PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION IN LIBRARY

DEFINITION OF LIBRARY

Library is a building or room containing collection of books, periodical and summaries films and recorded music for use or borrowing by the public or the members of an institution.

PRESERVATION

Preservation refers to the set of activities that aim to prolong the life of a record and relevant materials or improve access to it through non-interceptive means. This includes action taken to influence records creators’ prior selection and acquisition.

CONSERVATION

Conservation refers to the treatment and repair of individual to slow decay or restore them to a useable state. The main objective of conservation is to keep library and archival of materials in their original format for as long as possible.

Library materials can be preserved through remedial treatment of individual material (flatting book and paper repair, binding).

IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION IN LIBRARY

1. To prevent materials that are damaging from further damaging.
2. To know the material that has already been damaged in the library collection.
3. To bring back the materials that has already gone bad into active stage.
4. To identify the material that are damaging or that has already been damaged.

TYPES AND NATURE OF LIBRARY MATERIAL

There are three types of library materials which are:- Printed, Non-printed materials and library equipment.

1. Printed Materials: These are materials printed on paper e.g books, year books, manuals, reference books.
2. Non-printed Materials: These are source that are not printed e.g DVD/VCD, e-book, music CD, and taps. They are product of advanced technology.
3. Library Equipment: They are the equipment found in the library e.g tables, chairs, computers, fans.

FUNCTION OF PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION

1. Conservation: The main objective of conservation is to keep library materials in their original format for as long as possible.
2. Collection Care: This refers to the general maintenance been carried out on the library materials.
3. Disaster Planning: This is an unexpected event which put collection at risk.

CAUSES OF DAMAGED MATERIALS IN THE LIBRARY

1. Mechanical Damage: It could be: – (i) The way the book is made. (ii) Improper use of the book. (iii) Violent influence from outside.
2. Biological Damage: Biological damages are damages caused by different living organisms such as insect, rodents, man.
3.  Chemical Damage: These are caused through chemical reactions and whose causes are:-
4. Reaction caused by substance which penetrate from outside
5. Reactions which are long term processes of a natural character.
6. Disaster such as fire and flood can also cause damage of library materials.

PREVENTION OF LIBRARY MATERIALS

1. Handling and use of library materials: Material in the library should be handed carefully by storing on a smooth shelve. And materials should be purchase in abundance to reduce too much hand on a particular book.
2. Storage Environment: The environment conditions in which items are used, stored and exhibited are critical factor in the reactions that cause items to deteriorate. E.g relative humidity, light, temperature.
3. Reformatting: This is the process of capturing library and archive materials to ensure the survival of their content and to extend access.

PREVENTION OF NON-PAPER BASED MATERIAL

Non-Paper based materials such as sound recording audio and video reduces the risk of digital material. Sound recording is use in electronic process to remove unwanted noise from the sound.

WEEDING

Weeding is the removing of some library materials from the shelve base on damage or excessively use. Weeding is important for several reasons among which are the creation of more space and the reduction in the cost of processing and maintaining library materials.

IMPORTANCE OF WEEDING

1. To remove books with out dated information.
2. To identify books that are damage or in poor condition.
3. To remove books that are not library used in the library.
4. To identify gaps in the collection and make new purchases.

PROBLEMS OF PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF LIBRARIES RESOURCES

1. Low level of conservation awareness of library staff
2. Non availability of school and training programmes to train these categories of personnel.
3. Physical Isolation: It refers to where some of the library resources are from isolated places.

REFERENCE

Reference books are materials that are consulted from time to time for a specific item of information. They are not meant from cover to cover, they are not broad in scope, they either general or specific in scope.

TYPES OF REFERENCE MATERIAL SOURCE

1. Atlases:- Contain an organised group of physical, political, road and thematic maps.
2. Bibliographies:- Contains one or more list of resources and materials sharing some common attribute such as location, publishing date, subject.
3. Dictionaries:- Contain words of a given language and other information such as their origins pronunciations, and definitions.
4. Almanacs:- Contain specific facts, statistical data, table of comparative information organized lists of books reference related to people.

CHARACTERISTICS OF REFERENCE MATERIAL

1. They are housed in a separate section of the library
2. They are revised on regular basis to keep them current
3. They are more expensive than other types of a book in the library.

References

Arfanis, P. and H. Javis (2010) Archive in Cambodia; Neglected Institutions Archives and Manuscripts Australian

Arnoult, J. M (2000) Libraries of the Ancient Cities of Mauritania International Preservation News 21:21

Asogwa, E. B; and L.L Ezema (2012) The Challenge of Preservation of Archives and Records in the Electronic Age PNLA Quarterly 76:3

Cunha, G. M and D. G Cunha (1999) Conservation of Library Materials. A Manual and bibliography on the care repair and restoration of library materials I and II Metuchen Scarecrow Press

Davies, J. (1979). A Study of the Basic Standard and Methods in Preservation and Conservation Workshops Application to developing Countries Brussels UNESCO and ICA