Preservação

National Institute of Standards and Technology preservando a Declaração de Independência dos EUA em 1951

Livros deteriorados na biblioteca do Merton College, Oxford.

Preservação é um ramo da biblioteconomia e museologia preocupado com a manutenção ou a restauração do acesso a artefatos, documentos e registros através do estudo, diagnóstico, tratamento e prevenção de danos e da deterioração. Deve ser distinguida da conservação, que se refere ao tratamento e reparo de itens individuais sob a ação de degradação lenta ou à restauração de sua usabilidade. O termo conservação é as vezes usado de forma indiferente com relação ao termo preservação, particularmente fora da literatura profissional.

História

Antecedentes

APESAR de a preservação, enquanto profissão formal desempenhada em bibliotecas e arquivos, datar do século XX, sua filosofia e prática tem raízes em tradições mais antigas. Em biblioteconomia, a preservação é tratada como um processo intencional e ativo, em oposição ao sentido passivo que a preservação adquire em outros campos como a paleontologia ou a arqueologia. A sobrevivência desses itens é uma obra do acaso, na perspectiva da ciência da informação, enquanto a sua preservação após a descoberta é objeto de atividade intencional.

O registro humano de dados humanos pode ser traçado até o boom da arte rupestre no paleolítico superior, uns 32 ou 40 mil anos atrás. Antecedentes mais diretos são os sistemas de escrita que se desenvolveram no quarto milênio a.C.. Registros escritos e práticas de compartilhamento de informação, juntamente com a tradição oral, sustêm e transmitem informação de um grupo para outro. Esse nível de preservação tem sido suplementado ao longo do último século com a prática profissional de preservação e conservação do legado cultural das comunidades.

1. Tradição oral ou cultura oral, a transmissão de informação de uma geração à outra sem um sistema de escrita.
2. Práticas de antiquários, inclusive práticas escribas, práticas de sepultamento, as bibliotecas Pérgamo, Alexandria e outros arquivos antigos.
3. Práticas medievais, inclusive o scriptorium e as coleções de relíquias
4. Renascimento e a concepção em mudança de artistas e obras arte
5. Iluminismo e os enciclopedistas
6. O imperativo preservacionista do romantismo

Acontecimentos significativos

• 1933: William Barrow introduz a desacidificação do papel quando publica um paper sobre o problema do papel ácido. em estudos posteriores, Barrow testou papéis de livros americanos feitos entre 1900 e 1949 e descobriu que depois de quarenta anos os livros tinham perdido em média 96 por cento da sua resistência original; depois de menos de 10 anos, eles já perdiam 64 por cento. Barrow determinou que essa rápida deterioração não era um resultado direto do uso de celulose, uma vez que o papel-pano do mesmo período também se deteriorava com rapidez, mas devido aos resíduos de ácido sulfúrico da produção tanto do papel de celulose quanto do papel-pano. Métodos de manufatura usados depois de 1870 empregavam ácido sulfúrico para sizing e para esbranquear o papel. Métodos de fabricação de papel mais antigos deixavam o produto final apenas levemente alcalino ou mesmo neutro. Esses papéis tem mantido sua resistência por muito mais tempo, de 3 a 8 séculos, apesar do dióxido de enxofre e outros poluentes do ar. O artigo de Barrow de 1933 sobre o estado frágil do papel de celulose predisse que a duração da "vida de prateleira" desse tipo de papel era de aproximadamente 40 ou 50 anos. Nesse ponto o papel passaria a apresentar sinais de deterioração e ele concluiu pela necessidade de pesquisa de uma nova mídia para escrita e impressão.

• 1966: A Enchente do Rio Arno em Florença danificou ou destruiu milhões de livros raros e levou ao desenvolvimento de laboratórios de restauração e novas técnicas de conservação. Importante para esse processo foi o conservacionista Peter Waters, que liderou um grupo de voluntários, chamados de "anjos da lama", no esforço de restauração de milhares de livros e manuscritos. Esse evento alertou muitos historiadores, bibliotecários e outros profissionais sobre a importância de se ter um plano de preservação. Muitos consideram essa enchente como um dos piores desastres desde o incêndio na Biblioteca de Alexandria na Roma antiga. Ele levou a um ressurgimento na profissão de conservação e preservação em todo o mundo.

• 1987: Terry Saunders lança o filme Slow Fires: On the Preservation of the Human Record que examina a deterioração do papel devido ao ácido.

Pessoas importantes na história da preservação

• William Barrow (1904 – 1967) foi um químico americano e conservador de papel e um pioneiro na conservação de bibliotecas e arquivos. Ele introduziu o método de conservação do papel pela alcalinização.
• Paul N. Banks (1934 - 2000) foi um conservacionista e chefe do departamento de conservação da Newberry Library de 1964 a 1981, e publicou regularmente sobre encadernação, livros e conservação de papel e problemas relacionados à conservação. Ele desenvolveu e implementou um currículo para a Escola de Biblioteconomia da Universidade Columbia que lidava diretamente com o treinamento em preservação.
• Pamela Darling, historiadora e escritoran, foi Especialista em Conservação para a Association of Research Libraries. Seus trabalhos incluem materiais para judar bibliotecas a estabelecer seus próprios programas de conservação.
• Carolyn Harris trabalhou como chefe da Divisão de Preservação de Bibliotecas da Universidade Columbia de 1981 até 1987, onde trabalhou próxima a Paul Banks. Publicou extensas pesquisas ao longo de sua carreira, lidando especialmente com desacidificação de massa do papel de celulose.
• Peter Waters, ex-Chefe de Conservação da Biblioteca do Congresso em Washington, DC, trabalhou nas áreas de recuperação de desastres e prevenção.
• Nicholson Baker é um romancista americano contemporâneo e autor de Double Fold, uma crítica à destruição de mídia baseada em papel pelas bibliotecas.
• Patricia Battin, como primeira presidente da Commission on Preservation and Access, trabalhou para organizar uma campanha nacional (nos EUA) tanto pelo uso do papel alcalino pelas gráficas e editoras e um programa nacional de preservação através da microfilmagem.
• John F. Dean, bibliotecário de preservação e conservação na Universidade Cornell, tem dado contribuições no sentido de melhorar a preservação de livros em países em desenvolvimento. Especificamente, Dean criou tutoriais on-line para a conservação e preservação no sudeste da Ásia e no Iraque.

The Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris Preservation Award for outstanding preservation specialists in library and archival science, is given annually by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a subdivision of the American Library Association. It is awarded in recognition of professional preservation specialists who have made significant contributions to the field. Banks/Harris award winners:

• Sally Buchanan 2001 - Buchanan received the award in recognition of years of service in the preservation field while an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Science
• Ellen McCrady 2002 - From 1975 to 2004, McCrady edited and published the "Abbey Newsletter", covering important information for preservation professionals. She also conducted research regarding papermaking and acid testing.
• John F. Dean 2003 - Since its inception in 1985, Dean has led the Department of Preservation and Conservation at Cornell University.
• Jan Merrill-Oldham 2004 - As the Malloy-Rabinowitz Preservation Librarian at Harvard University, Merrill-Oldham oversees the Weissman Preservation Center and the Preservation and Imaging Department.
• Paul Conway 2005 - Conway is an associate professor in the University of Michigan School of Information and has worked with Yale and Duke University after beginning his career at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. His research and educational work focuses primarily on digital preservation and electronic media.
• Gary Frost 2006 - Currently a conservator at the University of Iowa Libraries, Frost has been an educator and practitioner in the field of library preservation for over 35 years.

Práticas

Cuidado e manuseio

1. Exhibitions
2. Circulating collections
3. Special collections

Controle ambiental

Environmental controls are necessary to facilitate the preservation of organic library materials and are especially important to monitor in rare and special collections. Key environmental factors to watch include temperature, relative humidity, pollutants, and light exposure.

In general, the lower the temperature is, the better it is for the collection. However, since books and other materials are often housed in areas with people, a compromise must be struck to accommodate human comfort. A reasonable temperature to accomplish both goals is 65-68˚F however, if possible, film and photography collections should be keep in a segregated area at 55˚F.

Books and other materials take up and give off moisture making them sensitive to relative humidity. Very high humidity encourages mold growth and insect infestations. Low humidity causes materials to lose their flexibility. Fluctuations in relative humidity are more damaging then a constant humidity in the middle or low range. Generally, the relative humidity should be between 30-50% with as little variation as possible, however recommendations on specific levels to maintain vary depending on the type of material, i.e. paper-based, film, etc..

The Image Permanence Institute provides a downloadable calculator to assist in determining the ideal indoor temperature when taking into account the outdoor dew point. This calculator also provides information on the risk on condensation and how many days to mold based on the entered scenario.

Particulate and gaseous pollutants, such as soot, ozone, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, can cause dust, soiling, and irreversible molecular damage to materials. Pollutants are exceedingly small and not easily detectable or removable. A special filtration system in the building’s HVAC is a helpful defense.

Exposure to light also has a significant effect on library materials. It is not only the light visible to humans that can cause damage, but also ultraviolet light and infrared radiation. Reducing the intensity of light and length of exposure will help reduce damage.

Tomada de decisão e seus critérios

Making a proper decision is an important factor before starting preservation practices. Decision making for preservation should be made considering significance and value of materials. Significance is considered to be comprised of two major components: importance and quality . “Importance” relates to the collection’s role as a record, and “quality” covers comprehensiveness, depth, uniqueness, authenticity and reputation of the collection. Moreover, analyzing the significance of materials can be used to uncover more about their meaning . Assessment of significance can also aid in documenting the provenance and context to argue the case for grant funding for the object and collection .

Forms of significance can be historically, culturally, socially, or spiritually significant. In the preservation context, libraries and archives make decisions in different ways. In libraries, decision-making likely targets existing holding materials, where as in archives, decisions for preservation are often made when they acquire materials. Therefore, different criteria might be needed on different occasions. In general, for archive criteria, the points include: 1) the characteristics of a record (purpose, creator, etc.); 2) the quality of the information in the record; 3) the record in context (part of a series or not); 4) potential use and possible limitations; and 5) the cost against the benefits from its existence . For library criteria, the following are evidence of significance: 1) uniqueness, 2) irreplaceability, 3) high level of impact – over time or place, 4) high level of influence, 5) representation of a type, and 6) comparative value (rarity, completeness, integrity relative to others of its kind).

Seleção

Since the 1970s, the Northeast Document Conservation Center has stated that the study of understanding the needs of the library is inherently important to the survival of archives and libraries. In order for the preservation of a collection to survive for a long time it is important that a systematic preservation plan is in place. The first step in planning a preservation program is to assess the institution’s existing preservation needs. This process entails identifying the general and specific needs of the collection, establishing priorities, and gathering the resources to execute the plan.

Because budget and time limitations require priorities to be set, standards have been established by the profession to determine what should be preserved in a collection. Considerations include existing condition, rarity, and evidentiary and market values. With non-paper formats, the availability of equipment to access the information will be a factor (for example, playback equipment for audio-visual materials, or microform readers). An institution should determine how many, if any, other repositories hold the material, and consider coordinating efforts with those that do.

Institutions should establish an environment conducive to preservation changes, involve staff, and create an understanding among administration and staff. The first steps an institution should implement, according to the NEDCC, are to establish a policy that defines and charts the course of action and create a framework for carrying out goals and priorities.

There are three methods for carrying out a preservation survey: general preservation assessment, collection condition surveys, and an item-by-item survey.

Selection for treatment determines the survival of materials and should be done by a specialist, whether in relation to an established collection development policy or on an item by item basis. Once an object or collection has been chosen for preservation, the treatment must be determined that is most appropriate to the material and its repository. If the information is most important, reformatting or creation of a surrogate is a likely option. If the artifact itself is of value, it will receive conservation treatment, ideally of a reversible nature.

Pesquisa e testes

With old media deteriorating or showing their vulnerabilities and new media becoming available, research remains active in the field of conservation and preservation. Everything from how to preserve paper media to creating and maintaining electronic resources is being explored by students and professionals in library and information science. The two main issues that most libraries tend to face are the rapid disintegration of acidic paper and water damage (due to flooding, plumbing problems, etc). Therefore, these areas of preservation, as well as new digital technologies, receive much of the research attention.

The American Library Association has many scholarly journals that publish articles on preservation topics, such as College and Research Libraries, Information Technology and Libraries, and Library Resources and Technical Services. Scholarly periodicals in this field from other publishers include International Preservation News, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, and Collection Management among many others.

Ética

Conservators should refer to the AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice, which states that the conservation professional must “strive to attain the highest possible standards in all aspects of conservation.”

Ethics will play an important role in many aspects of the conservator's activities. When choosing which objects are in need of treatment, the conservator should do what is best for the object in question and not yield to pressure or opinion from outside sources.

Preservação de objetos culturais

One instance in which these decisions may get tricky is when the conservator is dealing with cultural objects. The AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice has addressed such concerns, stating “All actions of the conservation professional must be governed by an informed respect for cultural property, its unique character and significance and the people or person who created it.” This can be applied in both the care and longterm storage of objects in archives and institutions.

The AIC Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice also states: “While recognizing the right of society to make appropriate and respectful use of cultural property, the conservation professional shall serve as an advocate for the preservation of cultural property.” This statement speaks to the conservator’s need to balance his or her duty to conserve objects and maintain a collection with society’s right to have access and use of objects for their own cultural/religious purposes. While it is obvious that a member of a religion should be able to have access to an object or text that has spiritual value to them, it would be against the conservator’s ethics to then allow that object to incur damage from such use. The conservator should make sure that the care of the object is kept in mind when access to an object is granted. The object should remain in the best condition possible not only so it is preserved for prosperity, but also so that it can be studied by researchers and by members of the cultural or religious group that created it.

Conservators are not just bound by ethics to treat cultural and religious objects with respect, but also in some cases by law. For example, in the United States, conservators must comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The First Archivists Circle, a group of Native American archivists, has also created Protocols for Native American Archival Materials. The non-binding guidelines are suggestions for libraries and archives with Native American archival materials.

With all these issues of respect and cultural sensitivity to consider, conservation and preservation issues are sure to arise. The care of cultural and sacred objects often affects the physical storage or the object. For example, sacred objects of the native peoples of the Western United States are supposed to be stored with sage to ensure their spiritual well being. The idea of storing an object with plant material is inherently problematic to an archival collection because of the possibility of insect infestation. When conservators have faced this problem, they have addressed it by using freeze-dried sage, thereby meeting both conservation and cultural needs.

Some individuals in the library science community have explored the possible moral responsibility to preserve all cultural phenomena, in regards to the concept of monumental preservation.

Centros regionais

• The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia, PA. CCAHA is a non-profit conservation laboratory specializing in the treatment of art and historic artifacts on paper. The Center also trains museum and library professionals in disaster planning, records and archives management.

• The Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, MA. Since its inception in 1973, the Center has instructed institutions and organizations, as well as librarians, conservators, preservationists and museum professionals in preservation care and procedures. From 1995 to 2007, NEDCC presented its School for Scanning conference eleven times in cities across the United States. The school takes a leading role for digital preservation.

• The Southeastern Library Network is a not-for-profit membership cooperative of libraries and other information organizations in the southeastern United States. Established in 1973, as the largest regional library network in the U.S., SOLINET provides a variety of preservation education programs and workshops.

Serviços

Many private entities have provide preservation and conservation services and supplies. Listed here are many of these businesses.

Produtos de conservação

• ArchapeX
• Archival Methods
• Archivart
• Carr McLean
• Conservation Resources
• Demco
• Gaylord
• Light Impressions
• Hollinger Corp.
• Metal Edge
• Paige Company
• Talas
• University Products

Encadernamento de biblioteca

Library binding is a common preservation practice. The Library Binding Institute is the trade organization for library binders, and works with the American Library Association to maintain the Library Binding Standard, ANSI Z39.78-2000.

• the Library Binding Institue
• The HF Group
• ICI Binding Corporation
• Bridgeport Library Binding Services
• Ocker & Trapp Library Binding, Inc.
• Acme Bookbinding

Exibição e armazenamentoe

• Benchmark
• Casewerks
• Delta Design Cabinets
• Glasbau Hahn
• Helmut Guenschel, Inc.
• Small Corp

Ramos de preservação

Funções-padrão de programas de preservação

• Collections Care refers to the general maintenance and preventive care of a collection as a whole. This can include activities such as security, environmental monitoring, preservation surveys and more specialized activities such as mass deacidification.
• Conservation refers to the treatment and repair of individual items to slow decay or restore them to a usable state. Conservation is occasionally used interchangeably with preservation, particularly outside the professional literature.
• Digital preservation refers to the maintenance of digitally stored information. This should not be confused with digitization, which is a process of creating digital information which must, in turn, be digitally preserved. Means of digital preservation include refreshing, migration, replication and emulation.
• Disaster Preparedness (RT: Disaster Plan / Business Continuation / Disaster Recovery / Disaster Mitigation Plan) refers to the practice of arranging for the necessary resources and planning the best course of action to prevent or minimize damage to a collection in the event of a disaster of any level of magnitude, whether natural or man-made.
• Reformatting refers to the practice of creating copies of an object in another type of data storage device. Reformatting processes include microfilming and digitization.

Questões e tratamento de mídias especíificas

• Livros
  • Goma de amido
  • Couro#Preservação e condicionamento do couro
• Ephemera and Realia
• Papel
  • Papel alcalino
  • Papel japonês
• Pergaminho
  • Reparação de pergaminhos
  • Preservação de iluminuras
• Gravações sonoras
  • Preservação de fita magnética
• Preservação da história oral
• Preservaçõa da linguagem
• Material iconográfico (visual)
  • Fotografia
  • REprografia arquitetônica, uma variedade de tecnologias e mídias usadas para se fazer múltiplas cópias de desenhos ou gravações originais de arquitetos, engenheiros, cartógrafos, etc.
• Preservação de mídias óticas
• Tinta

Educação

One of the biggest challenges in the field of preservation today is educating a library's community, especially librarians and other staff, in the best ways to handle materials as well as the conditions in which particular materials will decay the least. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that preservation is a peripheral element of most library science curricula; indeed, there are few places where one can receive a specialized education in preservation.

The primary degree granting institution for library and archival preservation is the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information Science. The conservation and preservation program is offered in partnership with the Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record and trains both conservators and preservation administrators. Other conservation programs in the United States focus on Art Conservation and are considered to be more museum focused than library focused. These programs are all part of the Association of North American Graduate Programs in the Conservation of Cultural Property (ANAGPIC).

The Rutgers Preservation Management Institute provides post-graduate training in preservation administration for working librarians who have already completed a Master's degree. UT Austin also offers certificates of advanced study in conservation and preservation to librarians who already hold their MLS.

Another educational resource available to preservationists is the Northeast Document Conservation Center or NEDCC. This institution was founded in 1973 as a reaction to the growing problem of paper deterioration occurring in repositories in the New England area. The Center provides institutions and organizations, as well as librarians, conservators, preservationists, and museum professionals, with help in learning proper care and procedures to better preserve the integrity of their collections. The institution provides a variety of services such as imaging, surveys and consultations, and digitation. They also assist with disaster planning. The educational opportunities it provides include provision of workshops, conferences, and specialized trainings. Additional online courses are also available. For instance, some of the workshops offered by the NEDCC include: Basic Preservation, Collections Care, Emergency Preparedness, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Identification and Care of Photographs, Basic and Intermediate Book Repair, Basic Paper Repair, Preservation of Scrapbooks, Preservation Technologies, Holdings Maintenance, Creating and Maintaining Digital Collections, Scanning Training, and Grant Writing.

Additional preservation education is available to librarians through various professional organizations, such as:

• American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
• American Library Association
• Amigos Library Services Preservation Service
• Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM)
• Association for Recorded Sound Collections
• Buffalo State College. Art Conservation Department, Buffalo, NY
• Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, Mount Carroll, IL.
• George Eastman House. School of Film & Video Preservation Rochester, NY
• The Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record
• Library Binding Institute
• New York University. Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, New York, NY
• North Bennet Street School. Boston, MA
• Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
• The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia, PA
• Queen’s University. Master of Art Conservation Program, Ont, Canada
• Rare Book School (RBS) at the University of Virginia
• Society of American Archivists
• Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET)
• University of Delaware. Winterthur Art Conservation Program, Newark, DE
• The National Archives

Preservação em instalações não-acadêmicas

Public libraries: Limited, tax-driven funding can often interfere with the ability for public libraries to engage in extensive preservation activities. Materials, particularly books, are often much easier to replace than to repair when damaged or worn. Public libraries usually try to tailor their services to meet the needs and desires of their local communities, which could cause an emphasis on acquiring new materials over preserving old ones. Librarians working in public facilities frequently have to make complicated decisions about how to best serve their patrons. Commonly, public library systems work with each other and sometimes with more academic libraries through interlibrary loan programs. By sharing resources, they are able to expand upon what might be available to their own patrons and share the burdens of preservation across a greater array of systems.

Archival repositories and special collections: Archival facilities focus specifically on rare and fragile materials. With staff trained in appropriate techniques, archives are often available to many public and private library facilities as an alternative to destroying older materials. Items that are unique, such as photographs, or items that are out of print, can be preserved in archival facilities more easily than in many library settings.

Museums: Because so many museum holdings are unique, including print materials, art, and other objects, preservationists are often most active in this setting.

Questões legais

Reformatting, or in any other way copying an item's contents, raises obvious copyright issues. In many cases, a library is allowed to make a limited number of copies of an item for preservation purposes.

Crítica

There is a longstanding tension between preservation of and access to library materials, particularly in the area of special collections. Handling materials promotes their progression to an unusable state, especially if they are handled carelessly. On the other hand, materials must be used in order to gain any benefit from them. In a collection with valuable materials, this conflict is often resolved by a number of measures which can include heightened security, requiring the use of gloves for photographs, restricting the materials researchers may bring with them into a reading room, and restricting use of materials to patrons who are not able satisfy their research needs with less valuable copies of an item. These measures can seem intimidating to less experienced researchers who might feel that these preservation measures are in place solely to keep materials out of the hands of the public.

There is also controversy surrounding preservation methods. A major controversy at the end of the twentieth century centered on the practice of discarding items that had been microfilmed. A similar concern persists over the retention of original documents reformatted by any means, analog or digital. Concerns include a scholarly needs and legal requirements for authentic or original records as well as questions about the longevity, quality and completeness of reformatted materials. Retention of originals as a source or fail-safe copy is now a fairly common practice.

Many digitized items, such as back issues of periodicals, are provided by publishers and databases on a subscription basis. If these companies were to cease providing access to their digital information, facilities that elected to discard paper copies of these periodicals could face significant difficulties in providing access to these items. Discussion as to the best ways to utilize digital technologies is therefore ongoing, and the practice continues to evolve.

Ver também

• Sítio arqueológico
• Conservação arquitetônica
• Arquivologia
• Restauração de obras de arte
• Preservação de livros em países em desenvolvimento
• Preservação digital
• Recuperação de desastres
• Preservação de filmes
• Preservação histórica
• Ciência da informação
• Biblioteconomia
• Desacidificação do papel
• Museologia
• Quipu
• Papel de celulose