Assignment Code: MLIE-101/AST/TMA/Jul.2022-Jan.2023

Course Code: MLIE-101

Assignment Name: Preservation and Conservation of Library Materials

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

1.1 Describe briefly the process of fumigation in the conservation of documents in the library (10)

Ans) Conservation is mostly about putting things back together again after they have been damaged or affected. In the next few paragraphs, I'll give a brief overview of a few methods that a Librarian can use as part of his or her daily work. I've left out methods and techniques that require the special knowledge of an Archivist. Conservation and restoration methods are always being looked at and changed. The conservators don't always agree on whether or not a certain method or chemical is safe and effective. There are always new things happening in this area. A Librarian should stay up to date on all of these changes.

If insects, bacteria, moulds, or fungi are living in the books, the fumigation process can get rid of them. The items that have been infested are separated from the rest of the collection, which should be cleaned thoroughly.

The process for fumigating with thymol or paradichlorobenzene is simple, works well, and is easy to manage in any library. Fumigation with thymol kills mildew or mould, while paradichlorobenzene or fumigation kills bookworms, silver fish, and cockroaches. Fumigation with thymol is done in a wooden room that doesn't let any air in. Books and papers that need to be fumigated are kept in the shape of an upside-down V on a frame covered with wire mesh two feet from the bottom of the room. At the bottom of the chamber, a 40-watt electric bulb is put in place under a round hole, and a disc with thymol crystals is put on top of that. The amount of thymol needed is 150 gms per cubic metre, and the fumigation cycle lasts from 6 to 8 days.

Fumigation with paradichlorobenzene takes place in an airtight steel vault or almirah with adjustable, perforated shelves for storing documents that have been infected. For 7 to 8 days, a dose of 1.5 kgms of fumigation is given every day. Fumigation can also be done with Killoptera, which is a mixture of 3 parts ethylene dichloride to 1 part carbon tetrachloride. With a 24-36-hour fumigation cycle, this mixture needs to be used at a rate of 225 g/m3. At room temperature, these chemicals turn into vapours, which are heavier than air. So, they are put on the shelf at the top of the fumigation vault. Other ways to get rid of biological pests are to use a vacuum fumigation process and an airtight vault that can be controlled by a thermostat. Both of these methods work well to get rid of all kinds of biological pests.

2.1 Why is preservation considered as an important activity in libraries? Explain the strategies adopted for preserving library material. (10)

Ans) Preservation is a planned and managed process that makes sure a library's collection of books can be used for as long as possible. The goal of preservation is to make sure that all of the printed and non-printed materials in a library will last a long time and won't get damaged easily. Because of this, it is a very important thing to do in libraries.

Strategies for preserving library material

Preserving archival collections, special collections, and the collections of large research libraries is something that has been known for a long time. This recognition has only been given to all types of libraries in the last ten years or so. Efforts are now being made to come up with ways to keep library materials safe. Most of these have to do with the following areas:

Determination of Preservation Priorities

We know that we can't keep all of the books in our libraries for all time. It is important to set priorities for what can or should be kept and for how long. The general idea is that our libraries should be useful, and we should care about "keeping materials for as long as they are needed."

Housekeeping

Among the ways to clean the house are:

1. Putting preservation principles into every part of how a library works.

2. Setting up the library staff.

3. The users will be given a training programme.

4. Users are educated by putting up posters, pamphlets, etc. And holding exhibitions and other public awareness programmes from time to time.

5. Putting in place a regular maintenance programme that should include keeping the physical and environmental conditions in good shape (heating, lighting, humidity etc. And over all cleanliness etc.).

6. Planning for disaster response means figuring out why things like fires and floods happen.

7. Minimising the damage and making it less likely that these kinds of disasters will happen.

8. If they happen, and how to save library materials if something bad happens.

Transfer of Information from Deteriorated Items

At the moment, microfilming and transferring to a digital form (which can be stored on optical discs or computer tapes) are the two main ways to move the content of worn-out items in a library collection to something more durable.

Cooperative Action

There are some situations where people need to work together. Among them are:

1. Books in library collections in a certain area are deacidified in large numbers.

2. Newspaper projects that use microfilming.

3. Lobbying to make publishers use paper that is not acidic and is buffered with alkaline.

4. Setting up laboratories and centres for preservation that can offer their services in a certain area.

3.1 Explain the term „Library Digitisation‟. Discuss the major project of digitisation that has been taken up in India. (10)

Ans) Digitization of information materials is the process of converting analogue information to a digital format. In digitization process traditional documents such as books, papers, manuscripts are converted into electronic format i.e. image format which are machine readable.

Major project of digitisation in India

The Department of Culture in India started the National Mission for Manuscripts programme in 2003. India has the most valuable manuscripts in the world, which need to be kept safe and made available. The goal of the mission is to find, catalogue, and keep India's manuscripts safe, as well as to make them easier to get to, raise awareness of, and encourage their use for education and research. The National Informatics Centre in India has given guidelines for the digitization process, which starts with the selection process and includes all technical issues, such as quality control, collection management, image organisation, output specifications, and so on.

Digital Library of India wants to make a collection of one million books, mostly in Indian languages, that can be searched and read for free by anyone over the Internet. Portal is a way to get to Indian Digital Libraries about science, art, culture, music, movies, traditional medicine, palm leaves, and many other things. Under the Universal Digital Library Project, this project is a partnership between Indian institutes and universities and Carnegie Mellon University. The goal of the project is to support full-text indexing and searching using OCR (optical character recognition) technologies so that users can quickly find relevant information using online search tools.

Vidyanidhi, the Digital Library and E-Scholarship Portal, started out as a pilot project at the University of Mysore in 2000, with help from NISSAT, DSIR, and the Indian government. The goal of the project is to create a place where Indian doctoral theses can be stored, digitised, archived, and made easier to find. The Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and Mumbai have also started projects to digitise theses and dissertations.

Rare books and fragile documents like East India Company records, diaries, etc., as well as manuscripts on paper and palm leaves are being digitised by the National Library of India. There are plans to digitise English books and documents from before 1900 and Indian books and documents from before 1920. So far, 548 CDs have been used to store scanned copies of 6,600 books in both Indian and English.

4.1 Describe the basic material and tools used for Book repaired.

Ans) Basic material and tools used for Book repaired as follows:

Book Repair Materials

Paper: Documents and leaves can be fixed with small pieces of paper. (Old books are given new end papers made of paper.) Papers like Dover (size: 575 x 440 mm, colour: yellow cream) and Bodleian (size: 700 x 500 mm, colour: white) are used for restoration. In addition to these, tissue is also used to fix books.

Document Repair Tape: Document repair tape is a thin piece of acid-free paper with an adhesive on one side. The glue used is a neutral acrylic glue that doesn't dry out, turn yellow over time, or leak out of the edges of the document repair tape.

Boards: Millboard of the best quality has a pH of 7 and is used to replace boards or rebind old books. We can do less important work with a strawboard.

Repair Adhesives: Paste and glue are the two main kinds of glue and paste used to fix books. Dampness breaks down the glue, making it easier for fungi, bacteria, insects, and other pests to grow on it. Synthetics that are resistant to heat, moisture, fungi, bacteria, and insects have been made, but pastes and glues are still used to hand-bind books.

Linen Thread: Books are sewn together with linen thread. It comes in different sizes, such as 12/4, 18/3, 25/3, etc. Choosing the right thread depends on the type of paper and how many signatures are being sewn.

Book Repair Tools

Folder: This is a tool that can be used to work paper, repair tissues, and cloth into a joint area. It's about 6–8 inches long, 1–112 inches wide, 1/8 inch thick, smooth, has one pointy end and one round end, and is made of animal bone or plastic.

Microspatula: This tool is used to pick up strips of Japanese repair paper that have been stuck down, to pull book cloth or end papers away from the book, or to put glue or paste in a tight spot. It is a metal tool that is about 6-8" long and has one end that is rounded and one that is pointed.

Piercer: A piercer is used to put glue in small, tight spots, mark cutting lines, or score tear lines on Japanese repair tissue.

Brushes: Depending on the surface to be pasted or glued, we can use thin, medium, or thick brushes with round or flat bristles. For repairs, brushes with natural bristles work well, but brushes with synthetic bristles can also be used. After use, the glue should be cleaned off the brush.

5.0 Write short notes on any two of the following: (10)

a) Clay tablets

Ans) Our ancestors, the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites, made something similar to what we call a "book" today. They used clay tablets that had been cleaned with water. With the help of a stylus, the writer would write on the clay when it was still soft. After the writing was done, the clay tablet was either dried in the sun or, for better durability, burned in kilns.

The tablets looked like bricks and were about five inches long. They were different sizes and shapes. These burned tablets were very hard and nearly impossible to break. These tablets were found in the 19th century AD. They had been buried for thousands of years in the mounds of long-forgotten cities. The oldest tablets found so far were from Babylon and dated back to the fifth millennium B.C. It looks like the use of clay tablets spread from Babylonia to Assyria and other places to the west, all the way to Egypt, through trade and war. A writer could fit a lot of text on a single tablet by writing in small letters on all of the surfaces. Longer texts were written on several tablets that were linked together with numbers and catch words, just like modern books.

b) ICBS

Ans) The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS) was set up in 1996 to collect information about terrorism. and spread information and coordinate actions in times of emergency. It is ICA (International Council) is made up of the following non-governmental organisations: on Archives), ICOM (International Council of Museums), and ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions). The says that its goal is to protect and preserve cultural heritage. The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was signed in 1954. Conflict. The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS) takes care of museums and libraries, archives, and historic sites. It combines the information, experience, and The four organisations that deal with cultural heritage and have international networks: There is now an unmatched body of knowledge that can be used to advise and help with War in the former Yugoslavia and hurricane damage in Central America are two examples. ICBS is professional, independent, and on a global scale.