Tag Archives: ALA preservation week

More than just books

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Library and Archives Canada (LAC) receives a wide range of published heritage material through legal deposit, such as books, periodicals, government publications, etc. Occasionally LAC receives multimedia kits that must be re-boxed by the Preservation Services Unit. Multimedia kits contain more than books, but all items still need to be stored together, as much as possible. A good example of a multimedia item would be an educational kit designed for use in schools. A kit may include bound textbooks, binders with loose-leaf pages, posters, pamphlets, CDs and DVDs. Older kits may include items such as cassette tapes, slides, video tapes, and film strips—the popular media used when the kit was published.

A custom-made container and spacers are constructed for each kit to keep the components together for research purposes and to secure the different-sized items in the box. The container also provides protection from environmental harm such as light or water damage.

Before

A colour photograph showing a multimedia kit containing a variety of items spread across a worktable.

An example of the components of a multimedia educational kit.

After

A colour photograph of a custom container and a custom folder for a poster.

Sample of a custom folder for a poster and box created for a multimedia educational kit. All the items in the multimedia kit have their own space, making it ideal for access and preservation.

Large rolled posters are flattened, placed in a custom folder, and filed in a flat storage drawer. A separate box for CDs and DVDs is constructed and held in place with a custom spacer so that they don’t shift when the box is moved.

All materials used in the construction of these containers are archival quality so they are acid-free and meet strict standards for material composition and longevity.

This is another example of how the Collection Management Division ensures the preservation of collection items through the skills, craftsmanship, and dedication of its staff.

Preventive Care and Maintenance: Laura Secord and the Grassy Knoll

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Chris Smith, Library and Archives Canada Collections Management Clerk, was recently assigned an interesting and challenging rehousing project. Chris found himself looking at a Laura Secord chocolate box filled with not sweets, but a tangled mess of Dictaphone belts: 27 in total.

Introduced by the Dictaphone Corporation in the 1940s, the Dictabelt was a voice recording system using a thin plastic belt. The Dictabelt Re-Recording Service describes how the recordings worked: audio could be impressed onto the belt utilizing a needle-type stylus to emboss or plough a groove into the soft plastic. They were predominately employed for business, medical and scientific recordings. After use, Dictabelts were usually stored flat in boxes or file folders. This caused creasing and damage to the recordings.

For the conspiracy theorists out there, certainly the most famous use of a Dictabelt was by the American House Select Committee on Assassinations, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Based on “acoustic evidence” supplied by a Dallas Police Department Dictabelt, the committee concluded that there were at least four shots fired in Dallas that fateful day, and that one of them came from the “grassy knoll.”

Following considerable research on Dictabelt preservation techniques and consultation with our audiovisual conservation experts, Chris began his rehousing process. He wrapped each belt around a piece of custom-cut acid-free board to reduce creasing. Chris then placed each wrapped belt in an envelope, built spacers, and rehoused all 27 belts. They now safely reside in an 18C and 40% relative humidity (RH) environment at our Preservation Centre.

A colour photograph shows how the Dictaphone belts were received, with rusty paper clips holding the paper captions to each belt. Below the belts are the archival supplies used: blue board and envelopes. The bottom left shows the blue board inside the belt and the paper caption affixed to the bottom of the board. Above are the items placed inside envelopes and the new container that they will now be stored in.

This photo demonstrates the steps required for properly housing Dictaphone belts for long-term preservation.

A colour photograph showing, on the right, the Laura Secord chocolate box that the material was original received in, and to the left, the new container the Dictaphone belts are stored in for the long-term preservation of this collection.

The Laura Secord box beside the new enclosure. Now the dictaphone belts will no longer be at risk.

The near-surgical precision in all this rehousing work is most impressive, and plays a vital role in our preservation activities. Well done, Chris!

A few of our favourite things

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Collection Managers at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) frequently receive questions related to the preservation of a variety of objects. In addition, whenever we offer in-house training sessions to staff, we also like to include information about references and further reading.

We thought we’d share some of our go-to online resources, as it can be hard to sift through all the information out there. These, in our opinion, are trusted sources that keep up to date with changing information and best practices that reflect scientific developments. They generally include source references as well, such as suppliers and bibliographies.

Please note: Invasive treatment should not be attempted without conservation training in the relevant medium. While anyone who can wield a knife and a straightedge can successfully make protective enclosures, if actual repair work is called for, please consult a conservator.

These sites provide information on a variety of media. We recommend you consult the indexes to see if what you’re looking for is included.

Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI)

CCI’s site has preservation information on a variety of objects including books, paper, photos, musical instruments and outdoor art.

http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1443109395421

Centre de conservation du Québec (CCQ)

CCQ’s site hosts Preserv’Art, a database of acceptable materials. It is a great source of information about supplies that are safe to use with particular media/objects. Note also that it contains info about what is NOT safe, which can be very useful as well.

http://preservart.ccq.gouv.qc.ca/index.aspx

Northeast Document Conservation Centre (NEDCC)

NEDCC’s series of Preservation Leaflets is also an excellent source of information. These publications are continually reviewed and updated as necessary.

https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/overview

National Park Service (NPS)

The United States’ NPS has an extensive series of Conserve O Grams, which are excellent publications on a variety of topics. While geared more toward the museum professional, they can still be useful sources of information about a range of subjects such as protective enclosures. Of particular interest are the new Conserve O Grams on the creation, care and storage of digital materials.

http://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/cons_toc.html