Mission Statements
Princeton University Library
The mission of the Princeton University Library is to support both the research and teaching missions of the University. It acquires, catalogs and houses unique collections which provide undergraduates with a wide variety of recorded knowledge for individual study, original investigation, and personal interpretation and which support the research and scholarly needs of the faculty and graduate students. The Library anticipates as well the collections, research tools, services, and facilities which future generations will require and preserves its invaluable and increasingly fragile inheritance of printed materials and other resources for their use.
The Princeton University Library, one of the world’s most distinguished research libraries, consists of the Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library and 15 special libraries. Its holdings include more than 6.5 million books, 6 million microforms, 36,000 linear feet of manuscripts, and smaller but distinguished holdings of rare books, prints, archives, and other material that require special handling. The library’s extensive electronic resources include databases and journals, statistical packages, images, and digital maps. The budget for 2006–07 was approximately $42 million, which included more than $17 million for acquisitions.
Preservation Office
The primary mission of the Preservation Office (PO) is the physical treatment and well being of the Library's print and non-print culture collections. The PO directly supports and is committed to the Library's mission by ensuring uninterrupted access to the research collections, now and into the future. In support of its mission, the Preservation Office is charged with the following responsibilities: physical treatment; collection reformatting; outreach and training; staff and user education; disaster planning; environmental monitoring; staff development; project support; coordination with other Library units on activities relating to the preservation and physical protection of collections; and shared responsibility for collection digitization.
Physical Treatment of the General Collections
Many damaged and deteriorated items from the Library's general collections are routinely repaired so that they are fully usable again. Materials beyond repair are selected for other appropriate treatment or protection so that the information they contain remains accessible. General collections conservation staff are responsible for this work. Its main activities include: reviewing and diagnosing damaged and deteriorated materials from the Library's general collections; identifying options by which to preserve, conserve, repair, protect or reformat them; and following through with appropriate courses of action in a timely manner. It takes into account issues of current condition and format, bibliographical importance, and extent and type of use. All treatments are performed to the highest standards of workmanship using archival-quality materials and employing conservationally sound principles and techniques. This task also involves developing collections-based projects with the Library's bibliographers, selectors and collection managers that are safe and appropriate for specific materials.
Physical Treatment of Rare Books and Special Collections
Rare books and special collections in deteriorating condition challenge conservation staff in that it must remain, as much as possible, usable now and into the future for those needing to use this material in its original format. All conservation and preservation options proposed by staff take into account current condition and format, artifactual value, intellectual and bibliographical importance, extent and type of use, cost of the recommended treatment/option, and the ethics involved in treatment choices. Treatments are performed to the highest standards of workmanship using archival-quality materials and employing conservationally sound principles and techniques. This task also involves developing and maintaining collection housing and storage specifications, systems and conditions that are safe and appropriate for a variety of materials and collections. In addition, all treatments are documented accordingly with paper or electronic records as well as photographs and/or digital images.
Collection Reformatting
Reformatting is an important component of preservation activities. At present this activity includes preservation photocopying, microfilming and digitization. Microfilming and digitization of library material allows access to information without the user having to handle the original object, thereby preserving it. Preservation photocopying provides the user with an acid-free paper surrogate copy of an unusable original with acidic and brittle paper. In nearly all cases candidates for microfilming and digital reformatting are from the Library's special collections. All candidates for preservation photocopying come from the general collections.
Staff and User Education; Outreach and Training.
The preservation of the Library's research collections is the responsibility of each person that handles and uses them. The Preservation Office provides several means through which Library staff and users, the University community, and the public are made aware of and informed about this responsibility and our commitment to preserving the collections. These means include: information sheets about the proper handling and use of the books; conservation lab tours for Library staff, University affiliated groups, and other visitors; the Preservation Office website; and other awareness-raising events, including fundraising, cooperative projects with the University's Development Office, and participation in Friends of the Princeton University Library events.
Disaster Planning.
From roof and ceiling leaks to flooded floors, the Preservation Office staff is prepared for and responds to minor and major water emergencies striking any of the library system's facilities. Planning, preparation, response, and recovery are the components of an effective disaster prevention program. For example, at each library branch an Emergency Response Kit is available for staff to respond immediately to water emergencies until the arrival of Preservation staff. Advice is also provided to the University and local community regarding personal collections that have been environmentally damaged. PO staff are members of the committee that writes and maintains the Library's emergency action and disaster response plan.
Environmental Monitoring.
The single most effective preservation tool in the library is the control and monitoring of the physical environments in which all Library's collections are housed. The Preservation Office works in association with building maintenance and University physical plant staffs to monitor temperature, relative humidity, light and air quality levels in several library facilities. In addition, electronic devices are placed throughout the library system that monitor and record local environmental conditions.
Staff Development.
The single most important resource in the Preservation Office is its staff. Whenever possible these staff are supported in developing their knowledge and skills in preservation issues and conservation treatments.
Project Support.
Preservation staff is called upon to work on various projects throughout the library system. For example: collections-based conservation for general collections materials; environmental recommendations for renovated and new libraries; shelving and offsite storage options for oversize and low use materials. Preservation staff also responds to faculty and staff requests for the digitization of the Library's special collections for research and teaching purposes.
Coordination with Other Library Units.
Some programmatic preservation activities at Princeton are decentralized. Brittle books searching is done by Collection Development Department staff. Commercial library binding, shelf preparation (labeling and plating), and stacks maintenance are the purview of various staffs in the Technical Services Department. Repair and encapsulation of maps is carried out by staff in the Geosciences and Map Library. Nonetheless, Preservation Office staff work with these other library units on all collection preservation matters.
Collection Digitization.
At present Preservation Office staff is responsible for programmatic collection digitization, the purpose of which is to make available and share Princeton University Library's unique resources. Information about and access to these collections is available at our Digital Collections site: http://diglib1.princeton.edu/.
Robert J. Milevski, Preservation Librarian
