Top of page

Archive: 2022 (50 Posts)

Close-up view of two hands carefully at work on an aged, yellowing manuscript with handwriting

Take that you filthy red rot!

Posted by: Aaron D. Chaletzky

Libraries are beautiful, filthy places. The dirt you encounter here is more than just the dust you would expect in any building, it is the dust of decay. It is the whisper of tired books becoming brittle and disintegrating, microfilm breathing its last gasp, newspapers shriveling into nothingness, leather dissolving into powder. Of all of these ingredients, red rot is probably the most pervasive dust you would come across.

Close-up view of two hands carefully at work on an aged, yellowing manuscript with handwriting

Tracing Sound: Adding Functionality to Contactless Audio Recording Digitization

Posted by: Tana Villafana

IRENE, which stands for Image Reconstruct Erase Noise Etc., is a method for extracting sound from mechanical audio recordings, such as phonograph records and cylinder records. What makes IRENE special is that the entire process is contactless, allowing us to extract audio from broken, fragile, and otherwise unplayable objects while reducing the possibility of damage.

Close-up view of two hands carefully at work on an aged, yellowing manuscript with handwriting

Care and Handling Training: an Important Preservation Step

Posted by: Beatriz Haspo

During this summer, the Collections Management Division (CMD) embarked on a marathon of in-person care and handling training sessions for staff and contracts to illustrate the importance of following best practices when managing the materials throughout daily activities in order to preserve and prevent damages to the collections.