Amount Requested: $540,000
Grant Start Date: 01/01/2019
Duration (in months): 40 months
Program: Scholarly Communications
Description of Proposed Work: The proposed research project will provide data to objectively assess the condition of the books held in the United States by performing an in-depth scientific analysis on a representative sample. This research study is the necessary pre-requisite for developing a national plan that will ensure that books retained and preserved in shared print programs have the best physical properties for long-term preservation. Many institutions are currently making withdrawal and retention decisions based upon subjective and incomplete information. The physical, chemical and optical data will help ensure that large-scale withdrawal of materials does not compromise the overall robustness of cultural heritage collections, informing the shared print, preservation and digitization communities. A number of shared print and future of the print record initiatives have noted the need for objective data to assist with decision-making.[1]
The project will compare the physical, chemical and optical characteristics of a selection of library materials across five large research libraries in distinct regions of the United States. The data will be used by librarians to determine the current physical state of items held nationally with the intent of identifying those materials that are in good condition, where they can be found, and inform institutions about the potential risk of loss for preserving the printed corpus held within the country. The ultimate goal is to fill gaps in our knowledge to guide the community as it develops a national print archiving effort as part of shared print initiatives by answering questions on how materials naturally age and decompose as well as allowing institutions to be able to predict with a strong probability of accuracy good quality and poor quality copies of books. The project will compare the same titles and editions to quantify and objectively assess the condition of these volumes to create a comparable and reliable decision-making method for retention, to avoid disposal of materials that may be crucial to a national preservation effort.
Website: https://nationalbookcollection.org/overview
The five research library partners are Cornell University, University of Miami, University of Washington, Arizona State University, University of Colorado at Boulder with a data librarian and statistician from EAST (formerly Northeast Regional Library Print Management Project) contributing to the data analysis.
Project Documents and Tracking
Project Participants
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| Preservation | Project Manager |
| Conservation | Coordinates requesting, packing and shipping books to Library of Congress |
| CUL-IT | Catalog queries and pulls for CUL content for LC project |
| Conservation | Coordinates lab activities to accommodate this project |
| Stack Management | Oversees stacks retrieval of volumes |
| Michelle Ann Hubbell | Circulation | Facilitates requests from stacks and Annex |
Workplan/Tasks
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Preparation- Tre Berney will send information to Project PIs
- Tre Berney will receive list of books from Project PIs for us to work from and alert Patricia A. Fox where the list is
- Request card from Michelle Hubbell (Wendy)
- Write blog for Conservation website
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June 21, 2019 (July shipment)Shipment 1 (of 6): Materials Inspection/Preparation/Shipping- Tre Berney prepares spreadsheet for Pat
- Patricia A. Fox will request titles from Stacks Management and Access Services; sends list to libpublicservices@cornell.edu
- Access Services/Stacks Management will pull OKU items and place call slips for requests from non-OKU
- Email will go to Conservation@cornell.edu (alert Pat)
- Patricia A. Fox picks up books with card/under account
- 10 weeks loan period - conservation@cornell.edu will be email address
- If books are recalled, notice sent to Conservation- forward to library public services
- Books not found will be noted and marked missing; tracer initiated, put on hold for Conservation
- Patricia A. Fox will inspect, pack 88 books to LC Labs
- Assemble boxes; lined with plastic bags used for recycling found in the lab and bubble wrap from the shipping room (bags and bubble wrap were not specified by LC)
- Order excel list by call number
- Order books by call number
- Packed books in call number order; used newsprint and bubble wrap
- Number every box; make color-coded inventory list from excel document and included it in every box with F. France’s one page memo
- Seal boxes and weighed them in the shipping room
- Pat will email F. France with the number of boxes and weights
- Receive shipping labels four days later via email
- Print shipping labels; put in FedEx pouches from shipping room
- Patricia A. Fox will deliver boxes to shipping
- Upon return, Patricia A. Fox will put books on cart and return all books to Olin circulation desk
Shipment 2 (of 6): Materials Inspection/Preparation- Tre Berney prepares spreadsheet for Pat
- Patricia A. Fox will request titles from Stacks Management and Access Services; sends list to libpublicservices@cornell.edu
- Access Services/Stacks Management will pull OKU items and place call slips for requests from non-OKU
- Email will go to Conservation@cornell.edu (alert Pat)
- Patricia A. Fox picks up books with card/under account
- 10 weeks loan period - conservation@cornell.edu will be email address
- If books are recalled, notice sent to Conservation- forward to library public services
- Books not found will be noted and marked missing; tracer initiated, put on hold for Conservation
- Patricia A. Fox will inspect, pack 88 books to LC Labs
- Assemble boxes; lined with plastic bags used for recycling found in the lab and bubble wrap from the shipping room (bags and bubble wrap were not specified by LC)
- Order excel list by call number
- Order books by call number
- Packed books in call number order; used newsprint and bubble wrap
- Number every box; make color-coded inventory list from excel document and included it in every box with F. France’s one page memo
- Seal boxes and weighed them in the shipping room
- Pat will email F. France with the number of boxes and weights
- Receive shipping labels four days later via email
- Print shipping labels; put in FedEx pouches from shipping room
- Patricia A. Fox will deliver boxes to shipping
- Upon return, Patricia A. Fox will put books on cart and return all books to Olin circulation desk
Shipment 3 (of 6): Materials Inspection/Preparation- Tre Berney prepares spreadsheet for Pat
- Patricia A. Fox will request titles from Stacks Management and Access Services; sends list to libpublicservices@cornell.edu
- Access Services/Stacks Management will pull OKU items and place call slips for requests from non-OKU
- Email will go to Conservation@cornell.edu (alert Pat)
- Patricia A. Fox picks up books with card/under account
- 10 weeks loan period - conservation@cornell.edu will be email address
- If books are recalled, notice sent to Conservation- forward to library public services
- Books not found will be noted and marked missing; tracer initiated, put on hold for Conservation
- Patricia A. Fox will inspect, pack 88 books to LC Labs
- Assemble boxes; lined with plastic bags used for recycling found in the lab and bubble wrap from the shipping room (bags and bubble wrap were not specified by LC)
- Order excel list by call number
- Order books by call number
- Packed books in call number order; used newsprint and bubble wrap
- Number every box; make color-coded inventory list from excel document and included it in every box with F. France’s one page memo
- Seal boxes and weighed them in the shipping room
- Pat will email F. France with the number of boxes and weights
- Receive shipping labels four days later via email
- Print shipping labels; put in FedEx pouches from shipping room
- Patricia A. Fox will deliver boxes to shipping
- Upon return, Patricia A. Fox will put books on cart and return all books to Olin circulation desk
Shipment 4 (of 6): Materials Inspection/Preparation- Tre Berney prepares spreadsheet for Pat
- Patricia A. Fox will request titles from Stacks Management and Access Services; sends list to libpublicservices@cornell.edu
- Access Services/Stacks Management will pull OKU items and place call slips for requests from non-OKU
- Email will go to Conservation@cornell.edu (alert Pat)
- Patricia A. Fox picks up books with card/under account
- 10 weeks loan period - conservation@cornell.edu will be email address
- If books are recalled, notice sent to Conservation- forward to library public services
- Books not found will be noted and marked missing; tracer initiated, put on hold for Conservation
- Patricia A. Fox will inspect, pack 88 books to LC Labs
- Assemble boxes; lined with plastic bags used for recycling found in the lab and bubble wrap from the shipping room (bags and bubble wrap were not specified by LC)
- Order excel list by call number
- Order books by call number
- Packed books in call number order; used newsprint and bubble wrap
- Number every box; make color-coded inventory list from excel document and included it in every box with F. France’s one page memo
- Seal boxes and weighed them in the shipping room
- Pat will email F. France with the number of boxes and weights
- Receive shipping labels four days later via email
- Print shipping labels; put in FedEx pouches from shipping room
- Patricia A. Fox will deliver boxes to shipping
- Upon return, Patricia A. Fox will put books on cart and return all books to Olin circulation desk
Shipment 5 (of 6): Materials Inspection/Preparation- Tre Berney prepares spreadsheet for Pat
- Patricia A. Fox will request titles from Stacks Management and Access Services; sends list to libpublicservices@cornell.edu
- Access Services/Stacks Management will pull OKU items and place call slips for requests from non-OKU
- Email will go to Conservation@cornell.edu (alert Pat)
- Patricia A. Fox picks up books with card/under account
- 10 weeks loan period - conservation@cornell.edu will be email address
- If books are recalled, notice sent to Conservation- forward to library public services
- Books not found will be noted and marked missing; tracer initiated, put on hold for Conservation
- Patricia A. Fox will inspect, pack 88 books to LC Labs
- Assemble boxes; lined with plastic bags used for recycling found in the lab and bubble wrap from the shipping room (bags and bubble wrap were not specified by LC)
- Order excel list by call number
- Order books by call number
- Packed books in call number order; used newsprint and bubble wrap
- Number every box; make color-coded inventory list from excel document and included it in every box with F. France’s one page memo
- Seal boxes and weighed them in the shipping room
- Pat will email F. France with the number of boxes and weights
- Receive shipping labels four days later via email
- Print shipping labels; put in FedEx pouches from shipping room
- Patricia A. Fox will deliver boxes to shipping
- Upon return, Patricia A. Fox will put books on cart and return all books to Olin circulation desk
Shipment 6 (of 6): Materials Inspection/Preparation- Tre Berney prepares spreadsheet for Pat
- Patricia A. Fox will request titles from Stacks Management and Access Services; sends list to libpublicservices@cornell.edu
- Access Services/Stacks Management will pull OKU items and place call slips for requests from non-OKU
- Email will go to Conservation@cornell.edu (alert Pat)
- Patricia A. Fox picks up books with card/under account
- 10 weeks loan period - conservation@cornell.edu will be email address
- If books are recalled, notice sent to Conservation- forward to library public services
- Books not found will be noted and marked missing; tracer initiated, put on hold for Conservation
- Patricia A. Fox will inspect, pack 88 books to LC Labs
- Assemble boxes; lined with plastic bags used for recycling found in the lab and bubble wrap from the shipping room (bags and bubble wrap were not specified by LC)
- Order excel list by call number
- Order books by call number
- Packed books in call number order; used newsprint and bubble wrap
- Number every box; make color-coded inventory list from excel document and included it in every box with F. France’s one page memo
- Seal boxes and weighed them in the shipping room
- Pat will email F. France with the number of boxes and weights
- Receive shipping labels four days later via email
- Print shipping labels; put in FedEx pouches from shipping room
- Patricia A. Fox will deliver boxes to shipping
- Upon return, Patricia A. Fox will put books on cart and return all books to Olin circulation desk
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