Blog post by Abigail Evans, student employee, and Nancy Kraft, head of Preservation & Conservation This fall we took some time to review our two commercial bindery practices for monographs: DigiCovers and standard solid-color library bindings. DigiCovers are created by color-copying and laminating original covers to make new ones using advanced photocopying techniques. While solid-colorContinue reading “Contrasting commercial library binding options”
Category Archives: Materials, equipment and procedures
Deborah Howe visits as part of the William Anthony Endowment
Last week the University of Iowa Library’s Preservation and Conservation Department were please to host Dartmouth College’s Collections Conservator Deborah Howe as part of the William Anthony Endowment lecture series. On Thursday, October 4th Howe gave a lecture at the Main Library titled Old Books, New Books, and In Between Books: a Brief Look atContinue reading “Deborah Howe visits as part of the William Anthony Endowment”
May Day Disaster Response Drill
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 Special Collections and Preservation/Conservation staff concluded a series of disaster preparedness and response training with a disaster response drill. We divided up into four teams. Each team retrieved, rinsed, and packed out the material found in a wet, muddy pool of water. Staff had to decide what to keep and whatContinue reading “May Day Disaster Response Drill”
Treating A Keith/Albee Scrapbook
Tuesday, August 16, 2016 Submitted by Katarzyna Bator and Bailey Kinsky Our second project this summer is assisting with the treatment of several scrapbooks from the Keith Albee collection. Our work was being overseen by Candida Pagan, Project Conservator. The goal for our treatment is to stabilize the delicate structures for digitization. Picture 1 showsContinue reading “Treating A Keith/Albee Scrapbook”
Finding a Hidden Gem
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 Finding a hidden gem makes Book Repair Supervisor Susan’s day fun. While repairing a book spine, Susan discovered this stiffener (liner) inside the spine; spine liners often were cut from scraps of paper, sometimes unused pages from books already produced by the bindery. The book she was repairing was published inContinue reading “Finding a Hidden Gem”
Documenting and Treating Scrolls: Part 3 Final
Wednesday, July 27, 2016 Submitted by Katarzyna Bator and Bailey Kinsky The Buddhist scrolls from the Ficke collection had experienced pretty significant insect damage which greatly increased the risk of damage during handling. In order to stabilize the paper structure, Kate and I performed some basic paper mends using a remoistenable tissue. We had previouslyContinue reading “Documenting and Treating Scrolls: Part 3 Final”
Rescuing Photographic Negatives
Wednesday, March 16, 2016 With much trepidation yesterday, I went off to work with Tish Boyer at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque to assist her in salvage efforts of significantly damaged photographic negatives. Tish had shared photos of the damaged items ahead of my visit. The sight was not pretty! TheContinue reading “Rescuing Photographic Negatives”
Highlights from 2015: DIY Collections Care
A book from the circulating collection recently came back from inter-library loan in need of some intervention from Susan Hansen, Book Repair Supervisor at the Libraries’ Preservation & Conservation department. The copy of The Origin of the Domestic Animals of Africa showed quite a bit of damage, perhaps from an encounter with a domestic animal of theContinue reading “Highlights from 2015: DIY Collections Care”
Digitizing Hancher Posters
By Ben Bessman, Digitization Assistant Hancher Auditorium had been a noteworthy stop for world famous musical acts, theatre productions, dance companies, and guest speakers in the Midwest since 1972, until its original location was flooded out in June of 2008. Since then various community sites have served as hosts for the wide variety of performers thatContinue reading “Digitizing Hancher Posters”
Preservation & Conservation Welcomes New Equipment!
Earlier this month, Preservation & Conservation welcomed a new addition to our family: this lovely new digital image capture system from Digital Transitions! This equipment will be essential in undertaking one of our most ambitious projects yet, the digitization of the 150 scrapbooks in the Keith/Albee Collection. While our previous overhead scanner, the Zeutschel, has beenContinue reading “Preservation & Conservation Welcomes New Equipment!”