The Preservation Unit at Morris Library held its annual Preservation Week event last week on  April 25, 2013. The event consisted of a scavenger hunt for library employees and student assistants. Their mission–to solve a series of clues that revealed  the impact preservation has on the library.

The competition was fierce, as prior to the event, Acquisitions challenged the rest of the library by saying they were going to win! After less than fifteen minutes participants came running into Preservation with their completed clues!  The winners were Steve Sawyer and his library student assistant, Nathan Fortmeyer from Circulation. Each winner had the option to select their prize. Nathan picked his team’s prize and selected the handmade book made by Preservation library student assistant, Emily Kaye.

Coming in second place was the Acquisitions/Cataloging team of Susan Yates, Tori Bond, Mike McQuinley, Gary Shepherd, Kym Mills, John Ballestro, and Acquisitions student assistant, Molly Howard-Crow. They selected the Pineappple Upside Down Cake made by Conservation Lab Supervisor, Kate Harrison.

Rounding out third place were the library student assistants from the Special Collections Resource Center, Haley Stevens and Kierstyn Walton. They won the Starbucks gift card.

One of the Preservation Unit’s favorite past times is eating baked goods. We jump at every chance to PRESERVE the tradition, hehe! All participants were rewarded with cupcakes, cookies and lemonade made by Preservation Librarian, Julie Mosbo and Kate Harrison.

Participants discuss the hunt and enjoy goodies baked by the Preservation Unit.

Cupcakes! Yum!

Check out the clues participants had solve below and learn more about the Preservation Unit’s impact on Morris Library.

Found on a Preservation Libguide.

Found in the basement.

Found in Circulation.

Found in an exhibit in the Hall of Presidents-1st floor.

Found in the Geospatial Resources Room (aka the Map Room)- 4th floor.

Found on the 3rd floor outside the American Heritage Room.

Found in the Digital Media Preservation Lab-2nd Floor.

Found in the Conservation Lab-2nd floor.

Yesterday, as the Fall 2012 semester began at SIU, Morris Library held its first poker run as part of Set Up For Success Week at the library. The goal of the poker run was to set students up with all their various library accounts and then also introduce them to various areas in the library.

Preservation had a booth on the second floor of the library. Our goal was to help educate students on how to avoid damaging the library materials they check out. We created a game called the “Delete Your Damage Fines Game”. To earn their poker run card students had to correctly identify common types of damage such as highlighting in books, pen or pencil underlining, coffee staining, water damage and damage from food.

We created our first LibGuide on How to Handle and Care For Library Books that students could link to by scanning a QR code.  We also handed out personal archiving tips for email and digital photographs.

In all, the day was successful. At least 65 students stopped by the Preservation booth and around 75 participated in the Poker Run total.  It was a great way to kick off Welcome Week here in Morris Library at SIU and we hope that students who participated in Set Up For Success this week at the library will feel more comfortable here on campus and more prepared during their time here at SIU.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

You can also find us on Facebook — Siuc Morris Preservation and Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/siucpreservation/ where you might find examples of Kate’s wonderful baking skills.

Mmm…cheese cake.

The top image of the blog comes from this print:

Found by a staff member in SCRC, this print is of the first Old Main which burned down in 1882.  The print had been folded and “repaired” with pressure sensitive tape on both the recto and verso along the fold lines.  This item is currently undergoing conservation treatment in our lab.  The tape and adhesive is being removed with localized moisture and chemicals.  It will undergo a cleaning bath of deionized water and will be pieced back together with a new backing.  We will post photos of the finished conservation treatment.

Even with experienced technicians in our midst in preservation, we sometimes have difficulty figuring out the what others used on past conservation repairs or enclosures.  Two years ago, SCRC loaned several models from the Buckminster Fuller collection to two world class museums.  A company specializing in art and artifact transportation was hired by one of the museums to create enclosures for the models.  And these boxes are pretty incredible.

Other Buckminster Fuller models in our collection need similar enclosures for protection while in storage.  However, Barb and I have been racking our brains trying to figure out what the material is that they used to cover the polyethylene foam.  I have been in contact with both museums and the moving company and no one can tell me.  I’ve even contacted a friend at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute and she said that they could not identify it.

A gold star to anyone that can.

Yesterday, Kate Harrison (Bindery Prep Supervisor) and Barb Summers (Conservation Lab Supervisor) presented a workshop on paper marbling for library staff.  Due to the size of the lab, only a select number could attend.  I think it’s safe to say it was a complete success!  Examples of what were created:

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale’s Morris Library has developed a new section within the Preservation Unit to begin to address preservation issues of audio formats by preserving and providing access to the unique audio recordings found within the Library and more specifically, the Special Collections Resource Center (SCRC).  Supervised by the Preservation Librarian, the audio preservation lab is actively transferring analog audio formats (including cassette tapes and reel-to-reel tapes) to digital files.   The original recordings are being kept and preserved within the environmentally monitored storage of SCRC and the digital files are being created and preserved according to well accepted best practices in the field.  Focusing on both patron requests and on project driven collections, the audio preservation lab has already transferred oral histories on Carbondale and the Senator Paul Simon Town Hall meetings; both of which were transferred by Kelly Caringer, a GA in the Mass Communication Department.  Current projects being transferred by Kate Harrison (Bindery Prep Supervisor) and Aaron Lisec (SCRC Research Specialist) include the John Dewey interviews and John F. Kennedy related interviews, press conferences, and assassination recordings.

With a great deal of help and hard work from Kate Harrison (Bindery Prep Supervisor), we now have a Morris Library libguide dedicated to library, archives, and museum preservation and conservation.  http://libguides.lib.siu.edu/preservation.  The libguide provides information on the Preservation Unit as well as links to resources within the field of preservation and conservation.  Links lead to catalog records for books housed in our preservation reference shelves, association and institutional websites, and print and online journals.  There is also a section on disaster response which lists key resources for developing a disaster plan and salvage recovery.

Over the summer, the Conservation Lab Supervisor (Barb Summers) created a custom enclosure for a new Special Collections Research Center acquisition.  Donated from the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, Texas, the teletype roll contains the exact moments a reporter from a Kentucky news station heard the John F. Kennedy had been shot and the resulting comments.  SCRC has the entire teletype roll; however, the first five feet were removed from the rest of the roll while at the Sixth Floor Museum.  A custom-made enclosure was made for the first five feet using an acid-free, archival quality, corrugated board (which aided in keeping the box light and mobile) and Saluki Maroon bookcloth.  The remaining teletype is housed in an enclosure made while at the Sixth Floor Museum.  To see the teletype roll contact Special Collections http://www.lib.siu.edu/departments/speccoll

Morris Library hosted its 1st annual Home Movie Day on Saturday, October 16th in the empty basement of the Library.  www.homemovieday.com Popcorn was provided.  Many folks showed up to have the Preservation Librarian, Julie Mosbo (this post’s author) assess the condition of their home movies and have them projected or played by faculty members in the College of Mass Communications.  We had several different formats represented including 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm, VHS, and DVD.  A reporter from the Daily Eyptian was on hand and hopefully there will be an article out soon (will post if there is).  Thanks to everyone who helped with the event and particpated!