VI. Site Visit Results: Summaries
Appendix B contains the interview protocol used during the 20 site visits. Responses to each of the questions asked during the interviews have been reviewed and distilled to the following summaries.
Questions and Summaries
1. What is your role in preservation here?
Many job titles fall under the rubric of "preservation." Some
role descriptions emphasize activities; others focus on objectives.
Some staff members involved in binding and other functions considered
basic to preservation by many in the broader preservation field do
not identify themselves as working in the preservation area.
2. Preservation priorities
a. What are the current priorities, in terms of collections and
user groups, for preservation resources?
b. Do you foresee the emphasis shifting over the next five years?
In what directions?
Library staff members strongly agree that general collections come
first, with service to students as an additional major concern. Future
concerns include digital matters, although this change may be an
add-on rather than a shift in priorities.
3. Contemplating changes in resources
a. If resources currently directed toward preservation were to
increase by 30 percent tomorrow, where would you put the additional
resources? Why?
b. If resources now used for preservation were to decrease by 30
percent tomorrow, where would you apply the cuts? Why?
Increases in funding would be directed first to staff and next to
structures. Collection care would rank third. Cuts in funding would
affect binding most radically; staff and collection treatments ranked
second and third, respectively. Funding is already short, and cuts
would be devastating to most preservation programs.
4. Training of staff
a. If staff throughout the library receive preservation training,
how is that done? Who are trained?
b. If not, what kinds of staff training would be most beneficial?
c. What aspects of your own training have proved particularly valuable
on the job from a preservation perspective? What skills would you
like to acquire?
d. Do you see a role for regional or national organizations in assisting
with your training activities or that of other staff in your library?
Most libraries report that they train staff. Programs range from
structured situations to ad hoc instruction. Interviewees expressed
a strong preference for hands-on experiences. They particularly value
their own training in treatment methods, although other aspects of
preservation were mentioned. Their training has taken place largely
in workshops, short courses, and private study.
5. User education
a. Does your library conduct user education in the care and handling
of materials?
b. If so, what is the focus of this training?
c. Has this training helped?
d. How might national or regional organizations assist you with user
training?
Very few libraries conduct formal user education programs, although
many make use of one-to-one encounters when problems occur. Problems
most often have to do with bringing food and drink into the library,
photocopying, and treatment of materials. Staff members are skeptical
about the utility of user education efforts.
6. Information sources about preservation
a. Do you think there is a need for additional information about
preservation beyond what is currently available?
b. In what forms should it be delivered?
Preservation information exists in abundance, but gaining access
to the right kind of information at the moment of need can be difficult.
Available information should be repackaged for specific needs, audiences,
and objectives. Preferred formats begin with electronic communication
but also include also workshop demonstrations, print materials, and
conventional audiovisual modes.
7. Cooperative ventures in preservation
a. Is your library engaged in any cooperative activities that
have had an effect on preservation?
b. Which cooperative ventures have had the largest effect on your
preservation work here?
c. What kinds of cooperative projects or organizations should exist
to help you with preservation work here?
The record on cooperative activities is mixed. Specific activities
that were suggested were highly varied. Some people are frankly skeptical
about cooperative activities; the high level of cooperative activity
that marked past decades seems to have waned. The "wish list" for
cooperative activities is diverse. There is at least tempered interest
in sharing skills and experience.
8. Best practices and standards
a. Have you identified best practices or standards that have proved
helpful to you in preservation activities here?
b. Have any generally recognized best practices or standards been
adopted in policy statements here?
Although they may not think of them as "best practices and standards," many
interviewees report, albeit tentatively, that they have adopted solutions
that are generally approved in the preservation field. Practitioners
seem to think more in terms of specific procedures than of conceptual
approaches in this area. Policy documents rarely include references
to best practices or standards.
9. Collection preservation issues
a. If you have conducted any preservation surveys of your collections,
please describe them.
b. What are the most serious challenges or concerns for you now in
terms of preservation collections?
Asked about major challenges relating to collection preservation,
interviewees had ready responses: digital concerns, space/buildings,
basic collection management issues, time, staff conscious-raising,
non-print materials, and training of selectors. Large-scale, formal
surveys are rare these days, but surveys are occasionally undertaken
to examine a particular area or problem.
10. Suppliers of materials and services
a. If you purchase preservation supplies or services, are you
satisfied with the suppliers that now exist?
b. What materials, supplies, and services would you like to see developed
or improved?
Interviewees are quite satisfied with their suppliers and supplies,
especially with binding services and materials. Nonetheless, interviewees
readily named improvements that they would like to see. For example,
materials are not always archivally sound, although they are advertised
as such. Many expressed concern about the cost of supplies.
11. Policies
a. In what areas have you developed policies that affect preservation?
b. Can you describe your experience in implementing these policies?
c. How might outside organizations assist you in improving the implementation
of locally defined policies?
Although most libraries in the sample have de facto policies affecting
preservation, they may not have a written record of them. The list
of areas with "agreements," if not formal policies, is
long. Implementation of these "policies" or "agreements" has
generally gone smoothly.
12. The common needs of special collections, archives, and manuscript
collections
a. What are the preservation needs in this library for special
collections (broadly defined)?
b. Do you foresee a shift in the preservation needs of such collections
over the next five years? (In what directions?)
Special collections needs center on environmental/building concerns,
non-print materials, and staffing. ARL and ULG libraries anticipate
expansion in the digital realm, although this development will represent
an expansion of activity, not a shift from the essential focus of
special collections on original materials. All libraries anticipate
funding needs.
13. Digital technology
a. Do you consider the preservation of digital information to
be a significant concern at your institution?
b. How does the existence of digital technology affect your preservation
activity?
c. For unique, local information, how are you approaching preservation?
Frustrations? Ideas?
d. What kind of external help would you find helpful?
Concern about digital technology is high in ARL and ULG libraries,
and is developing rapidly in LG and OG libraries. The definition
of pertinent digital technologies, however, varies considerably from
one institution to another, making the extent of development difficult
to determine from interview data. In general, libraries consulted
here are not yet very active in this area, beyond routine maintenance
of basic digital subscriptions and other services provided from the
outside. Projects do exist to transfer locally held information to
digital form (e.g., scanning), but frequently these are unique initiatives
that are unrelated to an overall strategy. Lack of funds, service
organizations, and standards are holding back progress in this area.
The tone of responses indicated cautious enthusiasm.
14. Space
a. Is shortage of space a current preservation concern to you?
Is it a concern to any other segments of the staff?
b. Will space be a problem, in terms of preservation, within five
years?
c. If so, how is your library planning to address these concerns?
d. Is there a role for regional or national organizations in assisting
you with this problem?
Shortage of space is a serious concern for all libraries. It is more
acute for ARL and ULG libraries than for LG and OG libraries. Space
problems are intimately bound up with funding issues. Most libraries
anticipate that space will be a concern five years hence. Many libraries
are turning to remote storage, with its many variations, as a solution.
Some interviewees believe that digitization will offer some relief.
15. How do you think preservation is regarded in your library?
a. Has this exercise engendered significant discussion or action
thus far?
Staff members who are conscious of preservation generally hold it
in high regard. Many staff members, however, are not particularly
conscious of preservation. Among the reasons for this lack of awareness
are speculation that preservation is so pervasive that it has become
invisible and a feeling that staff members are simply not oriented
toward it. Administrators are more likely to describe preservation
as essential than are staff members on the front lines. This exercise
raised awareness of preservation among those directly involved in
the study and, in some cases, others in the libraries.
Other Topics
The following additional topics related to preservation emerged from the data as important to interviewees.
Environmental concerns
Heating and air conditioning
Staff members frequently expressed concern about local environmental
controls and worried that future cuts in funding could reverse
recent progress. Relationships with physical plant staff members
are seen as critical to achieving appropriate conditions. The awareness
of environmental concerns often arises in reaction to an accident
or incident. Interviewees believe that environmental controls are
fundamental to preserving collections.
Food and drink
Formerly forbidden in most libraries, beverages and even food are
commonly allowed in at least some portions of library buildings.
This is a vexing preservation problem with complex public relations
implications. Enforcement is difficult. Some libraries try to educate
readers in the least harmful approaches to satisfying their desires
for food and drink and upholding their responsibilities to the
library collections.
Care and handling of library materials
Seen as one of the most basic and effective preservation tools, proper
techniques for care and handling enjoy universal support from library
staff members. Training in these techniques is common for almost
all staff members. The point of circulation is viewed as critical
for proper care and handling, but there is less consensus—and
little hard evidence—on what constitutes the best techniques
from a preservation perspective. Care and handling are most important
at the point of circulation.
Treatments
Staff members seemed preoccupied with particular treatment procedures and areas of activity. Prominent among these are binding and microfilming. Interviewees seemed comfortable with the topic of treatments and often lingered there, at the expense of the more conceptual topics of the study. Needs in this area are highly specific, front-line staff see them as critical to the preservation effort.
Outside agencies
Interviewees frequently mentioned interacting with outside agencies that have preservation programs and activities. The list of such agencies is long. The kind of help that is wanted from outside agencies begins with money; it also includes information, standards, disaster assistance, repositories, and more. Staff members welcome visitors who can tell them what is happening in the field. They also welcome training institutions; there is particular need for materials addressing basic issues in appropriate language and modes of presentation.