ARL Preservation Statistics
Levels of Treatment
While any given volume may receive several conservation treatments, it should be recorded only once, in the category representing the highest level of sophistication. For example, when an errata sheet is tipped in, it should be recorded only once as a "level 1 treatment". Treatment of the pages of a volume or pamphlet should not be recorded under "unbound sheets", even if the volume is disbound at the time the pages are treated. Rather, treatment of the volume should be recorded once, in response to level 1-3 treatment, whichever is appropriate. When a volume receives conservation treatment and a box is made for it, however, the conservation treatment should be recorded in response to question level 1-3 treatment, and the boxing should be recorded in response to protective enclosure.
Conservation encompasses a wide range of treatments, including binding pamphlets and paperbacks in-house, temporary serials binding, tipping-in errata sheets and other inserts, making pockets for loose parts such as maps and charts, slitting uncut pages, making page repairs, removing tapes and stains from pages, repairing text blocks (either before, or instead of sending them out for commercial binding), tightening hinges, replacing endpapers, rebacking, recasing, and rebinding. Treatments range from minor procedures that can be done relatively quickly by technicians to major procedures that may require the skill and judgement of a conservator. Conservation may also include item-by-item remedial treatment (not mass treatment) or individual items damaged by water, fire, and mold.
Return to ARL Conservation Treatment.
Unbound sheets include items such as manuscripts, maps, posters, and works of art on paper. Procedures include a variety of remedial mechanical and chemical treatments (e.g., surface cleaning, washing, deacidifying, encapsulating, mounting, matting) that lengthen the life of the item. Include paper repairs that are made using methods and materials that are archivally sound and appropriate for the item being mended. Report the total number of sheets of paper that were treated, and not the total number of treatments performed.
Non-paper items include such materials as films, magnetic tapes, globes, and artifacts. Treatment of photographic materials is also reported here. Treatments might include cleaning, splicing, reformatting (e.g., from film to video tape), remounting slides in permanent mounts and duplicating for preservation purposes. The microfilming of photographs, however, should be recorded as reformatting.
"Custom-fitted enclosures" can be distinguished from the prefabricated boxes and other enclosures recorded in Supplies/ Equipment, in that the former are custom-made for the item that they are meant to protect, and the latter are standard-size enclosures available from supply catalogs. Custom-fitted enclosures include paper and polyester book jackets, paper and board wrappers, portfolios, phase boxes, double-tray boxes, and other boxes. (Polyester encapsulation of single sheets should not be reported here, but rather, under conservation of unbound sheets.) Use of archival quality methods and materials is implicit.
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Return to UCSD Preservation Guidelines.