Panel Discussion

The Friends of the Dartmouth College Library invite you to attend a special panel discussion in conjunction with the Guild of Book Workers Marking Time exhibition currently showcased in Baker-Berry Library through March 20th, 2011.

Bound for Glory: The Hand-made Book as Aesthetic Object and Conceptual Process

Saturday, March 12th, 2011 from 2:00pm until 4:00pm in the Treasure Room, Baker Library.

Reception and tour of the exhibit and conservation lab will follow the panel discussion.

Panel participants:

Jeff Altepeter, Chair of the New England Guild of Book Workers
Richard Baker, binder in private practice
Alex Halaz, Professor of English, teaching History of the Book
Stephanie Wolff, Conservation Technician at Dartmouth College

This panel will discuss personal insights in creating hand-made books and the role of book arts in the academic world.

This event is free and open to the public, for more information, please call (603) 646-2236

The Physical Properties of the Digital Book

Well...not much can be said for the sturdiness of those Kindles. Not too long ago, Conservation staff received this note along with a broken Kindle.

One of the Kindles' case connecting hooks had broken off so it was unable to attach to the protective case, leaving it vulnerable like a turtle without its shell.

As you would think, traditional repairs on paper based volumes are our daily dose so to get this high tech sister 'book' in the book hospital was quite ironic.

First the Kindle was evaluated.

Preparations made.

Ascertaining placement of the broken section: a dry run try.

Applying the adhesive.

Placing the piece into its proper place.

Using pressure and dwell time to "fix" the piece in place.

Fine tuning fit of broken piece.

Done!

All is well until the battery runs out and that we don't cover!

Written by Deborah Howe

Book Arts Survey

In order to better serve our constituents we have prepared a survey to gather feedback about the Letterpress Studio and Bindery Studio. If you have a moment, please fill out this survey.

We appreciate your input.

The survey will be open from February 21 until March 9, 2011.

Data management web page

Preservation Services now has a web page with a few useful links to understanding & writing data management plans. It connects to Research Computing's workshop on "Effective Data Management" as well as the College's Office of Sponsored Projects.

To view the page go to: Data Management

eResources Fair: a recap

Last week I had the privilege of participating in the
Dartmouth College Library eResources Fair. eWhatses Fair, you ask? Let me explain.

As part of its many services to the Dartmouth community, the Library provides access to a HUGE number of electronic resources for Dartmouth students, faculty, and staff. These include scholarly databases, electronic journals, ebooks, streaming music and video, newspapers, and so much more. We have such a wide variety of eResources that it can often be overwhelming to try and navigate them all. Enter the eResources Fair.

This annual event is an opportunity for anyone on campus to come learn more about the eResources available for use through the library. They get the chance to learn about what eResources we have, talk directly with vendors about how a product can help with their research and find out exactly where and how to access these materials.

So what is a Preservation Specialist doing at the eResources Fair? Let me explain further. Part of my job is to coordinate the workflow between Digital Production and Preservation Services. Digital Production is the unit in the library that does in-house digitization of library collections. For most paper-based materials (books, manuscripts, photographs, etc.) the digitization process involves scanning the item, editing the scanned image, adding metadata, and publishing it online. That's a very simplified explanation, and more information on Digital Production can be found here. In any case, some of the Preservation staff spend part of their time in Digital Production doing this digitization work.

But digitization isn't only about scanning and publishing. Often items, such as books or manuscripts, need to be repaired prior to beginning the digitization process to ensure that they aren't damaged during scanning. The Conservation team within Preservation Services is directly responsible for those repairs.

Since I'm involved in coordinating many steps of the digitization process, from planning to repair to scanning, I'm very familiar with the kinds of materials that get digitized, how digitization works, and how the final digital product is made available online. And that's how I ended up at the eReources Fair, telling students and faculty about the wonderful collections that are now available for web access, anytime and anywhere!

To explore these collections yourself, visit the Digital Collections page at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/collections/index.html

Written by Helen K. Bailey
Photography by Joseph Mehling '69 used with permission

BAW: Cancelled for Feb.1 & 2

The Feb. 1 & 2 classes for the Book Arts Program are cancelled due to snow. Contact your instructor to learn if a make up date is planned.

We're Back!

Hello and Welcome to the new and improved Preservation Services Blog at Dartmouth College! We are hoping to shed some light into our world known as Preservation and invite you to follow our blog to keep in touch with all our happenings within. How, you might ask, are we going to do that?

Well, first of all, we'll be updating once a week (every Tuesday) and as the newly appointed Blog Wrangler, I'll be your host.

Second, there will be guest bloggers including Helen Bailey, Deborah Howe, and Barb Sagraves, just to name a few. They'll be covering a wide variety of topics including special conservation projects, trips to conferences, special articles and reports about preservation, the wild world of digital preservation, the Dartmouth College Book Arts Program, disaster response and so much more.

And third, we want to keep you informed about what we're doing to protect the past, preserve the present and prevent potential pitfalls in the future.

So come on back every Tuesday for something new and exciting.

Written by Beth Hetland