Collection Care blog

Did you know that our digital library store already holds over 11,500,000 items? That’s over 280 terabytes of collection content, and more is added every day!

Our blog has so far focussed on how Collection Care colleagues work to preserve the Library’s physical collections, but the Library also works to preserve our digital content making collections accessible for future users. Digital content ranges from digital audio/video recordings, to personal digital archives, eJournals and archived websites. The preservation of digital content is spearheaded by the Digital Preservation Unit in Collection Care. Head of Digital Preservation Maureen Pennock introduces the role of the team and outlines the Twelve Principles of Digital Preservation:

The Digital Preservation Unit in Collection Care provides guidance, advice and support for operational colleagues across the Library to ensure our digital collections are preserved efficiently and effectively. We are a small team with a big mission – our digital collections are growing day by day, and preservation actions must be implemented right throughout the lifecycle, from creation onwards, if we are to preserve authentic and understandable content.

The diversity of digital material and frequent changes in computer technology present ongoing challenges for long term preservation and access

Following on from the launch of the Library’s Digital Preservation Strategy earlier in the year, which defined our four strategic priorities for 2013 – 2016, we are pleased to release our Twelve Principles of Digital Preservation. These principles define at a very high level how we as a Library will approach the preservation of our digital collections:

1. We integrate curatorial assessments of our digital collection content into preservation decisions, so that technical activities support curatorial requirements for the collections

2. We preserve metadata about our digital collections, so that we may understand and preserve the collections over time

3. We preserve the provenance of our digital collection content, so that we understand and can demonstrate its authenticity over time

4. We record any modifications to digital collection content (e.g. preservation action, normalisation) during the lifecycle, so that we can understand and demonstrate its integrity over time

5. We consistently apply and document our application of metadata standards, so that future generations can understand our collections

6. We maintain file-level integrity of our digital collections, so that we can protect against loss and damage

7. We preserve original files in our long term repository, alongside any other required representations of the content, so that we maintain the original artefacts acquired or deposited into our care as a ground truth representation of the content for future, currently unknown, preservation and access scenarios

8. We maintain Preservation Master copies of collection content in our long term repository, so that the format-based risks of preservation over time are minimised

9. We maintain and implement preservation plans for our digital collections, so that preservation actions are reliable and based on a holistic understanding of the collections and their context

10. We implement comprehensive end-to-end workflows, so that we may consistently manage and preserve our digital collections across the entire lifecycle

11. We regularly monitor our digital collection content for emergent preservation risks, so that we may mitigate against them

12. We integrate quality assurance checks into the lifecycle where appropriate, so that the authenticity and integrity of the content is maintained

These Principles are the first output of a workstream dedicated to defining the Library’s digital preservation standards. More work is already underway to define the policies that will be associated with each principle and, in turn, the resulting requirements for meeting that policy. This workstream is part of a larger programme of work being undertaken in digital preservation to ensure our strategic priorities are met. Other activities include:

• a collection profiling exercise to provide top level descriptions and preservation direction for different types of digital collections (eg e-theses, web archives, ebooks, AV material etc)

• a risk and preservation condition assessment exercise for content temporarily stored outside of our long term digital repository

• a file format assessment exercise to define preferred preservation formats for different types of content

• a tool assessment exercise to evaluate the performance of different tools on library content so that evidence-based recommendations can be made on which tools to use in which context

• a training programme to ensure colleagues across the library are aware of digital preservation responsibilities, requirements, and recommendations relevant whilst content is in their care

Digitisation projects are increasing in frequency each year highlighting the need for preservation measures.

 

The Principles are designed to help ensure that preservation is considered in appropriate projects and initiatives regardless of whether or not the digital preservation unit is actively involved. Compliance checks will be initiated as part of a Collection care monitoring service. In coming months we will be working closely with other colleagues across the Library in defining appropriate and realistic policies, followed by requirements.

We’ll post our progress to the blog in due course. Watch this space..!

Maureen Pennock

Have you ever been described as a bookworm?

We hope the only bookworms encountered in our reading rooms are of the Studious genus, but did you know that there are a whole host of pesky pests out there hungry for paper? Fires and floods are usually the scenarios we think of when we hear about damaged books, but books are also susceptible to pest damage. “Bookworm” is actually a generic term and doesn’t apply to any particular species, although it is often used to describe the Anobiid beetle (Anobium punctatum).

Figure 1: The larvae of furniture beetles, Anobium punctatum, attack wooden book boards, shelving, frames and compressed paper. Copyright DBP Entomology. 

Where the passionate reader sees inspiration and literary genius, the pest sees a delicious and satisfying papery meal. Holes in books and bindings, large chewed areas and scraped surfaces are all evidence of pest attack. Thankfully, damage like this is largely historic and it is a matter for conservation rather than pest control. Our Preservation Advisory Centre (closed since March 2014) produced a free to download information booklet on Managing pests in paper-based collections written by Consultant Entomologist David Pinniger. Although there are physical and chemical treatments to control infestation, it is much cheaper and far more effective to use preventive methods. Here we take a look at a few of the culprits.

Name: Silverfish (Lepisma saccharina)
Likes to eat: Paper

Silverfish (or fish moths) are nocturnal wingless scaly insects (10-15 mm) associated with damp conditions and require a localised humidity above 70-80%. They are named in light of their silvery exterior and slithery fish-like movements. 

Figure 2: The Silverfish is a primitive insect with three bristles called cerci at the tail end where the abdomen tapers. Copyright Aiwok. 

Post-meal evidence includes irregular holes in paper and ragged, scraped surface areas. If they are particularly greedy they will preferentially target areas with glue or ink which may be more nutritious.

Figure 3: Silverfish (sometimes known as fish moths) leave irregular holes in paper around a scuffed surface.  Copyright DBP Entomology.

Name: Varied carpet beetle (Anthrenus verbasci)
Likes to eat: Animal glue

The varied carpet beetle is the most common species found in Great Britain. The adults are 2-3 mm long with a grey and gold scaly exterior. They enjoy flying in warm weather and typically hang-out on window sills – the carpet beetle equivalent of the shopping mall. It is the offspring that causes damage to collection material. Young offenders hatch from eggs into hairy larvae (< 1 mm), and grow up to 5 mm. They shed their skins as they develop and tend to wander around randomly chewing holes in bindings and mounts where animal glue resides.

Figure 4: The varied carpet beetle, as well as being partial to animal glue, can be found dining on wool, fur, feathers, silk and skins.  Copyright André Karwath

Name: Biscuit beetle (Stegobium paniceum)
Likes to eat: Starch and dried food

Figure 5: The biscuit beetle bores holes in harder materials and emerges leaving a symmetrical exit hole. Copyright Sarefo

They may sound friendly (or tasty!), but beware the biscuit beetle. Unlike woodworm larvae which eat wood and cellulose, biscuit beetle larvae bore holes and cavities in paper, papier maché and starch-rich composite board in books and boxes. They are also known as the Drugstore beetle or the Bread beetle with adults reaching about 2-3 mm long.

Name: Woodlouse
Likes to eat: Damp paper and cardboard

Figure 6: Woodlice Porcellio scaber (left) and Oniscus asellus (centre) in wood  

The woodlouse is not an insect but belongs to the Crustacea group which includes shrimp and crabs. They love damp high humidity conditions such as rotting wood or vegetation and cause damage by grazing on damp paper and cardboard if located nearby. Most people have encountered woodlice by disturbing old logs outside and watching as they scurry around in bewilderment. They cannot survive in dry conditions so when found inside have usually wandered in from a damper outside environment, and therefore do not live very long.

Land and air attack

It’s not just insects that attack books, rodents and birds also play their part. Mice can be particularly damaging as they tend to gnaw materials habitually to keep their teeth sharp, while females shred paper to make nests for their young.

Figure 7: Mouse damage Copyright DBP Entomology

Birds are unlikely to directly target books for nutrition, but as anyone who has tried to shoo a pigeon out of a room will know - bird droppings can cause unsightly stains and be very corrosive.

Integrated Pest Management

Figure 8: One of the first signs of a furniture beetle attack is frass (insect excrement) which is pushed out of the larvae tunnels when the adult furniture beetle emerges. Copyright DBP Entomology.

Pests will only usually damage material because they are seeking nutrition. Collection items boasting mouth-watering edible materials such as wooden boards, textiles, adhesives, gelatine and starch can satisfy the pickiest of pests. Prevention is always better than cure so it is important to be vigilant for the signs of an infestation. If you are unsure about a potential pest problem contact the Preservation Advisory Centre for some helpful advice.

Christina Duffy (@DuffyChristina)

The work of our Collection Care team is going to feature on a new major television series airing on BBC Four. King Alfred and the Anglo-Saxons will examine the careers of King Alfred the Great, the Lady Æthelflæd and King Athelstan in a three part series starting on Tuesday, 6 August (21:00-22:00). Some of the archival material consulted for the series is from the burnt Cotton collection and was severely damaged by fire in the 18th century at Ashburnham House. Our conservators, scientists and curators will be featured handling and caring for the vulnerable material in all three episodes, while being interviewed by presenter and historian Michael Woods. The extraordinary tale of King Alfred is almost surpassed by the fascinating history of the ill-fated Cotton manuscripts.

MayaVision presents King Alfred and the Anglo-Saxons on BBC Four on Tuesday, 6, 13 and 20 August (21:00-22:00) featuring the British Library’s Collection Care team

The Cotton Collection

Two of the manuscripts consulted during filming were Cotton MS Otho B. IX, a late 9th- or early 10th-century gospel book which came into the possession of King Athelstan, and Cotton MS Otho A. VI, the only surviving copy of Alfred the Great’s Old English prose and verse translation of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy. The Cotton collection refers to the library assembled by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631) which was presented to the British nation by his Grandson Sir John Cotton around 1700. It contains some of the most well-known treasures of the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels (Cotton MS Nero D. IV), Magna Carta: Exemplification of 1215 (Cotton MS Augustus II. 106) and Beowulf (Cotton MS Vitellius A. XV). Manuscripts were originally housed by Sir Robert Cotton in large presses surmounted by busts of the Twelve Caesars and two Imperial Ladies, and labelled according to their position (for example Cotton Otho A. VI was under the bust of Otho, top shelf (A), and six over). This arrangement has been incorporated into modern shelfmarks at the British Library. It was described as ‘the most important collection of manuscripts ever assembled in Britain by a private individual.’ Suddenly, the unthinkable occurred.

A fire breaks out

On 23 October 1731 a great fire broke out where the Cotton manuscripts were being temporarily held at Ashburnham House, Westminster. About a quarter of the collection was affected. The librarian at Ashburnham House Dr Bentley is recorded to have leapt from a window to escape the fire with the 5th-century Codex Alexandrinus (MS Royal 1. D. V-VIII; one of three of the earliest manuscripts of the Bible) under one arm. Thanks to Bentley’s agility you can today view the manuscript online in its fireproof digitised form. The fire consumed almost the entire printed book collection and some of the manuscripts. Although only 13 entire manuscripts perished, there was significant damage to many which lost important articles or remained only as charred fragments.

A box of charred fragments collected from the Ashburnham House fire in 1731. The many cinder-like fragments and burnt lumps of parchment were bundled into drawers and flimsy boxes later causing much confusion as to their origin

The damage was utterly devastating. A black edge bead had formed on the manuscript edges, most often consisting of a brownish congealed gelatine and carbon particulates. Gelatine is the end product of the sudden degradation of the parchment collagen and occurs when the long fibres under tension break apart. When cooled the parchment became very brittle and any subsequent handling resulted in serious textual loss. The heat not only damaged the text but left vulnerable wax seals as melted shapeless globules bereft of their intricate design.

A fragment of warped parchment from the burnt Cotton collection at 20x magnification. The iron gall ink follows the path of the parchment making it difficult to read

As is often the case in fires, much of the damage was caused by the water used to extinguish the flames. Damp parchment and paper manuscripts were at risk of developing mould and urgently required drying.

Early conservation work

In the aftermath of the fire emergency conservation work resulted in many manuscripts being broken up and rebound. Carbonised bindings were removed and the burnt parchment manuscripts were carefully opened. Some of the parchment manuscripts were dried by lying flat out. In the rush of the rescue work many of the leaves were assembled in the wrong order, permanently disrupting the collation of volumes.

A renewed effort at restoration

The Cotton collection made its way to the British Museum in 1753, but it wasn’t until 1837 when Sir Frederic Madden was appointed Keeper of Manuscripts that further work was done. The burnt manuscripts were divided into classes depending on the severity of the damage, and a plan was put in place for their restoration. Expertise was sought from Henry Gough who had undertaken repair work of damaged manuscripts in the Bodleian and other College Libraries in Oxford. Solutions of ethanol and water were reported to have been used to soften the manuscripts in order to wash individual leaves. Tiny incisions were made between the columns and the lines of writing to allow room for expansion of the most shrivelled part of parchment contracted by the flames. Many of the Cotton manuscripts thought to have been lost were identified, flattened, inlaid, collated and bound.

The inlaid leaves of Cotton MS Vitellius B. IV. Since the parchment is sensitive to humidity changes it can pull on the paper frame causing cockling

Cockled paper in Cotton MS Vitellius A. VIII distorts the bindings making volumes difficult to close

The remaining loose fragments were flattened, some identified and most of those inlaid. Inlays were made by tracing out the shape of the parchment leaves on construction paper. These pencil marks are still visible and you may have noticed them on some of our Digitised Manuscripts. The centre of the construction paper was cut out a few millimetres inside the pencil lines to leave a frame. Paste was applied behind the frame and the loose leaf was then secured in place, sometimes obscuring regions of writing. The paste often left stains that later became brittle.

Cotton MS Otho A. VI folio 32r. Incisions between lines of writing are observed on the right hand side of the parchment to allow for expansion. Pencil lines are visible around the edges where the inlay was traced and cut out. The cockled centre and shrunken edges reflect a temperature gradient across the original book block, which remained cooler nearer the centre

The entire process was complete in 1856. Although the inlaying has been much criticised it provided much-needed protection against handling as some of the leaves had a tendency to erode. Many more fragments may have been entirely lost had they not been treated at all.

Another fire!

On 10 July 1865 Madden received some horrifying news: another fire had broken out and the manuscripts were again in jeopardy. He was horrified. A charcoal brazier in the finishing room at the bindery had caused the blaze resulting in severe damage to the manuscripts that had been left out to work on. Fortunately, the majority of the manuscripts were locked away in an iron safe, but it was little consolation for Madden’s tireless efforts. Madden kept a detailed record of his work as Keeper which is today held in the British Library. A late 9th-century copy of King Alfred’s Old English translation of Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care (Cotton MS Tiberius B. XI) was lost and according to Madden’s records: “…it lay on a board immediately above the bin of charcoal, and a slate slab was placed above it. The slate flew into fragments from the heat, and the MS. (a good thick folio written on vellum, bound in russia) must have fallen into the midst of the burning charcoal.”

Madden retired in 1866 somewhat bitter about the lack of recognition he received for his conservation efforts. Much of the documentation regarding his work was unknown to the public until 1981 when they were incorporated from the Departmental Archives into the Additional Manuscripts. The story of the Cotton manuscripts is a fascinating one and you can read more detail in this essay by Andrew Prescott.

Cared for at the BL

More than 1,400 manuscripts and over 1,500 charters and seals comprise the Cotton collection at the British Library ranging in date from the 4th – 17th centuries. Madden would be pleased to know that we now have low-oxygen storage facilities to prevent any more fires from breaking out! Collection Care is using new imaging technologies such as multispectral imaging to recover lost information and protect these valuable fragments from misuse. Much work has recently been carried out on the burnt Cotton collections by our parchment specialist Mariluz Beltran de Guevara. Even now more fragments are being identified. For more examples of burnt material at the British library read our Conservation Officer Ann Tomalak’s post in the Medieval Manuscript’s blog.

Tune in to BBC Four this month to see the manuscripts in action. Understanding the history of our collections is crucial for understanding the care required to treat them.

Christina Duffy (@DuffyChristina)

Imaging Scientist

Did you know that we are hosting a two day conference this October 2013?

“How puzzling all these changes are! I’m never sure what I’m going to be, from one minute to another!” Excerpt from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground.

 View the entire book with our Turning the Pages^TM software 

If you’ve been following our blog and are keen to learn more about collection care then you’re in luck: we have brought together a team of national and international experts and professionals in the field to share with us how change and development are redefining our roles and responsibilities. Speakers will be representing academic libraries and research libraries, colleges and universities, conservation institutions, archives, museums and galleries. You can hear from our own Collection Care team, too, as we’ll be on hand to chat about our own experiences in a changing environment and show you more of what we do and why. Places are filling up fast, but the good news is you’re still eligible for the early bird rate (£175 + 20% VAT = £210) which closes at the end of July!

Keynote speaker Bill Thompson (Head of Partnership Development at BBC Archive) will kick off proceedings on Monday 14 October discussing collection care in the age of electronics. A busy day of talks will be followed by a relaxing reception in the evening. Tuesday 15 is another bumper-packed day of presentations, and for anyone with the stamina to make it to Wednesday we will be running tours to various British Library departments including our state of the art conservation studios, our sound archive and a rare opportunity to visit our our low-oxygen, high-density store on our Yorkshire site. If that wasn’t enough there will also be a small trade event where exhibitors will demonstrate their latest products and technologies such as multispectral imaging.

There’s a lot of knowledge to be shared at this conference and we’re very excited to be a part of it. Hopefully see you there!

Book your place now. The full list of speakers can be found here and you can read more on the British Library What’s On page .

Recently, a memoir and correspondence relating to a 20th century poet have come to Conservation to be prepared for digitisation. Some five years ago, we conserved another group of his letters. Superficially, the work was much the same for both: clean, repair and rehouse. But for the first batch the letters were carefully removed from an old guardbook and a new half-leather album made for them. Every item was cleaned, flattened where necessary, tears were repaired and losses infilled. Then each was hinged to a full support sheet, with compensation guards to accommodate the thickness and prevent the album from gaping. The work took 565 hours in all.

By contrast, treatment of the second batch of letters and the memoir was minimal: only essential dry cleaning and flattening plus some minor paper repairs, before they were rehoused as loose sheets in phase boxes; all completed within the estimated time of 20.5 hours.

Figure 1: A small edge tear can become more serious, if not repaired quickly. Here, a fragment of the text has been lost. (Add Ms 5873 f.105) 

What has changed? We are not cutting corners in conservation these days, but are responding to a digital revolution within the British Library, itself reflecting the needs and expectations of our users. Just five years ago, we accepted that famous poets were of great interest to our users. We knew their letters were, and (we thought) would continue to be, issued frequently in the Reading Room, and so we treated and rehoused them accordingly. The new guardbook provided greater protection and security, and the letters could be read with less handling.

Figure 2: Friable ink: a little more of the text is lost every time the manuscript is opened. Digitisation offers the “best available” reading to all, whilst the manuscript itself can be restricted until the ink has been treated. (Harley 5620)

The drive for digitisation had already begun, but we hadn’t then understood the implications for the use, and thus for the conservation, of collection items. Today, researchers (and the public in general) expect to have access to the collections via their laptops, tablets and smartphones, to share images and comments through social media and even to annotate our catalogues. The Library has long been willing to provide photographs or microfilm of collection items at a price; the demand now is for high quality digital images and free access. Digitisation projects are proliferating across the library.

Figure 3: The Henry Prayer Roll: Pigment losses at folds and creases caused by tight rolling and poor handling. The roll has now been rehoused on a wide core and is stored in optimum conditions, so we do not expect further losses. (Add Ms 88929)

Users of our digitised material find access easy from anywhere in the world and at any time of day or night. They also benefit from enhancements such as the ability to zoom in and discover details not visible to the naked eye. Frail material that is normally restricted - rarely issued in the Reading Rooms, and only viewed under supervision – is freely available on our website. So are treasures that can only be viewed as a single opening under low lighting levels in our exhibition galleries, some further enhanced by Turning the Pages^TM technology. A digitised text is never unavailable because another reader is using it.

Figure 4: A Greek Menologion damaged throughout by damp, mould and rodents. Full conservation is a major undertaking, but we can make the manuscript available more quickly by digitising it. A conservator works with the photographer, doing all the handling, to ensure there are no further losses or damage. (Add Ms 82957 f.3)

The collections benefit too. Items that get less physical handling are less likely to get damaged. They can stay in optimum storage conditions, rather than travelling to the Reading Rooms, and so deterioration is slowed. This is allowing us to rethink conservation requirements. Instead of heavy repairs to withstand frequent handling, we can now choose minimal intervention, just sufficient to allow material to be imaged safely. In some cases, we even send a conservator to help with the set-up and handling in imaging, as a less costly alternative to full conservation treatment.

Figure 5: A damaged spine reveals hidden evidence. The spine linings for this manuscript on paper are strips cut from an earlier manuscript on parchment, overlapping at the centre spine. It was common to recycle materials in this way. It is also possible to see the original double sewing supports and the sewing pattern. (Add Ms 78328)

The less we need to intervene, the more we can preserve original materials and structures – and this is becoming more important to researchers. Historically, rebinding was common to protect and preserve the text which was all-important, but now we understand that early binding techniques, indications of parchment or paper preparation, the composition of inks and pigments and much else are a reserve of material culture evidence, giving non-verbal insights into the past. If digitisation means items are issued much more rarely in future, there is less reason to replace weak original materials, or repair damage that is unlikely to get worse in storage; especially where, say, interesting binding structures can be glimpsed through losses in the covering. Rather than lavish six months’ conservation on a single item, we can apply our resources more intelligently, thinking more in terms of preservation and improving long-term storage conditions for whole collections. An example of this is the new low-oxygen newspaper storage facility at Boston Spa.

All in all, digitisation benefits us all; users, Collection Care and the collections themselves.

Ann Tomalak