The Jackson Library collection has holdings numbering over two million, including books, reference materials, periodicals, journals, documents and special collections. These materials receive much use throughout the year, and as a result require physical maintenance.
Audrey Sage and Stefani Hobbick are the bookbinders in charge of maintaining the Jackson Library collection. They must make decisions regarding the best possible repair for each specific book. The basic goal of the Preservation Services division is the maintenance, preservation, and conservation of library materials so they will be readily available for the current library community and for patrons of the library in coming years.
Repairs and conservation techniques can range from simply mending torn pages, tipping in loose pages or errata, replacing worn out spine cloth to completely taking a book apart, resewing or readhesive binding the book and constructing a new cover. These measures help to preserve a book as part of the collection, allowing it to be used by many more people for many years to come, instead of having it discarded when its outward physical structure renders it too fragile for continued use. A phase or conservation box is constructed for severely damaged books or those with brittle paper which must remain in the collection and cannot be replaced or adequately repaired.
Preservation Services employs a couple of student assistants and with their help, we are able to repair or rebind thousands of books each year.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask by stopping by our facility in the Jackson Library, room 61 or sending e-mail to us, Stefani or Audrey.
Preservation Services houses one of the oldest doughnuts known to us. To "see" the Doughnut, click on this.
