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Treatment
and Repair of Damaged and Deteriorated Materials
The
use of library materials causes damage over time. Some
library items, regardless of how little they are used,
deteriorate due to the aging of the materials of which
they are made. The Preservation Department is dedicated
to repairing original library materials whenever possible.
Our facilities and staff are equipped to repair most
library materials. The unit responsible for the treatment
or repair depends on the nature and format of the item
and its condition.
Books
and Other Paper-based Materials
Some
books can be commercially bound in order to retain usability;
other damaged items require in-house treatment. The
Binding & Finishing
Unit manages the work out-sourced to commercial
binders. The Conservation
& Book Repair Unit handles the in-house treatment
of printed materials from the libraries' general and
special collections.
To
determine the type of repair or treatment appropriate
for an item in need, and which unit will do the work,
refer to:
Media
Materials
The repair of damaged media materials from the library
collections, such as sound recordings, videotapes, motion
picture films, microforms, and computer media, is less
straightforward than the repair of paper-based materials.
In cases where it is difficult to fully restore the
item's usability, replacement of the item is often the
most efficient course of action.
However,
many of the media materials in SULAIR collections are
not easily replaced. In these cases, the items are returned
to a condition in which they may be copied onto new
media.
The
work of repairing damaged media from the circulating
collections is administered by Binding
& Finishing. Treatment of special collections
media materials is handled by Media
Preservation.
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