Preservation, as it applies to library and archive material, can be defined
as: "all managerial and financial considerations including storage and
accommodation, provision, staffing levels, policies, techniques and methods
involved in preserving library and archive materials and the information
contained therein."1
As an institution committed to building collections for the use of students,
faculty, scholars, and the public long into the future, the University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign is obligated to ensure long-term access to those
materials and their intellectual content. With an estimated replacement value in
excess of $1.5 billion, the Library's collections represent a significant
investment - one that can hardly be reconstructed. The university must care
for this investment or risk losing access to significant portions of it. To this
end, the Library develops relevant preservation and conservation policies that
will address institutional concerns.
As a research institution, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's
Library selects most of its materials on the basis of their permanent value to
the individual collections, the scholars and students who use them, and the
institution as a whole. Subject specialists are responsible for developing and
maintaining collections that will meet the needs of users and the institution
long into the future. Consequently, preservation activities are best undertaken
by the subject specialists in consultation with their peers, the Preservation
and Conservation Offices, and other members of the academic community when
necessary.
Through such consultation, the Preservation and Conservation Offices help
subject specialists choose the most appropriate treatments for their materials.
Using available options, the Preservation and Conservation Offices work to
preserve physical and intellectual access through careful consideration of an
item's value to both the institution and the larger research community.
Through cooperative collection management and evaluation of institutional
workflow, the Preservation and Conservation Offices also work with other units
within the Library as they select, process, and make accessible new acquisitions
in the most timely manner possible.
1Mirjam M. Foot, "Building Blocks for a Preservation Policy."
(London: The National Preservation Office, 2001): 1.
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