Conservation Students

Each year Preservation Services hires students to help further the work of our department. Student workers across campus provide a valuable service to the library and college in the work they do. Here in Preservation we hire both end processing students who prepare our general collections for the shelves, and conservation students who do treatments on both new materials and items we already own. In my years in the conservation lab we have had a great group of student workers - some remain with us for all their terms on campus and others for a shorter period of time. Some have gone off into the world after graduation with plans for specific careers in a variety of fields, while others have the idea of exploring possibilities for work or a job they couldn't yet imagine.

This spring another of our student workers, Sanja Miklin, headed off into the larger world of possibilities, after she graduated in June.

In the fall of 2011, Sanja joined us in the conservation lab and worked for two terms, plus some interim periods as well. In the previous years Sanja attended a number of Book Arts Program workshops, and she displayed an enthusiasm and aptitude for working with the tools and techniques of bookbinding. Eventually she applied for work and was hired to join our team.

During her short time here Sanja worked at a variety of tasks including rebacking books (repairing books by attaching new spines). However, she was instrumental (no pun intended) in our completion of a large music score rehousing project. This long-term project consisted mostly of pamphlets needing new sewing. Despite the repetitive nature of the repairs to this group of material, Sanja came to the work each day ready to do the work needed and sought to employ methods of batch processing to efficiently move the material out of the lab. As we wrapped up this long project, it seemed somehow fitting that both Sanja's graduation and the end of this long project happened in the same month.

Last week, Sanja stopped back into the lab to complete one final bookbinding project before leaving for home. She brought in her thesis to bind; something she had spoken of doing earlier in the year during those slow months of research and writing. She needed very little help from us, just the space and tools. Since she was binding one book, she made a second smaller blank book at the same time; batch processing in action! What a wonderful thing for her to have a bound copy of her thesis, the tangible accomplishment of her long hard work in book form. And how nice to see the skills we taught her put into practice for housing her own writing. As it is with all our students, we hope she will continue to find use and value for the skills she learned here in Preservation, whether for her own projects or in her work for others.

Written by Stephanie Wolff.

Winning the Game of Digital Curation

A few weeks ago, the Preservation Services team used one of our regular department meetings to play a board game. Yes, that's right...we played a board game at work! But lest you think we're just a bunch of slackers, let me assure you that this particular game was special, and highly relevant to our jobs. The game we played was Curate: The Digital Curator Game.

This game was created by Digital Curator Vocational Education Europe, or DigCurV for short. The game is designed to help people learn about and discuss the challenges and strategies involved in digital curation, while also having a lot of fun! It includes plenty of pertinent questions exploring issues such as staffing, funding, collaboration, and training.

The "game" part of the game is really just a ruse...a way to get people interested in having the digital curation discussion, and it worked. We all got really into it, and had a lively conversation. Some of the topics that we found especially useful were: project and workflow planning, skills needed for staff involved in curation, and listing external resources for gathering more information about digital curation.

The game is free to download from DigCurv, they just require you to register as a network member. Part of the game includes recording discussion points on a record sheet, and DigCurV’s only request is that anyone who plays the game submit these sheets anonymously, to help them better understand how the game is used and whether it’s helpful. It was definitely helpful for us, and we thank DigCurV for providing such an excellent resource for sharing and learning about digital curation!

Written by Helen Bailey.

Conservation Internships

In 2007, Preservation Services established a rapport with what was then the conservation program at the University of Texas Kilgarlin Center for Study of the Cultural Record, by serving as an internship host site. These 9-month internships were designed to provide advanced conservation experience to third-year students in the program. In August of that year we were fortunate to host our first intern, Lauren Telepak. Hosting a student such as Lauren was a pleasure, as she had much to share from her studies and workshops. In exchange, we provided a working environment in which she could tangibly integrate her skills and knowledge. One of the activities Lauren participated in was the extensive staff orientation that is provided for new library staff. Lauren was exposed to many operations and departments she might not otherwise have known about. One of the many benefits of hosting interns, especially those from established programs, is the opportunity for us to learn new techniques and skills that are being taught in the programs.

Lauren showing re-moistenable tissue

Often conservation interns do not have any training or supervising experience, so we try to provide opportunities for the interns to work with our part-time students. Lauren was also able to teach in the Book Arts Workshop, which gave her some classroom teaching experience. Lauren is now the Collections Conservator for the Harvard College Library.

Lauren training a student to do circulating collections repair

Our second intern from the Texas program was Helen Bailey. Helen had a strong background in digital technology along with her interest in conservation. One of the options I like to offer our interns is the chance to explore new venues and potential interests other than just conservation. During Helen's time here, she took advantage of this opportunity by shadowing some of the librarians in other departments and spending some time on the reference desk. She also taught workshops for the Book Arts program and was the project coordinator for the redesign of our department web site. By the end of her internship, we had reorganized our department staff, which resulted in a new position that incorporated conservation knowledge and digital preservation development. I am pleased to say that Helen is still with us in this new position!

Helen Bailey

Summer Internships:

In 2008, while attending a party marking the closing of Aikos Japanese paper store in Chicago, Becky Saki, who had been the store manager there for five years and worked there for over fifteen years, came to me and said "Now what am I going to do?" I knew Becky had taken some conservation classes and that she was interested in learning more, so I said "Well maybe you can come up to Dartmouth for the summer and do a crash course in conservation," and with that, the kick-off for our summer internship program was established.

With a much shorter time frame to learn, it is more of a challenge to be diligent and structured in setting the outline for skills to learn. Becky was a quick study and was soon exploring more complex treatment beyond basic book repair. After Becky returned to Chicago, she was hired for a part time job at the Newberry Library working on a long term grant project and a part time position at the Ryerson Library at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she utilized many of the skills learned here. She has gone on to learn fine binding skills with Scott Kellar and had a book juried into the Chicago Public Library "One Book Many Interpretations" exhibit.

Becky Saki

The next summer we hosted Jill Iacchei who came to us with more of a book arts interest (unfortunately I don't have a photo of Jill). Jill had learned bookbinding more or less on her own, but had also sought out private lessons with Daniel Kelm in East Hampton MA. She was a Montessori teacher and wanted to change her career path. Having excellent listening skills and an eye for detail, she quickly picked up many of the conservation skills that were new to her. Pursuing her book arts interest, she applied and was accepted to the Iowa Book Arts Program. During this time she worked part-time in the conservation lab there. The Book Arts Program gives students a well-rounded education, from the history of book binding to the creation of fine books. This past year, she graduated and was hired for a one year fellowship in conservation at Stanford University.

In 2010 we entered into a relationship with North Bennet Street School to provide an official summer internship program for the book binding students.

Our first intern was McKey Berkman, who had a sound background of bookbinding experience. Students coming from North Bennet are exposed to traditional book binding as well as some conservation work. At the time she arrived, our College Archivist wanted to have some work done on the scrap book of Robert May, the creator of Ruldolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I thought this would make a perfect project for McKey that would provide a challenging and satisfying outcome. McKey has graduated and now has a studio space where she does private bookbinding and conservation work.

Mckey looking at the Robert May scrap book with College Archivist Peter Carini

Our second North Bennet intern, Arini Esarey, had already graduated when she came and had experience working in a conservation lab part-time as a student. While here, she was able to explore some of her more personal interests which included Islamic binding and color matching using different techniques. She went on to do an internship with London artist Su Blackwell and is now looking to spend time in Turkey researching book binding there.

Arini Esarey

Currently we are happy to host two interns at the same time, Lauren Schott, a first year student, and Becky Koch, a recent graduate.

Lauren Schott

Becky Koch

It has been a pleasure having two students here at the same time, as they are able to share what they have learned with each other. It also contributes to good conversation and group problem solving, and I am able to teach two people at once which makes my time more efficient. On a day-to-day basis I try to work with them individually as well as together, and have set up "touch base" meetings separately to be able to address their individual interests and focuses.

All in all, I find it a great and satisfying activity to host interns. It is an all-around win-win dynamic as we are able to complete a significant amount of work and move ahead on special projects and batch treatments. In return, the interns are exposed to a practical, working conservation environment and become more versed in conservation treatment options. I try to give each intern a special project so that they have at least one new show piece for their portfolio. We also provide a context in which conservation and preservation exists within the library and college environment, and help the interns learn more about this by setting up meetings with heads of departments, the Dean of Libraries, and an in depth tour of special collections. It also is very fulfilling to see how each of our interns finds their own individual way into the field either in preservation, book arts or both.

Written by Deborah Howe.

Film Assessment, Part 2: A Long and Winding Road

Film assessment station

As Helen Bailey's excellent post described, the Preservation Services Department has taken a large selection of the college’s film archive to assess for damages. Of the three types of film stock (Cellulose Nitrate, Cellulose Acetate, a.k.a. "Safety" film, and Polyester, in chronological order) we are generally working with Acetate. Any remaining Nitrate films in the collection should have been dealt with already, as they are serious fire hazards, especially when stored improperly. For an example of just how serious the hazard is, check out this video of Rayle Archive and Screening Room doing a test burn of nitrate film (and please do not try this at home!)

After confirming that we are working with Acetate film stock, the next thing to be done is measure the Acetate decay. This is the vinegar odor Helen described in the previous post. We do this using AD strips, which produce a color coded result. The result ranges from 1 to 3, with anything above 2 being measured as “extreme Acetate decay.” While extreme decay cannot be reversed, it can be slowed by improving storage conditions.

AD strip and indicator

The next measurement to take is shrinkage. This, too, is a symptom of Acetate decay, but it can also be caused by excessively dry storage conditions. This is done using a shrinkage gauge. Any shrinkage higher than .08% requires a laboratory to copy the film, otherwise it may be permanently damaged during projection. Shrinkage past 2% will be nearly impossible to fix even in the most advanced film labs.

Shrinkage gauge

Next comes the fun part. The film is placed in a manually-operated rewind bench. A viewing glass is used and a lightbox is placed underneath to better view the film. Then we wind the film through once onto a separate film core, examining all the splices with the viewing glass and feeling for damage around the edges.

Lightbox and viewing glass

Here we are looking for any kind of visible damage. This can range from mold on the film itself to poorly done or degraded splices. Another common problem is broken sprockets, which can easily cause problems down the line when trying to project these films.

Example of undamaged film splice

All the various damages are then catalogued in a spreadsheet. At this point the film has to be rewound onto a new film core. Improper winding can cause damage to the film during storage, so with a manual rewind like this it can take several tries to get it right. It’s important to wind evenly, guiding the film onto the core in a consistent way. If the film is wound haphazardly for storage there will be pressure on different areas of the stock, causing warping and damage.

Severely warped film

From here, we should have a clear idea of exactly how damaged the film is. As we make progress through the current selection of football reels we will be figuring out storage and repair solutions to best preserve Dartmouth's films.

More work to be done!

Written by Ryland Ianelli.

Digital Production Unit

Beginning in 2012, the Library's Digital Production Unit (DPU) formally became part of Preservation Services. This change is one of many recommended by the Dartmouth Digital Library Program Plan; for other recommendations or to see a broad overview of the digital project process, consult the full report.

The DPU is located in Baker Room 02, off of the Reserve Corridor. If you are a library staff member and have an idea for a digitization project, please talk to any member of DPIG or fill out a web form for review by that committee.

To see all the completed digital collections, visit the Dartmouth Digital Library Initiatives web page; or learn about our special partnership with NewsBank and the conservation and digitization of the U.S. Congressional Serial Set.

Written by Barb Sagraves.