Preservation for Records Managers

Conference 2010 S14 - Monday 3.30pm

The compilers of documents which are intended as records, minute books registers and the like have usually specified a good quality paper with a reasonable prospect of durability, but modern files of correspondence, will present difficult problems of preservation. It has been known that modern paper is not very long lasting for many years and those that create records have been advised to procure high alkaline paper. It is very likely that historic records will eventually one day pass through the hands of an Archive Conservator. This talk is to give a short introduction to what a Conservator can do, and what the Records Manger can do to ensure the longevity of records in long term care.

The session will include advice on packaging, handling, storage conditions and disaster management (recovering damaged paper) and will give an insight into the work of a conservator. Preservation is increasingly becoming part of the normal day to day work of many information professionals and organisations. We need to know how and why materials degrade and how the affects of aging can be slowed by adopting simple practices.

Mark Allen, Flintshire County Council

In 1984 I began my bookbinding apprenticeship at St Deiniol’s Library working on Gladstone’s books and his incunabula. I attended college day release at Liverpool to do a city and guilds in bookbinding and did two years night classes with... more...

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