preservation procedure for gift books

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PRESERVATION PROCEDURE FOR THE REPAIR OF GIFT BOOKS

1. The Preservation Dept. will consider repairing a damaged volume that has been received as a gift if the volume is rare or otherwise special or important to the library's collections, the cost of repair would not exceed the value of the material in question, the volume appears capable of undergoing a repair without further stressing its structure, and the repair would result in a volume with long-term viability.

2. The Gifts Librarian may ask the Preservation Dept. to consider such repairs. When there is some question about whether an item's value to the collection justifies a repair, the selector for the volume's subject area should be asked for an opinion. The opinion of the selector can be solicited by the Gifts Librarian or the Preservation Librarian.

3. The Preservation Librarian may recommend that a volume not be repaired, even if the book is deemed important to the collection by the selector, if the former feels the cost of the repair is not justified, or the repair will not result in the volume's long-term viability.

4. When the Preservation Librarian's view is not in agreement with the selector's, a final decision can be solicited from the Associate Director for Collections and Technical Services at the selector's request.

5. As a general guideline, the Preservation Dept. recommends that books received as gifts that are brittle, broken or otherwise damaged, marked with pencil or pen, bear the identification stamps, labels or attachments (such as pockets) of other libraries, or have an odor suggesting mold infestation, not be introduced into the collections unless they are rare or otherwise of importance. In the latter case, the Preservation Department should be allowed to evaluate these materials for possible appropriate treatment.

Richard Feinberg, Head, Preservation Department, Feb. 18, 2006.

Stony Brook University Libraries
Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3300
631.632.7100 (t), 631.632.7116 (fax)

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Copyright 2003. Last Update: February 2007