In celebration of Ask a Conservator Day, Princeton University Library (PUL) Book Conservator Maren Rozumalski answered questions about her background and responsibilities at the Library, and gave advice for those looking to pursue a similar career path.

How did you get started in Conservation work?

I actually didn’t know anything about conservation until after I graduated from college. I was researching library science programs, thinking I wanted to work with rare books and special collections, when I stumbled across an interview with a book conservator.  Once I decided I wanted to pursue conservation, I spent the next year or so taking classes to strengthen my grad school application. I was accepted to a conservation program in the U.K. where I lived for two and a half years while earning my Masters in Book and Library Materials. 

What is your area of specialization or expertise?

I specialize in book conservation, so I predominantly work on bound items within PUL. The materials I work on the most are paper, parchment, leather, and book cloth, but anything within the Library’s collections can be sent to us for assessment and treatment.

One of my favorite aspects of working with such a varied collection is the different book structures there are to work on and learn about. Different time periods and geographical locations bound their books differently, and, as a book conservator, it’s important to understand how a book was originally put together to know how best to repair it.

What kind of challenges do you face in your work? And can you speak to any creative solutions you’ve come up with?

One of the biggest challenges in book conservation is that there isn’t really a “right” way to fix something. You could show each of us in the lab the same book with a detached cover and, chances are, we’d all have a different method we prefer using to reattach it. Each method has its pros and cons that we need to consider. Which is fine as long as the cover functions when we’re finished. But that also means treatment decisions are rarely straightforward.

Do you have a favorite item you’ve worked on for PUL?

I’ve really enjoyed working on items from the East Asian Library. I hadn’t had the opportunity to work on non-Western collections before starting at Princeton, so learning about new-to-me book structures has been fun and interesting.

What advice do you have to someone interested in pursuing this career?

Think about your ideal working environment (institutions like university libraries or museums, regional conservation centers, private practice, etc.) and collect as many job postings as you can find to see what requirements they have for education and previous experience. Then look for conservation programs that match with your career goals. There are multiple routes into the profession, but they won’t all necessarily get you to the same place.