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Category: Collections Care

Conservation and the Koussevitzsky Collection

Posted by: Chloe Genter

As a conservation technician for the Library of Congress, Conservation Division, I work with numerous and varied objects of significant value. This work involves extensive planning and creating custom housings for objects of value for the benefit of communities and researchers both now and for future generations to appreciate, learn from, and enjoy.  The objects …

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

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.