The Preservation Lab is responsible for the physical care of the Libraries' collections: including treatment to damaged materials; preventative maintenance to new items susceptible to damage; and minimal conservation treatment to Special Collections materials. Some materials may be sent for commercial rebinding through the Binding Section or for reformatting.
The Lab provides the following conservation treatments:
- Dry-cleaning, washing, deacidification
- Construction of protective enclosures
- Encapsulation of maps, posters, and manuscripts
- Mending bindings and pages
- Re-sewing, rebinding, re-backing
- Before & After illustrates Preservation Lab conservation treatments: