Collections Care Policy for Special Collections at the University of Bradford

Special Collections - Collection Care Policy

Collections Care Policy for Special Collections at the University of Bradford

Special Collections
J.B. Priestley Library
University of Bradford
Bradford. BD7 1DP.
Email:
Telephone: +44 (0) 1274 235256

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Special Collections - Collection Care Policy

Contents

Contents 2

0. Introduction 5

0.1 About this publication 5

0.2 Purpose of this publication 5

0.3 Publication history 5

0.4 Publication scope 5

0.5 Review of publication 6

0.6 Definitions 6

0.7 Size and nature of the collections 6

0.8 History of collections care at Bradford 7

1. Policy, staffing, resources 8

1.1 Benchmarking 8

1.2 Mission statement 8

1.3 Principles 8

1.4 Legislation, standards and guidelines 9

1.5 Policy context 10

1.6 Staffing 10

1.7 Resources 12

1.8 Improvement actions 12

2. Buildings and security 12

2.1 Overview 12

2.2 Benchmarking 13

2.3 Details of our site and buildings 13

2.4 Water ingress 13

2.5 Library access policy 14

2.6 Access to collections 14

2.7 Access to stores 14

2.8 Improvement actions 15

3. Storage 15

3.1 Overview 15

3.2 Benchmarking 15

3.3 Storage areas 16

3.4 Storage issues: expansion room 16

3.5 Storage issues: water risks 17

3.6 Storage furniture 17

3.7 Enclosures 18

3.8 Storage issues: oversize, tiny, flimsy, realia 19

3.9 Improvement actions 19

4. Housekeeping 19

4.1 Overview 19

4.2 Benchmarking 20

4.3 Housekeeping policies 20

4.4 Cleaning programme 20

4.5 New acquisitions 21

4.6 Pest management 21

4.7 Improvement actions 21

5. Handling and use 21

5.1 Overview 21

5.2 Benchmarking 22

5.3 Handling and moving procedures 22

5.4 Reading Room practice 22

5.5 In-house exhibitions and learning events 23

5.6 Lending and borrowing 24

5.7 Labelling and marking 25

5.8 Improvement actions 25

6. Environmental monitoring and control 25

6.1 Overview 25

6.2 Benchmarking 26

6.3 Temperature and Relative Humidity 26

6.4 Light 27

6.5 Airborne Pollution - Gaseous and Particulate 27

6.6 Vibration 27

6.7 Improvement actions 27

7. Conservation 28

7.1 Conservation overview 28

7.2 Benchmarking 28

7.3 Conservation policies 28

7.4 Improvement actions 29

8. Surrogacy 29

8.1 Overview 29

8.2 Benchmarks 29

8.3 Surrogacy policies 30

8.4 Reprographics policies 30

8.5 Improvement actions 31

9. Emergency preparedness 31

9.1 Overview 31

9.2 Benchmarking 31

9.3 Prevention 32

9.4 Planning and recovery 32

9.5 Emergency planning structure 32

9.6 Service continuity 33

9.7 Improvement actions 33

10. Digital preservation 33

10.1 Overview 33

10.2 Benchmarking 33

10.3 Digital preservation 34

10.4 Improvement actions 34

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Special Collections - Collections Care Policy

0. Introduction

0.1 About this publication

Author: Alison Cullingford.

Version: 1.00

Date: April 2016

Audience: Public document

Copyright: University of Bradford. Readers are welcome to share this document under the terms of our Creative Commons licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Feedback: Special Collections welcomes feedback on our documentation. Please contact us if you have any comments, if you need to view this document in an alternative format, or if you wish to use it in any way not covered by the Creative Commons licence: email .

0.2 Purpose of this publication

This document (our CCP) sets out our strategies and policies for the care of Special Collections at the University of Bradford.

0.3 Publication history

This edition replaces the document of February 2014 and all previous Special Collections preservation policies. It has been revised to incorporate the following:

·  Feedback from the Archive Accreditation panel, June 2014

·  In-house “box by box” audit of packaging, 2015

·  Findings of audit by conservator Jonathan Rhys-Lewis (JRL), October 2015

·  Benchmarks in Collections Care Assessment exercise, February 2016

·  New developments in preservation of digital assets.

To facilitate future benchmarking and other comparisons, we have adopted the structure used in the Benchmarks for this document, with a few minor changes to suit our situation.

0.4 Publication scope

This policy discusses the care of analogue material. It also covers “boutique” digitised or born-digital material and begins to develop policy in managing born-digital resources at scale.

It includes only the unique and distinctive (UD) collections managed by the Special Collections service, not Library or Commonweal stock or any other UD material held elsewhere in the University.

0.5 Review of publication

Annually, as part of our Summer Policy Review. A new edition will be produced when changing technologies, practices and situations render the existing document outdated.

0.6 Definitions

Unique and distinctive materials face many risks to their survival, including water, fire, theft, vandalism, pests, mould, and poor handling. The picture is complicated by the properties of the materials of which collections are made, which individually or in combination with other materials will determine how quickly they deteriorate. Some, such as 1940s newsprint or some audio-visual formats, are chemically unstable and will deteriorate rapidly (known as inherent vice).

Collections care (also known as preservation) is the “range of activities intended to safeguard a collection” from these risks. These activities include “policies, security, storage, cleaning, maintenance, handling, scientific investigation, environmental monitoring and control, exhibitions and loans, conservation, provision of surrogates and emergency planning”[1].

Note that collections care is sometimes called preventive conservation. To avoid confusion, we follow library/archive practice and reserve conservation for “interventive techniques applied to an item to achieve chemical and physical stabilization for the purpose of extending the useful life of the item to ensure its continued availability”.

Surrogacy is the reproduction of fragile original documents in more durable formats to enable them to be used.

0.7 Size and nature of the collections

The analogue Special Collections cover 115 cubic metres.

Most date from the mid 19th century onwards, reflecting the age of the University and of the city of Bradford.

Most are paper, though there are many photographic items.

Most bindings are modern board, though we have some leather and a few vellum.

We have no incunabula or pre-modern manuscripts.

About 5% of our collections are estimated to be unstable (audio-visual media, newsprint, scrapbooks and other fragile papers).

We have 18 cubic metres of material in “oversize” storage, mostly maps and bound newspapers.

We do not have appropriate conditions to store film: it is deposited with the Yorkshire Film Archive.

Our overall digital holdings are around 19 GB, stored on a secure University server, and soon to be migrated to our “Vital” digital library. Most are the results of boutique digitisation of paper/photographic collections, some are born-digital. The following formats dominate: jpg, tiff, pdf, and various Microsoft Office formats. We anticipate collecting more, larger files in the near future as a result of our collection development plans, notably sound and moving images.

This figure does not include digital files on physical storage media throughout the archives. These appear in very limited numbers, and as far as we are aware, the files duplicate existing analogue records. The only exception is a hard drive recently received. We anticipate more of this kind of deposit in future.

0.8 History of collections care at Bradford

When the Special Collections service was founded in 2000, we found evidence of good practice: most materials were on shelves and most archives in boxes of some kind, some conservation work had been carried out, and a Library disaster plan existed. However, this was mostly piecemeal and uninformed by engagement with standards and best practice. There were serious concerns to be addressed, notably uninvigilated access and inappropriate storage. Since then we have transformed all aspects of collections care. We are achieving the highest standards in many areas of practice. However, in some areas we are not reaching these standards. We explain why this is the case and how we intend to improve in the relevant sections.

1. Policy, staffing, resources

1.1 Benchmarking

We are performing well against the benchmarks in this area. The “partly met” benchmarks concern lack of resources to support staff training, conservation advice, and collections care activities.

1.2 Mission statement

Special Collections at the University of Bradford collects, cares for and makes available unique and distinctive (UD) archives, rare books and other heritage material in support of the University’s teaching, research and community engagement. The collections offer a unique selling point for the University and hence are also invaluable in its marketing, fundraising and other management activities.

1.3 Principles

The Special Collections service aims to preserve all material in its care so that it is accessible to current and future users, in its original format, or, when this is not possible, in surrogate form.

We recognise that different items and collections have different requirements for collections care and that there are choices and balances to be achieved.

Priorities for investment in interventive techniques such as conservation and surrogacy will be set in accordance with the collections typology laid out in our Collection Development Policy and will focus on our Heritage Clusters.

1.4 Legislation, standards and guidelines

To ensure we are offering the best possible care, we aim to comply with all relevant legislation, professional standards and guidelines. We list our digital preservation guides here and discuss that issue further under 11.2.

1.4.1 Standards and benchmarks

The National Archives (2014). Archive Accreditation Standard. Especially section 2.4 on Collections Care. Special Collections achieved accredited standard in June 2014.

British Standards Institution (2012). PD5454: Guide for the Storage and Exhibition of Archival Materials.

Collections Trust and British Standards Institution (2009). PAS 197: Code of Practice for Cultural Collections Management.

British Standards Institution (2002). BS 4971: Recommendations for Repair and Allied Processes for the Conservation of Documents.

British Standards Institution (2012). PAS 198: Specification for Managing Environmental Conditions for Cultural Collections.

Collections Trust (2011). Benchmarks in Collections Care. Last benchmarked, February 2016.

1.4.2 Legislation

Intellectual property and data protection legislation are relevant to surrogacy/digitisation and to the outsourcing of conservation work and other activities. We ensure all our practice complies with legislation, following guidance published by the National Archives and other sector leaders.

1.4.3 Guidelines and publications

We are indebted to guidance produced by sector bodies, notably:

·  British Library Preservation Advisory Centre/BL Collections Care

·  Harwell Document Recovery Services

·  Institute of Conservation (ICON)

·  JISC digital media

·  National Archives

·  North East Document Conservation Center

·  OCLC Research

·  Yorkshire Rapid Response Network

Other key titles are:

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (2003) Security in Museums, Archives and Libraries : a practical guide.

Digital Preservation Coalition (2015). Digital Preservation Handbook. Second edition. http://handbook.dpconline.org.

1.5 Policy context

1.5.1 Policy suite

The Collections Care Policy (CCP) is part of our suite of Collections Management policies. As a small service, Special Collections has not adopted the full Collections Management structure outlined in PAS 197. Our Collections Development Policy (CDP) covers much of the content that would go into such a policy. We treat the CDP as our "flagship" policy document, because it relates to the area of work which defines our reason to exist and distinguishes us from other archives. Our other policies, including the CCP, take their approach from the vision laid out in the CDP.

The CCP is integrated with our other policies. The CDP explains how preservation issues influence our collecting activities. For instance, there are certain formats we will not collect because we cannot offer them proper care, such as film. The CCP runs alongside our Access and Collections Information Policies, which work together to enable users to make the most of collections now and into the future. Collections which are unappraised, uncatalogued and unknown are vulnerable and at risk of neglect. Their best protection is that they are valued and understood by stakeholders and communities.

1.5.2 Planning process

The priorities and future directions listed in this document are implemented via our planning process. Collections care is a Strategic Priority in our Forward Plan (SP8), as is the vital issue of space improvements (SP12). Significant collections care projects are managed via the Annual Plan.

1.5.3 Operations

At operational level the Preservation Plan manages concerns about individual items, small projects, and everyday activities. We maintain a Risk Register which is updated continuously and reviewed annually, and an Incident Log, which allows us to see patterns and monitor problems. We have procedures for all the activities discussed in this document.

1.6 Staffing

1.6.1 Overview

We aim to have competent staff with appropriate levels of skills and expertise to enable them to provide an acceptable level of collections care.

Every aspect of the work of Special Collections is informed by the need for the highest possible standard of collections care. Staff are trained in safe handling of UD materials and encouraged to develop their knowledge by attending training courses, sharing experience, and self-directed learning. Volunteers in Special Collections are expected to have an appropriate level of understanding of collections care, and to engage with training which is continuously reinforced in practice.

1.6.2 Specific responsibilities and roles

Responsibility for policy and decision-making in collections care is delegated to the Special Collections Librarian, reporting to the Head of Library Services. This is a professional role, in which the post-holder is expected to have expertise in collections care and to remain in touch with developments in the sector.

The Special Collections Assistant is responsible for day to day collections care, and carries out operational tasks including leak management, cleaning, and repackaging. Sensitivity to the nature of collections, handling etc. is essential.

Our project archivists must have appropriate knowledge of and experience in collections care. Their work includes recording condition, packaging, and dealing with conservation priorities. They also play a part in everyday collections care activities, such as room monitoring and invigilating in the Reading Room.

The graduate trainee (Library staff member), placement students, and student volunteers also take on appropriate collections care activities, depending on the availability of staff to train and supervise them. For example, the Mitrinović Archive project enabled several students to gain experience in cleaning documents, thanks to support given to them by the project archivist.