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Chapter I. Organization of the Preservation Section

The Preservation Section consists of two units:

• Binding: materials prepared and routed from the 11 departmental libraries are processed and sent to the commercial bindery.
• Conservation: activities include book and paper repair, pamphlet binding, protective enclosures (phase boxes, wrappers, and portfolios), disaster recovery and preparedness, and preservation outreach / awareness.

Shelf Preparation is now part of the Monographs Unit. To contact shelf prep or to order barcodes or security strips, send an e-mail to shelfprep@virginia.edu.

No library has the personnel, funds, or supplies to preserve every item on its shelves. Preservation at the University of Virginia Library is driven by use or circulation. Actively circulating materials in need of preservation are routed from circulation returns to Preservation via LEO and all materials are accompanied by a routing slip.

All materials should be brought to the front desk in Preservation where Preservation staff can assign the materials to the preservation, binding, and reformatting workflows. Materials must be catalogued (and have a barcode) so they can be tracked using SIRSI. Following these procedures is important in order to quickly respond to patron requests for the materials. Every effort is made so that in-process materials are available for patrons as soon as possible.

Preservation activities include commercial binding, shelf preparation (including spine labeling, security stripping, bookplating, library property stamping), conservation treatments (including paper and book repair, pamphlet binding, protective enclosures), a brittle book program, disaster recovery and the promotion of preservation awareness. The ultimate goal is to maximize the life expectancy and utility of the collection for current and future users of the library.

Preservation also maintains a supply of barcodes, security strips and binding string for all the U.Va. libraries. Contact any preservation staff member for supplies via e-mail, phone or in person.