1993/94 Annual Report
University of California Preservation Program
Accomplishments
- 429,621 pages (4,220 volumes) of deteriorated library materials were preserved and made serviceable through a combination of original microfilming, photocopying, purchase of commercial reprints and microforms, and conservation treatment.
- UCPP emphases were placed on enhancing value of UC binding services to UC libraries and on participation in the development of digital preservation projects.
- A California library and archive preservation planning process was developed and implemented by members of the UCPP working under the aegis of the California Networking Task Force. The process and resulting documents, when completed, will provide justification for allocation of LSCA resources to preservation programming and documentation for preparation of a bill and funding proposal for the California legislature.
Program Activities
1. Environmental Monitoring and Disaster Response.
UC San Diego nearly completed a pilot project using electronic environmental monitoring and data gathering devices, and computer software to interpret the data. This equipment will replace, as need occurs, much less accurate equipment currently in use as well as replace manual compilation of environmental data.
Supplies adequate to salvage 100,000 wet volumes remain stockpiled at the Northern and Southern Regional Library Facilities and are available to any campus in need of them.
2. Education and Training.
The UCPP Director attended a week-long seminar on digital imaging technology and presented a half-day seminar to report the information at the Operations Ctte Fall meeting. Operations Ctte. Members expressed interest in receiving more training in digital imaging technology as opportunities become available or could be developed within UC. Opportunities for developing a short digital imaging training project conjoined with the development of digital preservation projects (see below) are attractive and will be pursued.
With the completion NEH-sponsored UC conservation technician training last year, UCB on behalf of the UCPP applied for NEH funding to train conservation technicians from other institutions in California and Hawaii. Additionally, the UCPP took a leadership role to assist other institutions (U Washington, U Utah, and Emory U) design regional conservation training programs and prepare NEH applications on the same model as that used for California. All NEH proposals received funding in May 94 and will be implemented in FY 95-96.
3.Bibliographic Control of Master Negatives
On behalf of the UCPP, Ann Swartzell documented Berkeley procedures for storage of master negatives in SRLF and printing masters in NRLF to serve as a possible model for UC wide application. Southern campuses continue to be unable to store master negatives in SRLF due to problems with the ORION bibliographic record structure.
Beginning this year, a decision was taken by Library Council not to allocate funding to microfilming on campuses that are not conforming to national standards for cataloging master negatives. The Operations Ctte will review progress with implementation of this decision in the next fiscal year.
Problems with access to service copies from preservation master microfilms led to the UCPP Director to research the problem and prepare a proposal to the Commission on Preservation and Access for a project to determine the scope and extent of the problem, theretofore supported only with anecdotal evidence. The proposal was submitted in November 93, discussed and much supported at the NEH project managers meeting in December 93, and left in the hands of the CPA for further action.
4. Library Binding Services.
The major work of this program component was implementation of a review of products, services, and prices of the UC binderies relative to commercially available options. Site visits were made to two major libraries in California that use commercial binding services to get accurate comparisons to UC services. The report to Library Council, dated 29 October 93, compiled comparable cost data and concluded 1) that UC binding service prices are competitive with commercial binderies and that overall binding costs may be less than comparable commercial alternatives; 2) that UC libraries should seize existing and new opportunities to reduce binding charges (outlined in a follow up memo to Library Council dated 13 December 93); and 3) that a formal review should be conducted every 3-5 years to ensure competitiveness.
The Library Council plans to follow up the report with a contract to outside consultants to conduct an investigation of the UC binderies as UC entities, to include 1) their value to UC; 2) optimum organization to meet UC needs; and 3) alternate organizational models to increase efficiencies. The investigation is scheduled for next fiscal year.
A new binding style was developed in response to the need for a low cost binding that could be used for infrequently used serial titles in particular. The Limited Circulation binding, or LC bind, has been increasingly selected by most campuses as a means to reduce binding costs because its cost, depending on add-on features, is about one third less than full buckram. Utilization on some campuses has exceeded 50% of all serial binding. The LC bind was made possible in part by the receipt of the repeatedly delayed Ultrabinders in July-Sept 93.
Current library binding technology relies heavily on adhesives to ensure long-term performance of bindings; the introduction of the Ultrabinder machines has led to an even heavier dependence on adhesives. Improper adhesives can dramatically shorten the use life of bindings, resulting in loss of parts of the text as well as high rebinding costs. To ensure that the proper adhesives are used by UC binderies, the UCPP Director participated in a study to review binding adhesives currently in use in library binderies to determine how long they can be expected to last. The outcome of the study was that too little is known to successfully predict long-term performance of adhesives and that aging tests for adhesives are needed. Following recognition of this research need by the Commission on Preservation and Access, the Library of Congress agreed to pursue development of a testing methodology for accelerated aging of library binding adhesives. The UCPP Director is working with the LC Research and Testing Office to design and implement an accelerated aging study to provide the needed research information.
5. Preservation Technologies Review.
The UCPP investigated in detail possible participation in deacidification trial runs being conducted by Akzo Chemicals Inc. using the DEZ process developed by LC, and decided instead to monitor progress of tests being run by several participating institutions rather than duplicate them. Since then, Akzo has discontinued its deacidification services and LC looked elsewhere for a partner to continue development of deacidification services for their collections. The Bookkeeper mass deacidification process was selected; progress of those trials is being closely monitored by the UCPP with the expectation of the publication of an independent report on the process in late 94.
The UCPP identified participation in digital preservation projects as a high priority for the Program and has participated in the development of two projects in progress:
a) Digital Photocopy Project. The UCPP Director and staff from the UCB Library, DLA, UC Printing and UC binderies have been working to identify equipment and procedures to enable digital imaging to succeed light lens photocopying. Requirements for a scanning and printing system were established by running comparisons of test images scanned and printed by several systems. An RFI was sent out by DLA with only one response worth following up: Xerox and the XDOD system with Docutech printing. The UC Printing Department will be purchasing an XDOD to supplement the production capacity of the scanner on the Docutech already owned by UC Printing, so we will plan to get some production experience on the XDOD, cost estimates, and sort out how DLA should handle the resulting digital files.
b) California Heritage Project. In response to UC wide interest in participating in a digital imaging project, UCB prepared the California Heritage Project proposal, submitted to NEH in June 94. Based on the document navigation architecture developed in the Berkeley Finding Aids Project, the Cal Heritage project proposes to digitize images of archives collection materials to be linked electronically to online finding aids. The UCPP Directors involvement in the project was to evaluate imaging alternatives, outline a production plan, and prepare a budget for the imaging component of the proposal. Further, since this presents a good opportunity for multicampus involvement and informal training, several campuses have signed up: Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. If funding is received, implementation is scheduled to begin in January 95.
6. Preservation Replacement.
As has been true throughout the nine years of the UCPP, the majority of UCPP funds have been allocated to the campuses and used largely to microfilm, photocopy, or purchase commercial reprints or microforms to replace materials in the collections that were not in serviceable condition. Nearly half a million pages of materials were replaced with preservation copies at a total cost of $124,609.
Production (all campuses):
| type | # titles | # vols. | #pages | $ cost |
| commercial reprint | 6 | 6 | 2,700 | 112 |
| commercial microform | 6 | 320 | 66,385 | 22,168 |
| photocopy | 223 | 358 | 124,700 | 45,719 |
| microfilming | 257 | 561 | 225,836 | 49,880 |
| conservation | 3,502 | 6,345 pcs. | 25,571 | |
| other (audio) | 226 | 7,730 | ||
| Total | 4,220 | 7,590 | 419,621 | 151,180 |
7. Preservation Steering and Operations Committees.
The Library Council approved implementation of three changes to the UC Preservation Program beginning in July 95: 1) Shift the reporting line for the UCPP from the Steering Ctte to UC CDC, and disband the Steering Ctte; 2) reduce the appropriation for the UCPP Administrative Assistant from 10% to 5% and have Operations Ctte. members take minutes of their meetings; and 3) refer to UC CDC the responsibility to determine if or how to allocate UCPP funds to participation in the California Heritage and other digital imaging projects.
The Operations Committee met twice, in September and March.
The membership of the Operations Committee in FY 94: Robert Alan (UCD), Christopher Coleman (UCLA), Sheryl Davis (UCR), Lynn Jones (UCB), Eric MacDonald (UCI), Rosemary Meszaros (UCSB), Karen Mokrzycki (UCSC), Barclay Ogden (UCB – Chair), Cameron Folsom Olen (UCB – as Admin. Asst., UCPP), Julie Page (UCSD), Ann Swartzell (UCB – as LAUC Representative), and Paul Wakeford (UCSF).
The membership of the Steering Committee in FY 94: Dorothy Gregor (UCB – Chair), Marilyn Sharrow (UCD), Dennis Smith (UCOP), Jim Thompson (UCR), and Barclay Ogden (UCB – as Director, UCPP).
8. UC Preservation Program Financial Statement, FY 1993-94
| Component | Budget Request | Alloc. | Exp./Liens | Balance |
| 1. Lib Binding | ||||
| Staffing | 6,534 | 5,943 | 6,338 | (395) |
| Travel | 600 | 546 | 610 | (64) |
| 2. Press. Tech | ||||
| Staffing | 6,534 | 5,943 | 6,338 | (395) |
| Travel | 1,600 | 1,455 | 0 | 1,455 |
| 3. Bib. Control | ||||
| Staffing | 3,267 | 2,972 | 3,169 | (197) |
| 4. Prog. Mgmt. | ||||
| Staffing | 6,314 | 5,743 | 6,125 | (382) |
| Phone/Copy/Post. | 1,000 | 910 | 932 | (22) |
| 5. Pres. Replacement and Conservation Treatment | ||||
| Production | ||||
| Berkeley | 53,651 | 48,801 | 48,801 | 0 |
| Davis | 10,000 | 9,096 | 9,096 | 0 |
| Irvine | 10,000 | 9,096 | 9,096 | 0 |
| Los Angeles | 49,085 | 44,648 | 44,648 | 0 |
| Riverside | 11,415 | 10,314 | 10,314 | 0 |
| San Diego | 10,000 | 9,096 | 9,096 | 0 |
| San Francisco | 10,000 | 9,096 | 9,096 | 0 |
| Santa Barbara | 10,000 | 9,096 | 9,096 | 0 |
| Santa Cruz | 10,000 | 9,096 | 9,096 | 0 |
| Total | 200,000 | 181,920 | 181,920 | 0 |
Respectfully submitted,
Barclay W. Ogden
Director, UC Preservation Program
23 March 95
Last reviewed: March 4, 2004