and wadding and wrapped in Tyvek and bubble wrap before making its way back home to the British Library.

The tapestry was scheduled to be rehung on the opposite wall to where it was originally placed providing a wider range of viewing angles, and allowing visitors to get up-close to the tapestry on the stair levels. An impressive scaffolding system was erected and new battens were attached to the wall. The tapestry was hoisted up to the top platform after a thorough treble check that it was facing the correct way around!

Scaffolding assembled.

 The tapestry was placed on the upper platform when the scaffolding was fully installed

The Textile Conservation Ltd team took the top platform and began by attaching the top Velcro strips to the horizontal battens.

Conservators preparing for the reinstallation of the tapestry

The tapestry was then carefully lowered down in stages by scaffolders. 

Lowering the tapestry

This provided a controlled unrolling allowing Collection Care staff to hook the sides onto the battens without any air gaps.

Protective tissue paper was removed as the tapestry was unrolled.

 Protective tissue paper was removed as the tapestry was unrolled

When the scaffolding was removed a few days later the final result was terrific!

The R.B. Kitaj tapestry

The tapestry has regained its vibrancy of colour and is a magnificent feature in the British Library Entrance Hall. You can read more about the construction of the tapestry in this Telegraph article from 1997, and more about the artist in the National Galleries of Scotland website.

Christina Duffy

This is the second in a series of blog posts discussing the challenges of caring for the national newspaper collection - how we’ve worked to preserve it and keep it accessible in the past and how we are going to do so in the future.

The national newspaper collection is on the move. Its current home at Colindale is no longer fit for purpose – either as a repository able to offer long term sustainability to the collection; or as a facility for readers to experience the modern, dynamic newspaper and news service that we want to offer. This recent BBC News report paints a vivid picture.

We know the collection is vulnerable, and if we don’t act now to move it into better conditions, we risk more of it falling into such bad condition that we will be unable to issue it without increased damage or loss, if at all.

Our survey says…

In 2001, as part of a three year project to survey all of the Library’s collections on all of its sites, we surveyed the newspaper collections at Colindale using the PAS (Preservation Needs Assessment Survey) methodology. The results showed that the newspaper collection is the most vulnerable of all of the Library’s collections and gave us a statistically sound picture of the state of this national collection. Our results showed that 34% of the collection at Colindale was unstable – 19.4% in poor condition, 14.6% unusable.

We know that improved storage is the best way of preserving the whole collection for the long term, and our new Newspaper Storage Building (NSB) is undergoing its final testing as I type.

However, this is just the latest – and most ambitious – effort to strike a balance between the long-term preservation needs of the collection and our duty to make it available to users.

The ties that bind

Wooden sign directing to the bindery workshop on the 3rd floor in gold lettering

When reader facilities were added to the original Colindale repository in 1932, a bindery was also created on the 3rd floor. Here, new legal deposit intake was bound, and older papers were conserved – pulled down, de-acidified, repaired and re-sewn and re-bound. Treatment and binding styles varied depending on the age, type and size of newspaper - machine sewn; hand-sewn on tapes or cords, buckram and leather, half and quarter; finished in foils, mostly, but occasionally gold leaf.

As the conservation and binding of newspapers proved to be less and less cost and time effective over the years, benefiting only a small part of a vast collection, the bindery was closed in 2001. However, because of the work that was done, there are many thousands of volumes in perfectly good condition today that otherwise wouldn’t be.

Below, the bindery at Colindale in full production in the 1980s.

Image showing the binders working in the Colindale in the 1980s

 Newspapers ready for sewing, by machine and by hand

Image shows workers in the bindery preparing newspapers for sewing

 Forwarding and finishing

Lights! Camera! Microfilm!

We know that not everyone is a massive fan of microfilm. From a user point of view it has few of the advantages of digital and it’s not the real thing. But for the long term preservation of content it has proved its worth and without the large-scale microfilming programmes undertaken in the 1970s and onwards, a significant portion of our content would simply be unavailable today in any form.

A worker in Colindale microfilming a large volume. The book is on a stand and there are lights above

A worker in Colindale microfilming a newspaper

 Microfilming at Colindale began in the 1950s. In 1971 a dedicated microfilm unit was completed. At its height the unit operated 20 cameras and the BL produced (internally and externally) approximately 13 million frames of newspaper content annually

For we are living in a digital world, and I am a digital girl...(sorry, Madonna)

We still copy newspapers today, to increase access to content and to preserve the originals, but the format tends to be digital rather than microfilm. For instance the Library is working in partnership with DC Thompson Family History to digitise 40 million pages of 19th and early 20th century newspapers and make them available on the British Newspaper Archive website. Interestingly, where we can’t scan the original newspapers, the microfilm we created over the last 50 years is proving an invaluable alternative scanning source.

“What are you able to build with your blocks? Castles and palaces, temples and docks.” (from Block City by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Image of new storage building, the building is a mixture of greys and blues, it has a yellow door and railings along the front of the building

 The new storage building, with the main void at the back and the support building in front

Well, what we’ve been able to build with our blocks is a brand new storage facility for the national newspaper collection at Boston Spa, known lovingly as NSB – Newspaper Storage Building (we love to tell it like it is!). This state-of-the-art building will secure the long term future of the collection. In a complete (improved) reversal of storage fortune for the collection, it will be stored in the dark which will protect it from the damaging light levels that were unable to be controlled at Colindale.

The temperature will be 14⁰C and relative humidity 55%, a vast improvement on what was able to be achieved at Colindale. More importantly, it will be maintained at a steady level which overall will provide an environment for the collection that will slow down the rate of deterioration. Crucially, the oxygen level is purposely low at 14-15%, eliminating the risk of fire (ignition is impossible). The ingest and retrieval of newspapers is automated, which means in turn that the storage can be high density.

Lying down on the job

Not us – the collection! If you read our first post, you’ll know that the collection varies in size enormously, from volumes no bigger than a pocket diary to volumes weighing nearly 20 kg. Storing these large and heavy volumes vertically is causing physical damage, particularly where the boards are no longer attached and providing support, so in the new building the collection will be stored horizontally in stacks which will ease the pressure on the bindings and stabilise the text block. A ‘stack’ consists of a bottom board, a stack of volumes, and a top board. The boards and the stack are secured by straps. The stacks are stored on huge carrier trays in the storage racking, each holding various permutation of stack sizes.

It all stacks up

We’ve set a maximum stack height of 400 mm for each stack. Volumes will be grouped together by condition and stacked by size, with bound volumes being alternated spine to foredge to provide a stable stack with an even weight distribution. In order to do this, we’ve undertaken a massive data gathering exercise, determining the size of every item in the collection and assigning a condition rating of good, poor, or unusable.

Size

Graph showing the seven sizes or footprints, relating to the board sizes on which items will be stacked

The collection was divided into seven sizes or footprints, relating to the board sizes on which items will be stacked. Footprint 1 is any volume up to 380 mm (h) x 310 mm (w), while footprint 7 caters for volumes between 820-1012 mm (h) x 680-770 mm (w) – we have several hundred of these. 

It’s a wrap

Knowing the condition of each item in the collection is important if we are to direct our resources appropriately and effectively. For this project, it was even more crucial because of the handling and transport logistics involved in moving from one building to the other. To protect items that are particularly vulnerable, we are shrink-wrapping those in poor and unusable condition.

A pile of shrink-wrapped volumes being tested for stability

 A stack of three shrink-wrapped volumes, being tested for stability

Three images showing the construction of the building from the beginning and throughout the building process

The installation of a giant crane inside the building

 One of the giant cranes is lifted into place. These will run up and down each aisle delivering carrier trays through a sealed air lock to the work stations in the support building

Another image of the giant crane inside the building, this image also has several site workers in it which highlights the vast size of the crane and space

Image of the light grey and yellow work stations with fencing behind them

 The workstations in the support building

Two workers building stacks inside the test facility. With many large half leather bindings with brown spines in two piles

 Stacks being built in a dedicated test facility

It’s no small undertaking to move such a large and vulnerable collection half way up the country, so in our third post on this topic we’ll spend some time with Moves Manager Sarah Jane Newbery to find out what the challenges are – and how it’s all progressing.

For more information on the newspaper moves see: www.bl.uk/newspaper-moves and follow us @BL_CollCare.

Sandy Ryan

Digitisation projects are today more and more a common and established reality in many big and small public institutions. The expectation from the public for online access has placed great pressure on public institutions which hold collections of historical and artistic value to provide it as soon as possible. Large investment in digitisation projects has had a major impact on the work pattern of many institutions, and on the collections involved in the processes related to the digitisation workflows.

I am a book conservator currently managing the conservation studio that has been created for the British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership programme. Phase 1 runs until December 2014 and aims to digitise and make available online 500,000 images for scholars and the general public. These images will be taken from various British Library Arabic materials and it is our duty as conservators to support the digitisation process ensuring that no damage is caused to the library items processed through the digitisation workflow.

Image of custom made phase box on a green table, the back of the box is grey and in inside is white. resting on the centre of the box is the heavily damaged manuscript which has a detached board.

 An example of a custom-made phase box for this heavily damaged manuscript

I want to present in this post some considerations about what conservation could potentially gain from these types of projects and how I think the long term preservation of historical items and their features can be improved through mass digitisation projects. The previous sentences make quite provocative statements. It is not a secret that conservators tend to look at digitisation projects, and in general at projects involving multiple processes, with caution if not suspicion. In general conservators are often against the “mass” approach and digitisation processes are primarily focused on targets that are sometimes strained under tight deadlines and budgets. This can be an unsuitable environment for the normal conservation requirements.

Conservation means attention to detail and much of the work involves time-consuming treatments carried out by skilled professionals at their benches. These treatments are often present to help public institutions achieve their aims and fulfil their strategic priorities. Enabling access to library collections is one of the more important principles of sustainable stewardship. Conservation at the British Library has in the last few years adopted the “fit for purpose” approach. With re-treatability and minimal intervention approaches clearly in mind, we know that today we have to plan our work in a more efficient and effective way. Planning is a fundamental step in our daily and long term work and to do so we need to know which specific goal we want to achieve.

In the present case for the British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership programme, digital surrogates are the aim; good quality reproduction of items capable of providing online customers (scholars, readers and the general public) with the information they require. There are many steps between the shelves of the British Library storage areas and the cameras in the photographic studio. Conservators need to be present throughout each stage of this flow to support and to enable successful digitisation.

This can be difficult to achieve as full time conservators are expensive. Work needs to be customised but this certainly doesn’t mean compromising on the quality of the work carried out on collection items. In the context of the British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership programme, a document about policies and procedures was produced by the conservation studio at the very beginning of the project. In this document we state that due to the scope and the nature of the project, we cannot treat items that are in need of conservation work that would take more than five hours. This means that generally we are not “fully” repairing the items we are processing through the workflow, but instead we are treating the items to a condition that enables digitisation.

After assessing the condition of the items brought into the project we decide if they are fit for handling, and if so they can proceed along the work flow. Quite often items with minor damage can still be digitised because the imaging and cataloguing processes (even if very intense from a handling point of view) are carried out in a highly monitored environment where we provide training for each member involved in handling library items, and constant support where needed.

We have also devised a colour “traffic” light system that we use to communicate through our tracking system on an online shared drive with the other strands of the project. A colour orange dot, for example, placed next to other information on the shared drive highlights that an item is in need of careful handling due to its fragile or damaged state.

A screenshot of the SharePoint window. Showing how an item is tracked through conservation. The SharePoint lists the shelfmark, batch, format, title, workflow stage, conservation indicator, its status, and assigned group. The items are pink or turquoise with a orange (in need of careful handling) or green (fit for handling) dot.

 Screenshot of the SharePoint window with information about items processed. Coloured dots highlight the conservation status of these items: orange: in need of careful handling/support from conservation, green: fit for handling

By doing this we ensure that all risks relating to possible damage occurring to items during handling and use are mitigated. At the same time we make possible the creation of surrogates from items that would otherwise not be available to readers in the reading rooms due to their condition, if not only after extensive conservation work. By providing surrogates to readers we should be able to preserve the original physical item from further handling, and this can only be achieved if an item’s access is subsequently reduced.

This is already quite an achievement - when it works, but even in such a customised capacity we can do more than that and the magic word here is “housing”. Good functional housing can be provided by creating customised, and not necessarily expensive, enclosures. If correctly used, phase boxes, folders, and Melinex enclosures provide very effective solutions to prolong the existence of fragile and endangered items.

We also provide supportive treatments such as repairs to major tears and weak areas. These are carried out only to minimise the risk of further damage during handling. This does not mean that as conservators we are sacrificing our knowledge and experience, but it means that we are shifting our expertise towards a wider and more comprehensive approach regarding what we can do for the preservation of our collection.

Conservation, as the word itself says, is the profession aimed to “conserve” items and all their historical features. Looking at the few examples below it is very clear that quite often full treatments have resulted in the complete transformation of the physical nature of the treated item. New sewing, heavy repairs applied to the supports, and new arrangements of items (loose leaves to a bound format) have completely jeopardised the understanding of the physical history of those items.

The left side of the image shows volume flat on a green desk, the volume is in poor condition and has a red label on the front which states 'not to be issued refer reader to'. On the right side of the image there are two brown volumes in a slip case, spine out with darker brown labels with gold tooling.

 Two originally “similar” items have, after restoration, lost most of their original physical appearance and therefore invaluable information related to their history

I love books and I love the feeling of handling items that are as they were meant to appear when they were produced. Physical features are an integral part of the history of an object, and too often paper based items are considered only for their content.

Leather bound volume with skinned leather and a large white label on the front with reads, in red ink, 'Nothing of importance' there are also some annotations above this in black ink but they are not legible.

 Unfortunately, many bindings and other physical features have been discarded as “Nothing of importance”!

In the following image it is possible to see how good intentions translated into over-restoration. This practice has caused a lot of losses of original features and therefore vital information about the item.

Yellow guard book of rebound documents, book is open on green desk showing annotated pages. Behind the volume is an another guard book and a slip case which both of the guard books nestle in.

 Guard book of documents that were originally bound together. The paper is laminated and then “hooked” with paper hinges to be bound in the present format

It gives great personal and professional satisfaction to see my input valued and to enable others to enjoy items I am conserving in their original state. It is not always possible or even advisable to completely stop to do full treatments to damaged items, but it is important to remember that we take on a great responsibility by doing it. It is a natural and understandable expectation that we want to see things “as new”, but that is not the aim of conservation.

I like to say that conservation is not about preserving what we can see, but is to be able to leave things as they are as much as possible; it is what we cannot see that really matters.

Heavily damage manuscript with brown cover. There are three images of the manuscript, the top image shows the front of the volume which has a white label adhered with black writing which cannot be read from this image; and a red sticker which reads 'not to be issued refer to' printed in black ink. The left image on the bottom left shows the gutter of the manuscript when open and the image on the bottom right shows the inside top right corner of the board when the book is open.

 This heavily damaged manuscript has been digitised and re-housed in a box. By doing this we have been able to preserve all the original features of its contemporary binding, remnants of the sewing threads and materials used in the making of the cover. These details provide clues about specific crafts employed, as well as shedding new light on issues like provenance of the object. They may even inspire new approaches for the interpretation of its content

Mass processing workflows such as those employed in digitisation projects offer conservators a great opportunity to gain understanding about entire collections and not just about single items. By processing a great number of items the conservator acquires knowledge of a whole group of items leading to a wider understanding of the collections and the issues relating to them.

It is a great challenge for conservators to make the best use of this newly acquired knowledge. We have to be able to share what we learn with other strands of our institutions, and also more broadly with interested outside audiences. Information dissemination has never been easier with blogs and Twitter feeds allowing us to share our knowledge quickly and efficiently. It is an opportunity for better communication that we should embrace.

Flavio Marzo

Gulf History Arabic Science Project Conservator

“Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes, I’m afraid it’s time for goodbye again, Say goodbye to Colindale. Say goodbye, my baby…” [with apologies to Billy Joel]

So. The Newspaper Library at Colindale finally closed its doors to the public on 8 November this year, having first opened them to readers more than eighty years ago. Like many of you, we’ll miss the old place for all sorts of personal reasons – for the things we discovered there, the friends we made there, the experiences we shared there.

But professionally, being charged with preserving its vast collection and keeping it available, we can’t be too sad, because we know that, by closing its old doors, we are opening a new one and taking a massive, exciting step towards a better, more stable future for the collection and a much improved experience for those who want to use it.

The reading room at Colindale, c. 1970         

The sun’ll come out, tomorrow…

The Colindale building opened in 1905 for the storage of newspapers, which means today that we have a double collection care whammy – a very vulnerable collection (let’s face it, newspapers were never meant to be kept for hundreds of years) stored in a very inappropriate building. The main enemies of organic material – light, temperature, humidity and particulates – were unable to be controlled as efficiently and cost effectively as we needed to at Colindale to ensure the future of the collection. This unsuitable and unstable environment was catalysing the natural deterioration process of the organic materials that make up the collection, which means we need to take urgent action.

Sunlight falls on the Colindale collection

For example, there are over 450 windows in the stacks at Colindale – one at each end of every range – which has allows sunlight to do its damage visually and chemically over the years. Sometimes open and sometimes closed variously across the six floors of storage, they also make the temperature and humidity difficult to control and the fluctuations in these in particular are contributing to the condition of the collection.  Solar gain is augmented by old radiators in between every second window, part of an original heating system that can’t be controlled centrally or sensitively.

Sunlight falling on the shelves at Colindale in North London

What’s in the papers?

For our readers and users, what’s in the papers is what it’s all about. The content of our Newspaper Collection is a rich and vibrant source of information that draws researchers from all over the world. But for those of us whose job it is to care for the collection and keep it available, what’s literally in them (what they’re made of), is more important, because it has a significant impact on their life expectancy and our management of it.

Getting enough of the right fibre

Newspaper is made from cellulose fibres and up until the mid/late 19th century, the most common source for this was recycled textiles, or rags (largely, but not exclusively, from cotton and linen). Rag papers have lovely long, strong fibres of pure cellulose and, although all cellulose-based papers produce acid-based by-products through natural degradation, kept in the right environment (more of that later), and handled appropriately (more of that, too), they will stand up naturally well to the challenges of time and use.

But cotton and linen rag was not a sustainable source for newsprint, and a shortage of rags combined with an increased demand for paper led to development and use of wood as the primary source of paper pulp – and inadvertently presented us with a major preservation headache… 

Wood

The problem that wood pulp papers give us is that wood contains lignin (amongst other things), a complex polymer that binds the cellulose fibres into a cohesive structure. And the trouble with lignin is that it’s light sensitive. It will degrade and discolour on exposure to light, weakening any paper that contains it.

If you leave a newspaper in the sun for just a few days you’ll see the start of this degradation process by the discolouration of the exposed pages. Leave it longer and the pages will become brittle and will physically break when handled.

Wood fibres (here on the left) provide a weaker bonding matrix than rag fibres

Brittle newspaper can be virtually unmanageable. If you’ve ever requested a newspaper item and have been advised that it is not able to be issued for preservation reasons, frequently (but not always) it will be because the item is too vulnerable to loss of content and further damage as a result of brittle paper:

These volumes of regional papers from 1908 show the effect of brittle paper. Sometime brittle paper affects only certain areas of the page (often the outer edges) and only parts of a volume, but some are brittle throughout and their weakened pages detach readily. Handling is difficult and loss of content inevitable. Neither of these volumes would be available for issue under normal circumstances

When you realise that of the approximately 282,000 bound volumes of newspapers currently at Colindale, over 90% are published after 1850 and fall into that window where rag pulp was starting to be superseded by wood pulp, you get an idea of the scale of the challenge we face in trying to preserve the collection and keep it available.

Stopping the rot

Another challenge we face is 'red rot'. Atmospheric sulphur dioxide absorbed into leather bindings over many years oxides to form sulphuric acid which dissolves the leather to red powdery material of no physical strength. While leather degradation by red rot can’t be reversed, the rate can be slowed by improving the environmental conditions in which volumes are stored and reducing their exposure to natural light.

These volumes of Scottish papers were originally quarter bound in blue leather, but the leather on the spines where the spines are exposed to the atmosphere, has been seriously degraded by red rot

These volumes of Scottish papers were originally quarter bound in blue leather, but the leather on the spines where the spines are exposed to the atmosphere, has been seriously degraded by red rot

We can see that the leather on the spine has completely degraded away, exposing the spine lining which was glued up using a hot-melt glue. The kettle stitch and cords are exposed and continued use will result in this volume completely disbinding

Size Matters

Brittle paper and red rot are common conditions that we have to dea l with, but these are often compounded by the size of many of the items in the collection.

“…and my pocket sonnets are yours, Miss Marianne!”  Thus Mr Willoughby confirmed the gift of his teensy little bound volume of Shakespeare sonnets to Marianne Dashwood in the film version of Sense and Sensibility.

Imagine the alternative newspaper version:

“…and my bound volume of the Argus, Clarion and Trumpet Jan-Dec is yours, Miss Marianne! You fellows bring her on up! Steady...Curses, mind the lintels! This bookcase shall have to be rebuilt to accommodate her. And the reading table much extended and reinforced…she’s of monstrous size (no, no, not you My Love…!)"

Left: This is one of our smallest volumes, the Birmingham Stock Exchange Monthly Investment List. The volume here is dated 1910 and, no taller than a pencil, measures 14cm x 8.5cm and weighs only 100g

Binding newspapers into volumes was a practical way of keeping them together and protecting the pages from physical damage as well as, to some degree, harmful light and particulates. But this means that we have many items in the collection that are of significant size and weight, which makes handing very difficult. This can lead to physical damage of stable material and significant damage to unstable material.

By contrast, this volume of the Alloa Journal & Clackmannanshire advertiser 1895 [left-most volume below], while still not the largest volume in the collection, measures 82.5cm x 61cm and weighs in at an impressive 17.51 kg.

In the example above the text block, over time and with use, has dropped out of its binding under its own weight. With both boards detached the text block is no longer properly protected. It is not only suffering damage but is increasingly difficult to handle.

Next post: Paper, paper everywhere, and not a page to read…

We know our newspaper collection is a brilliant resource for many different people for all sorts of reasons, and it’s crucial to us that we continue to make as much of it available as possible. In our next post, Building a Future, we’ll look at the steps we’ve taken over the years to provide content where originals are too fragile, including conservation, microfilming and digitisation; the effect on the collection of the current building and the preservation justification for moving; and we’ll look inside the new building and explore its benefits and advantages.

For more information on the newspaper moves programme see our Newspaper Moves web page.

Sandy Ryan

Conservator Ann Tomalak tells us about the new mobile conservation workstation being trialled at the British Library.

Because we are a library, our books get handled and read. Inevitably, a small number get damaged, either by accident or because the materials degrade as they get older, and fall apart. In order to get items with minor damage back into use as quickly as possible, we have a Running Repairs programme for work that will only take a few hours.

A pamphlet in urgent need of repair

Traditionally, Running Repairs have been done in the conservation studios alongside major conservation projects. Items needing repair are identified by curators, library assistants or readers and join a never-ending list, from where they are delivered in small batches to the Centre for Conservation every few weeks. The paperwork takes time. Every item has to be ordered individually, and security tracked. When the repair is finished, the conservator records the time spent on it, writes a report and attaches photographs. Then the process is reversed to get the item back to store.

The mobile workstation and its contents

Recently, we have been trialling a new method to get running repairs done more quickly, without compromising the quality of the conservation work. A mobile workstation has been kitted out with basic tools and lots of repair materials, so that we can take the conservator to the collection. The workstation is “parked” for a week or two in the collection areas – either in the storage pen or nearby, in curatorial offices. Colleagues are notified and soon come along, clutching damaged items. The conservator takes a quick look and discusses the options. Most running repairs can be done at the trolley, though a few items which need specialised equipment or advanced techniques must still be sent to the Centre for Conservation. A further few need extensive conservation and will be set aside for a full assessment.

A detached board and spine fragments. This routine repair can be done quickly, using only basic tools and materials

Taking the conservator to the collection means that we avoid the tedious ordering, tracking and delivery system. We have also greatly simplified the treatment record, simply noting the shelf-mark, work done, materials used and any other essential information, with a link to photographs. Since the conservator often works on several items at a time (for example, allowing one repair to dry while preparing another), the overall time spent on the visit is averaged over the number of items treated.

Conservation in progress at the workstation

Considering that a simple paper tear only takes 15 minutes to repair and a loose leaf can be reattached in well under an hour, the paperwork often took far longer than the conservation treatment. We estimate we are saving 30 minutes on ordering and delivery, 15 minutes on security administration and 30 minutes on the treatment report. This time can now be used for more running repairs, meaning items can be returned to use much more quickly.

A detached seal can easily be lost, so this is a priority repair

The curators are delighted. Treatments are completed to the same high standard, but precious books need never leave their sight and are returned to them quickly – often within hours. They can discuss the work with the conservator and talk through options. By watching the conservator at work, they also get a better understanding of what can be done as a running repair and what needs full conservation.

Folded material bound into a book is doubly vulnerable – the attachment point can tear from incautious opening and the folds eventually split

All in all, everybody benefits from the mobile workstation; not least our Readers who find damaged collection items return to use more quickly.

Ann Tomalak

Planning a digitisation project can be a lengthy process with consideration required for strategic alignment, funding models, workflow, and metadata – all of which should be led by a clear definition of the overall purpose of the digitisation project. What must also be considered are the practical aspects of digitisation bearing in mind the condition and format of items, and identifying what needs to be done to items to make them camera ready.

There are potential risks from digitisation as books become objects when being copied, and therefore may not be handled, positioned or viewed in the conventional way. This increased handling can accelerate the normal process of wear and tear. In order to minimise these risks the items should be checked over before appearing in the imaging studio. These checks are run by our Preventive Conservation team who make initial condition assessments of items to be digitised; recommend any treatments to stabilise or repair items; and advise on handling and transport, camera equipment, lighting and cradles. We are Collection Care after all!

The outcome of pre-digitisation checks fall broadly under five headings which will be covered in this post, and we’ll share some examples of what to look out for.

1. Items that can be digitised in their current state

Good condition, flat, loose leaf items, and bound items where all the content can be seen easily, and that open well, can be digitised.

Items in good condition which open well can be digitised easily. Depending on size limits these items may be suitable for scanning

For folded inserts, digitisation is best facilitated through use of a book rest to support the main volume allowing the insert to lie flat. A support can be arranged underneath to provide a flat base for large foldouts. Take note of the format and size of folded inserts as large items may be too big for many scanners, and may need to be photographed instead.

The value of a good measuring tape cannot be underestimated! This bound book (left) is 260 x 210 mm, but the insert extends to 770 x 500 mm. In guard books (right), the insert may be smaller than the volume in which case a sheet of paper can be placed behind

Guard-books which contain miscellaneous single documents or groups of documents usually open well, and if items are in a good condition then they can be photographed or scanned. If inserts are smaller than the volume then a backing sheet will need to be placed underneath to hide items behind. Size and positioning can vary through the volume so items may have to be repositioned under the camera/scanner. Items with wax or shellac applied seals and vulnerable manuscript items should not be scanned under glass as this can cause damage or make existing damage worse.

Some items may appear to be badly damaged but may still be imaged safely. For example if an item has a broken binding where the boards are off and the sewing has failed, it can be treated like single leaves. If the boards are completely off, but the sewing and text block are still intact then it acts like a bound volume.

2. Items that may need some preparation

It may be possible to photograph rolled items without preparation. If the roll is particularly long then it may need to be photographed in sections with weights positioned to prevent the item rolling up between shots. Where rolled items are distorted and do not lie flat easily (even using weights), they may need some relaxing and pressing first. Bound items which have been rolled need to be relaxed and flattened for digitisation.

 Some rolled items can be digitised using weights (left), while others (right) may need some care before imaging

Folded items may need to be photographed separately and in sections as they can be much bigger than they first appear. It is important to know how much space is needed as a different location and set up may be needed to capture large items.

Items may be larger than they seem! This fold out map requires a large working space which imaging studios may not be capable of accommodating

Past stationary remedies such as pins, treasury tags, fasteners and adhesive tapes can damage paper. Rusting induced by a high humidity environment can stain underlying paper. Preparation time may be needed to remove pins, fasteners and threads. Tape removal can be more time consuming involving the work of a conservator. You can read more about tape removal in our Conservation Revealed blog post.

Bad storage and poor housing can cause problems making items difficult to handle and lay flat. These items may need to be prepared for digitisation by relaxing and flattening – this is a relatively simple job, however if there is a lot of material it can be time consuming.

Poor storage (left) and broken threads (right) can make items difficult to handle

In all of these cases, time has to be factored in for preparation of material.

3. Items that may need minor conservation work

Ideally dirty items should be surface cleaned to remove loose dust and dirt before imaging. Ingrained surface dirt is very difficult to remove so the item may have to be imaged as it is, or even excluded if the condition is detrimental to the project. It’s worth keeping in mind that the appearance may be part of the ‘story’ of the material.

Damaged covers (left), and torn pages (right) can be digitised after minimal localised conservation

Outside leaves may be more badly damaged than text blocks, and it may be the case that a few leaves in a text block are torn. These items may be digitised after minimal localised conservation. It may also be possible to place torn loose items into Melinex sleeves to hold flat as an alternative to other preparation/conservation.

Mouldy items can cause damage, losses, staining and weakness to paper. For health and safety reasons, this material needs to be checked by a conservator. It may need to be dried if active and should be cleaned to remove mould spores before being safe to handle.

4. Items that may need more extensive conservation work

Extensive tears and detached sections may need to be repaired. All folds are vulnerable to tearing. If bindings have to be pulled for rebinding, digitisation can take place beforehand – single pages may be easier to handle.

Already damaged material such as this torn foldout is vulnerable to further damage. Check if any items are scheduled for conservation work which may make digitisation easier

5. Items needing handling input as an alternative to conservation

Some inks such as iron gall ink can cause degradation of otherwise good quality paper. Where the damage is extensive and the paper is very brittle, it may be quicker to image with a conservator handling and setting up the items with the photographer.

Having a conservator in the imaging studio to handle ink burn through (left) or loose leaves (right) may be quicker and less expensive than arranging full conservation work

Some bound items may be in very good condition but have restricted openings. Tightly bound volumes often result in text disappearing into the gutter of the book. These types of items can be difficult to digitise and adaptations to book cradles using straps and weights may be needed to enable them to be handled. Most books should not be opened wider than 120° unless they do so naturally. Openings throughout the volume should be checked for opening characteristics. Generally books should be positioned so that supports hold the item open at a safe angle for that item. Opening characteristics can change as a book is worked through, and volumes may need to be adjusted regularly to ensure the item is sitting correctly. Angled book rests can be placed on one side to allow the page being imaged to lie flat.

Opening characteristics of books: Rigid tight back in conventional reading position (top left), hollow backed book in conventional reading position (top right), tight paperback 90° opening (bottom left), tight binding opens to barely 90° (bottom right)

You may decide that highly valuable items should be accompanied and/or handled and set up by a conservator or curator. This time and cost will need to be factored in to the project.

Decisions about preparation sometimes depend on the purpose of the digitisation project, e.g. to publicise the collection or to provide a study source. This may affect the level of preparation needed for digitisation, i.e. whether or not to relax and flatten items. Digital copies may raise awareness of physical items and increase demand to see the original – so decisions about future access need to be addressed. Planning for a digitisation project is vital to ensure the success of your project, with the emphasis on balancing the benefits of producing a digital copy against the risk of damage during the imaging process.

Christina Duffy (@DuffyChristina)
Imaging Scientist

You may have heard that we are moving the national newspaper collection from its current home of the Newspaper Library in Colindale North London to a brand new storage facility on our Boston Spa site in Yorkshire. Want to know why? Then read on!

  The dust of another day’s research settles as the sun sets over Colindale

In a series of Read All About It! blog posts we’ll take you behind the scenes of the Newspaper Collection. We’ll tell you a little bit more about it and share some Stop Press! fascinating facts. We’ll explain exactly what newspapers are made of and what makes them so vulnerable. We’ll share with you the collection care challenges we’ve faced in managing the newspaper collection and the ground-breaking steps we’re taking to preserve it and keep its content available.

We’ll show you why we’re moving it, where we’re moving it to, and let you have a little insight into the massive logistical challenge that this involves. And we’ll give you a little taster of what you can expect from the forthcoming News and Media Reading Room at St Pancras...so watch this space! Follow us on Twitter to keep an eye open for new blog posts.

Sandy Ryan

Last week Collection Care hosted an international conference at the British Library. Over 120 delegates from 17 countries convened in London from 14 – 15 October. The conference was divided into six sessions covering the health of collections and the provision of care; an evolving profession; teaching & training; collection care business models; perspectives and practitioners; and digitisation and collection care. A high calibre of papers was given leading to some lively debates where it was concluded that more communication and collaboration between collection care disciplines is required.

 The British Library

Reading a book can change your life. Engaging online can change the world - Bill Thompson

The need for heritage professionals to come together to exchange ideas and challenge mind-sets was a key theme throughout the sessions. Head of Partnership Development at the BBC Archive Bill Thompson gave the keynote speech and discussed how technology is giving the Enlightenment another 500 years. He stressed how we are not in a Digital World, but an Age of Electronics that is shaping our existence. One of the major challenges faced by professionals is to keep up and meet changing user expectations for delivery.  

Change in collection care mustn’t be disruptive, but adaption to outputs of technology is essential. It was speculated that we might be reaching a point where simulacra of objects in collections may be more useful than the originals. Thompson encouraged us to embrace the potential of new technologies, but to be aware that older ones will not go away.   

Give us screens, but give us bookshelves too – Bill Thompson  

Dr Cath Dillon, post-doctoral research associate at UCL in the Centre for Sustainable Heritage discussed the Collections Demography project and shared the stakeholder’s views on value, change and lifetime. The project defines health and end of life of collections. Dillon asked how long books should last for and reported that most said 100 or 1,000 years. She found that when considering historic documents the public are very reluctant to rate collections as ‘unfit’.  

If conservators are not flexible they won’t be brought to the table for budget planning – Caroline Checkley-Scott  

Conservation is considered a small profession in the UK with about 3,000 active conservators. It was a common theme in the conference that there is a need for teams to respond flexibly to rapidly changing requirements. Kenneth Aitchison, Skills Strategy Manager at the Institute of Conservation (ICON) discussed shaping the future of conservation. Conservation labour market intelligence indicates that 65% of conservators are women, 35% are men, the average age is 42.9 years old, and the median salary is £26,000.   

Flavio Marzo, Conservation Studio Manager for the British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme addressed the audience on Tuesday and stressed that conservators need to sell themselves to sustain their value. For digitisation projects Marzo has realised that conservator knowledge is part of the value where the ultimate aim is the image. The physical location of the conservation studio of the Qatar Foundation Project supports integration with the rest of the team allowing conversations to happen which ordinarily might not. Marzo was joined onstage by Qatar Project Conservator Anna Hoffman who outlined her ‘Conservator’s Charter’: learn from experience, communicate and share expertise; and be visible and creative.  

Jocelyn Cuming, Course Leader for the MA Conservation at Camberwell College of the Arts talked about conservation education. Cuming emphasised that although knowledge of materials is fundamental, knowledge was not in itself sufficient for conservation students. A need for skills in communication and advocacy was identified, as well as a constant re-evaluation of requirements for conservation education and training; such as including care of digital materials. Annie Petersen, Preservation Librarian for Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University noted that those working with analogue and digital collections don’t communicate very well. She noted that many new graduates wanted digital to be covered more thoroughly in their preservation education.  

Prue McKay, Supervising Conservator for Projects and Exhibitions at the National Archives of Australia thought students should learn a framework of procedures and rationale at university, and develop skills on the job.   

My reality - save all the things! - Megan De Silva  

Megan De Silva, Object Conservator at Monmouthshire Museums Service pitched that while big organisations work to a strategy, small organisations tend to work to a ‘to-do list’. De Silva stressed that strategic thinking is important for smaller organisations, as well as for larger ones.  

It’s not heritage and digital collections; it is the Collection – Dr Cordelia Rogerson  

Head of Conservation at the British Library, Dr Cordelia Rogerson, asserted that change is the new normal. We need to explore how concepts of authenticity and integrity in digital preservation relate to conservation more generally. At the British Library, Digital Preservation recently became part of Collection Care and is headed up by Maureen Pennock. Pennock stressed that digital collection care has to be managed from the beginning in the same way as traditional collection care.  

We don’t need a digital strategy – we need a strategy – Bill Thompson  

It was raised that there are far fewer people working in digital preservation than traditional conservation and the digital skill set of the 3,000 active conservators in the UK was queried. It is unknown whether any of those 3,000 conservators work on digital content. Juergen Vervoorst, Head of Conservation at The National Archives shared with delegates that 120 million records were delivered online last year from The National Archives; 200 times that delivered in reading rooms. 

Dr Rogerson also highlighted that we need more evidence on usage patterns following digitisation, and is keen for a project on the subject to be supported.  

The conference was a great success and we thank all of those involved in the organisation and participation of the event. We invite comments and contributions from any of our delegates to the Collection Care blog, and hope to continue the debate by sharing our knowledge and ideas.  

Christina Duffy (@DuffyChristina)
Imaging Scientist

Follow us on Twitter: @BL_CollCare

Look after your 19th century decorated books!

The age of the Internet progresses with texts and wonderful images abound on the World Wide Web. Books are still produced and sold in bookshops on our high streets, and we can see designs for book dust jackets and for paperback book covers. These designs are created to attract us to buy and read the contents. All of this was true from the 1840s from which time books were bound in ever-greater numbers in boards covered with cloth that had been dyed in bright colours and grained to provide contrast to the colour. Books were blocked with designs that varied from the simple to the highly elaborate. An example of a simple design blocked in the 1830s is that of an animal blocked on the centre of the upper cover (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Little Book of Animals/Select and amusing anecdotes of various animals, 1839, shelfmark 1606/1653

 

In the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s, blocking of covers with gold or in blind (blind meaning uncoloured) predominated. An example of a very elaborate design by John Leighton is blocked on the very popular work, The Ingoldsby Legends as shown below in Figure 2.

Figure 2: The Ingoldsby Legends/Mirth and Marvels, 1864, shelfmark C.129.d.3

 

From the 1860s to the 1880s, blocking in black as well as gold introduced yet more design variety. Publishers issued series that had only small differences in the overall design, with the colours being used to differentiate each volume.

Figure 3: Ward and Lock Poems series, 1880, shelfmark 11609h12

By the 1890s, ‘pictorial’ designs could be blocked in multiple colours onto cloth covers, with results that often hinted at or showed drama.

Under the Sea to the North Pole, 1895, shelfmark 01255h22.

Foundling Mick, 1893, Shelfmark 012550h1

 

All of these designs continue to attract us today. But how durable are these 19th century books? It is well known that the paper on which the texts were printed is liable to decay. This is through the use of wood for papermaking, which in its manufacturing resulted in the shortening of paper fibres and mixed in a combination of chemicals to make the process more rapid.

A couple of examples show the problem. I purchased these two books recently. On the outside, The Little Woodman looks in fair condition (Figure 5). The red dye is reasonably bright and the coloured design on the spine and upper cover still show a forest scene.

Figure 5: The Little Woodman and his Dog Cæsar, 1894

However, when the book is opened the poor quality of the paper is observed (Figure 6). The pages have detached from the sewing, and the whole text block has detached from the case. Cases were never strong in relation to the weight of the paper, and this now shows very clearly.

Figure 6: Pages detached from a 19th century sewing

Another example that I purchased is a publication typical of its time. William Mackenzie issued many publications in multiple issues (similar to monthly issues of magazines today), and then had the separate issues bound into cloth cases. The National Encyclopædia/A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge was published in the 1880s, in fourteen volumes, with a design by John Leighton in gold and in black onto the covers and the spine (Figure 7).

Figure 7: The National Encyclopædia/A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, 1884-1888, Vol.11

From a quick glance all appears well, but upon opening volume 11 it is clear that it has lost its endpaper and title page. The sewing of the text has now given way, and it has detached itself from the case at the front revealing the back of the spine underneath.

Figure 8: Failed sewing in The National Encyclopædia

Figure 9: Failed sewing in The National Encyclopædia results in the text detaching from the volume

Making repairs to books in this sort of condition can be expensive. If you manage to buy a copy that is not as degraded as the books shown here, then it is best to keep the books out of strong light, to open the books with care and to not turn the pages too quickly. With care you can look after copies of 19th century books for your enjoyment, and for the future pleasure of others.

Edmund M. B. King

Follow us on Twitter @BL_CollCare

Further reading

1. There is a plethora websites to visit and large numbers of images on Google images for the search ‘19th century decorated bindings’
2. For the degradation of paper made from wood, see the University of Chicago Preservation Department website 
3. For the effective storage of books to preserve the original, see for example:
- The Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA)
- Preservation Advisory Centre's publication on Damaged Books
4. The British Library's Database of Bookbindings

About the author

Edmund M. B. King worked for the British Library from 1975 until 2012. He catalogued and indexed books in English and in French, 1975-1978. He worked in the Preservation Service of the Library from 1982 to 1997, in charge of programmes of work for the selection of books and other documents for conservation and for binding. From 1999, he was Head of the Library’s Newspaper Collection, one of the world’s finest. He led work on the the mass scanning of older UK newspapers, developments which today have resulted in the British Newspaper Archive, containing some 7 million pages, which are searchable.

Edmund has lectured extensively on the subject of Victorian book bindings. His bibliography of Victorian Decorated Trade Bindings was published in 2003. Details of this are at http://www.oakknoll.com/bookexcerpt.php?booknr=71826. He is currently working on adding entries to the British Library database of book bindings for the Victorian period http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/bookbindings.