So, our old HEPA filter vacuum broke yesterday, right in the middle of a mold-remediation project I was working on! BUT! I just found out today that the library is going to buy us a new Nilfisk vacuum for the conservation lab! Nilfisk vacuums are like the Rolls Royces of conservation vacuuming. I’m 100% sincere […]
Shannon Zachary, Super Conservator! 🙂 I get asked if I’m an archivist about 2x a year, on average.
Sometimes being a book conservator means you have to do a little dental work on Dracula’s fangs. This is a pop-up book that’s going into an upcoming exhibit in our library – unfortunately, one side of Dracula’s teeth had become detached and pushed back into his mouth. Using tweezers, I carefully unfolded his teeth, and […]
This was a book that was damaged by a dog, and “fixed” with packing tape by a patron. And this is also why the staff at the library will often stress that patrons should not attempt their own repairs of library books. The “repair” often does more damage than helps, and won’t actually save you from […]
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpp12fPvkHA) This is an excellent video that shows the damage a ‘quick and easy’ amateur repair can cause to a book. I’ve seen multiple examples of both of these types of “quick fixes” on books in my library. Not only do they fail to actually repair the book in an effective and long-lasting way, they cause […]
Sure! The most recent compensation survey that the American Institute for Conservation has is from 2014. You can access the PDF here. It’s posted on this page of AIC surveys, which also includes links to surveys about continuing education for conservators, the use of social media by conservators, and others. There’s a lot of factors […]
“Please fix this bad fix” is a surprisingly large percentage of my job. This book was sent to me because someone had replaced one of the pages with a photocopy (actually TWO photocopies glued together to make a two-sided copy) by taping it to the adjacent original pages in the book. Sigh.
Some before and after photos of a recent mold remediation treatment I’ve been working on. It’s a collection of more than a hundred architectural drawings, paintings, and photographic reproductions that were damaged by mold prior to their acquisition by the library. Fortunately, most of the mold damage is on the edges of the supports or […]
Sometimes my job as a conservator involves encapsulating the flowers that were sent in a 19th century envelope addressed to the 19th century novelist and poet George Meredith. Polyester encapsulation is not the same as lamination; the inert polyester plastic is never directly adhered to any of the items within, only the edges are sealed […]
Repeat after me: Conservators save paper. Conservationists save trees. Every time a journalist or press release gets this wrong, it makes me want to scream. Please, help spread the right word about what conservators do!