Click on the image to take a virtual tour of the Conservation Lab!

Located on the second floor of the Oak Street Library Facility, the Conservation Unit performs a variety of repairs on both circulating and special collections. Ranging from collections conservation (book repair) to specialized item-level treatments, the Conservation Unit performs mending paper tears, guarding and sewing, leather treatments, cloth and leather case reconstruction, surface cleaning, deacidification, and encapsulation. Additionally, conservation personnel construct high quality protective enclosures, such as portfolios and clamshell boxes, and recover wet and moldy materials.

Book Repair

We perform a variety of treatments on circulating materials, including:

• Repairing books, mending paper, inserting loose pages, cutting un-opened monographs
• Constructing protective enclosures such as clamshells, phase boxes, and portfolios

To determine whether an item should be sent for repair, please see here.

To route materials to conservation, please complete a green streamer and give the item to Shipping. Moldy or severely damaged items are best handled by hand-carrying them either to 44 Main Library or the Conservation Unit in the Oak Street Library Facility.

In order to reference the old book repair and pamphlet binding website, please click here.

Conservation
Conservation personnel complete treatments for books and other paper-based materials that have artifactual value or are rare or otherwise valuable. Conservation treatment differs from book repair (repairs for circulating collections) in that the methods and materials for repairs must be reversible and non-damaging to the artifact as well as follow the professional code of ethics as stipulated by the American Institute of Conservation. Although book repair follows many of the same guidelines as conservation, the repairs are not easily reversible and are primarily meant to be inexpensive and durable. Conservation treatments predominantly performed on materials from the Rare Books and Special Collections, the University Archives, and other library units that have special collection materials.

For contact information, please see here.