Booth Western Art Museum Research Library

Care of Books and Archives

The most important factor in the safe care and handling of any object is support. The full weight and dimensions of an artifact must be supported during storage, transport, and use, to prevent dropping, breaks, folds, tears, cracks, contamination with dirt and liquids, and other physical damage.

                        GENERAL GUIDELINES

·      Always wash your hands before handling valued materials. Wash them frequently during extended use of collections.

·      Handle archival materials as little as possible.

·      Do not eat or drink in storage, exhibition, or work areas. Food can attracts pests and cause stains. Liquids are easily spilled and will also stain archival objects. These stains are often difficult, if not impossible, to remove.

·      Use pencils only in areas where valued materials are handled, used, or stored. Inks can easily offset onto hands and counters and transfer onto objects in your collection.

·      Patrons should not make notations in any media on archival materials. During arrangement, the archivist should only label records using a soft (HB) pencil.

·      Do not use metal paper clips or rubber bands to secure objects together. Individual folders can be used to organize and combine multi-sheet records.

·      Never attempt to repair items, especially with pressure sensitive tape. Do not use any pressure sensitive tabs or labels in direct contact with archival materials.

·      The effects of light damage are cumulative! Turn off direct sources of light, such as table lamps, when items are left unattended. This will reduce heat buildup (causing accelerated chemical reactions) and fading. Always protect records from extended exposure to sunlight.

·      Cover items when left unattended to protect from light, dirt or moisture. Place a sign that reads "FRAGILE OBJECTS BELOW" to warn others to be careful.

·      Make sure work surfaces are clear of junk, dirt and debris before placing objects. Clean blotter may be laid down to provide a cushioned surface.

·      Do not carry too much at one time. If you find you have no free hands, that the parcels are awkward to hold or move with, or that the weight is uncomfortable, stop and rethink the situation. Use a book truck as required.

·      Know the route you are traveling. Consider obstacles such as closed doors, stairs, and tight turns. If necessary, get someone to accompany you. Also know where you are setting the object down when you get there.

·      Protect records and artifacts from inclement weather and shock when transporting them out of the institution.

FLAT PAPER DOCUMENTS

·      Do not hold documents while reading them.

·      When retrieving a single item from a folder, first remove the file folder from the box, then remove the item. Do not extract the item from the file folder while it is still in the box.

·      Be sure you have adequate space for handling oversize documents.

·      Lift large sheets from opposite, diagonal corners by clamping the sheet, scissors-style, between index and third fingers. Do not use your thumbs, or you may cause fiber breakage and dimples to the paper sheet.

·      Turn objects over by placing them between two stiff secondary supports, holding the sandwich together tightly between your palms, and flipping gently. You may tape the edges of the cards together to prevent the object sliding out from in between, but beware: tape has a way of sticking to things when you least expect it!

·      Be mindful that mounting boards can become brittle with age. Support a mounted object adequately to ensure that the board does not break, resulting in a broken or fallen object.

·      Lift the top of a matte very slowly and carefully. It may be attached to the object or backing. The object can be easily torn, and the housing damaged, if handled roughly.

·      Do not remove objects from Mylar sleeves during use.

·      Use a clean, smooth weight to prevent items from being blown off tables, both when working and when leaving objects unattended.

·      To transport paper objects, place on a board or blotter, hold the item securely to the underlying support by one corner, and provide support overall with the other palm from below.

BOOKS

·      Use a book cradle or padded supports when viewing fragile volumes.

·      Do not force a book open by pushing or pulling at the gutter margin. If a volume will not lie open easily, use clean light weights to hold the halves open.

·      Do not place an open book face down, or fold over the corners of pages, or use Post-it notes to mark your place. Always use an acid-free or alkaline paper or light card stock bookmark.

·      Patrons should not make notations in books belonging to the collections.

·      Use a piece of stiff card, paper fingers, or a microspatula to lift and turn book pages, especially if the paper is damaged, weak, or brittle to the touch.

Storage and Transport

·      Shelve books so they do not lean. Remove a shelved book by first pushing back the volume on either side, then grasping the desired volume firmly around the spine to the covers, sliding the book out gently. Never pull books out by inserting fingers into the top or bottom of the spine.

·      Always keep a book closed during transport. Keep the cover and pages supported to prevent loosening of covers and loss of inserts or unattached pages. Handle flat or with the spine in the palm on your hand.

·      Carry oversize volumes with two hands. Support the weight of the object from underneath using the palm and forearm, and balance it using the opposite hand. When transporting any large, heavy item or numerous items use a book cart.

·      Large books should not be used as trays for delivering other items. Objects on top may slip and fall, becoming damaged.

·      Box damaged books, especially those with loose or broken pieces.

Shelving Books

Vertical Orientation: Books should not slump and the textblock should not fall away from the boards when in the upright position.

·         Volumes should be shelved vertically if:

o        The height is 40 cm. (16") or less, or

o        The thickness is 8 cm. (3") or less, and

o        The condition is sound and the volume is capable of standing with the support of adjacent        volumes and/or bookends.    

·      Volumes shelved vertically should be oriented with the tail (bottom edge) or spine resting on the shelf. They should not rest on their fore-edges.

·      Volumes of similar height that can help to support one another should be shelved vertically as a unit. Interspersing short and tall volumes in a vertical unit must be avoided, since the taller volumes need the support of their neighbors to avoid warping.

·      To avoid interspersing short and tall volumes, small volumes should be placed in standard archives boxes if possible. This will also help to avoid the problem of small volumes being pushed to the backs of the shelves.

·      Another approach is to physically separate groups of short and tall volumes on the shelf, using multiple bookends to separate and support the groups.

·      All shelves containing volumes shelved vertically should be equipped with bookends, ideally of "non-knifing" design. Bookends should be positioned at both ends of a group of volumes to hold them in a true vertical orientation.

·      Sufficient free space should be left at the end of each shelf to permit access to the bookend so that it can be adjusted when volumes are removed from the shelf and when they are reshelved.

Horizontal Orientation

·         Volumes should be shelved horizontally if:

o        The height exceeds 40 cm. (16"), and/or the thickness exceeds 8 cm. (3");

o        The volume is in poor condition or is noticeably distorted; or

o        The volume is a scrapbook, album, or similar composite structure with mounted elements that can be damaged or lost if they sift to the bottom of the volume during vertical storage.

·      Volumes shelved horizontally should not be placed in stacks higher than 15 cm. (6"), or more than three volumes high. Thus the thickness of the volumes will determine if one, two, or three volumes may be placed in a stack.

·      Large volumes should never be stacked on smaller volumes. Only volumes of similar size should be stacked on top of one another so that volumes are fully supported and prevented from warping or becoming misshapen.

·      Volumes should not extend beyond the edges of shelves.

·      Volumes must not be placed horizontally on top of a group of vertically shelved volumes.

·      To prevent abrasion, always lift books from shelving or in the work area, rather than dragging them across a surface.

This guide is provided by the Northeast Document Conservation Center www.nedcc.org.

Portions of this guide are based on "Preserving Archival Records: Guidelines For Shelving Bound Volumes", prepared by Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, National Archives And Records Administration (n.d.). Also available at http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/nara/volume.html
 

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