Professional Development

On May 20th, a beautiful North Carolina afternoon, Ellen Daugman, Kaeley McMahan and Craig Fansler traveled to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library to present posters in the LAUNCH-CH Research Forum. The Forum is made up of 2 hour-long poster sessions sandwiched around a paper presentation by three presenters. The poster sessions were arranged along a corridor in the library, where presenters arranged their posters, computers and handouts on tables and easels. An electronic version of each of our posters is viewable at: http://www.lib.unc.edu/launcch/forum/

Poster Sessions:

“From Start to Finish: Planning an Interdisciplinary Information Literacy Course” was presented by Ellen Daugman and Kaeley McMahan. The poster outlined the steps we took during the planning of our LIB250 course, what we taught during the course, and what improvements we plan to make for the next time the course is taught. We had great questions from the attendees and gave out lots of handouts. Leslie’s mindmaps were a big hit again!

“The Library in the Classroom” was presented by Craig Fansler. The poster described the process of introducing exhibit projects into classes at Wake Forest. The poster visualized the exhibit design process from idea to finished project through photos and text. There were also handouts which are given to WFU students doing these projects and a rotating Powerpoint with images of students working on each stage of their exhibits. All the comments were very positive and encouraging and it was terrific to network with a group of librarians from across North Carolina.

Paper Presentations:

Each paper presentation at the LAUNCH-CH Research Forum in Chapel Hill on May 20 was heralded as, “And now, for something completely different!” As they indeed all were. I’ll be summarizing the presentation of a unique program underway at one of the branches of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. Kaeley and Craig will each cover one of the other two presentations.

“Programming for Children with Special Needs and their Families in a Public Library”
Tricia Twarogowski, Children’s Services Manager at the Matthews Branch Libray of the PLCMC, described an innovative and need-specific approach to storytelling which she has initiated, in her talk entitled, “Programming for Children with Special Needs and their Families in a Public Library.” It all began in August 2008 when some parents expressed their wishes for library programs that could readily accommodate their special needs children, many of whom are autistic or have Down’s Syndrome. Tricia responded with a questionnaire about these children’s likes and dislikes and a focus group in September 2008, which posed queries regarding what an effective program would be like, tips for interacting well with their children, what resources the library needs, and what challenges they face when they come to the library with their children. In addition, she established a partnership with the Autism Society of North Carolina, attending their meetings, and also with the Allegro Foundation which works with children with disabilities. Avoiding any indication of special needs, the program is listed simply as “Rhythm and Rhyme: a storytime for special needs children and their families.

Children are allowed to roam freely during storytime, or can cuddle with soft pillows and animals. Librarians alternate between sitting in the middle of the group or walking around (in response to contradictory preference feedback). Parents, she said, are more supportive than those in other story groups both in terms of their own children as well as with other children and the librarians. Often children interact in ways other than they normally do with other children, and parents have described the time as additional therapy, sometimes tearfully watching their children blossom in their encounters with their storytime peers. Parents who normally head immediately to the back of the room with their autistic children, admitting to Tricia that they always need to know the nearest and quickest exit, now feel free to approach the center of activity and engagement. There has been local press coverage, and Tricia looks to the future to strengthen partnerships, to modify some aspects based on feedback and experience, and to extend programs through additional PLCMC branches. It was an impassioned and engaging presentation, and one librarian in the audience who has an autistic child testified to the merit of such a program.
Kaeley, Craig, and I enjoyed the time presenting our posters before and after the talks. Numerous people took the time to browse through the variegated assortment filling the hallway of the Wilson Library (Special Collections) and stopped to talk with us about our experiences with developing and teaching an Information Literacy course in the Humanities. -Ellen Daugman

“The Effect of Library Instruction on Undergraduate Library Use”
“The Effect of Library Instruction on Undergraduate Library Use” was presented by Katherine Knott, who wrote the study for her master’s project at UNC-CH. She wanted to study the effect of a one-shot library instruction session on students’ use of the library. She gave an initial survey to 300 students in English 101 and 102 courses before their library session for the course, then gave a follow-up survey a few weeks after the session. There was a control group of 250 students who did not have a library session. The survey consisted of six questions and measured how the students did or did not use the library (students were given multiple choice responses):
1) How many times have you physically entered the library?
2) On average, how long did you stay in the library?
3) What did you use the library for?
4) Where do you do most of your studying and classwork?
5) (She didn’t discuss, wasn’t on her slides)
6) Where do you do most of your research?
The survey results showed that while the number of student visits to the library increased after a library session, the length of time spent in the building actually decreased. She thought this might be because students actually knew how to use the building and how to locate what they were looking for and thus used the resources more efficiently than those who didn’t have a library session. Also, she found an increase in the number of students who used the library as a place to study after their library session, though the preferred place for studying and research remained the students’ dorm or apartment.
-Kaeley McMahan

“Going Global with Information Literacy” was presented by Angela Whitehurst, Distance Education Coordinator at the Joyner Library at East Carolina University. Angela began working with an anthropology class at ECU who was part of their Global Academic Initiatives Program. As a result of the economic climate, ECU experienced impediments to international travel but still wanted to capture a study abroad experience. The Global Academic Initiatives Program has two components: a Global Understanding Course and an International Lecture Exchange. The Global Understanding Course covers multiple disciplines and has 23 partner institutions in 18 countries who link to and chat with partners who also conduct research. The library and information literacy component of this is to pose concepts, find weaknesses, and build each course accordingly. The questions involve finding out:
• What knowledge do students have about the availability and use of country resources when entering the course?
• Would providing instruction to students related to their field increase their information literacy skills?
• Would the quality of student assignments improve after information literacy instruction?
• Would instruction using country/cultural resources be a useful avenue for libraries attempting to integrate information literacy instruction into a globalized curriculum?
The methodology used for this program was to train the faculty first, and then using a pre-test/post-test for students information literacy skills. The tests covered choosing appropriate resources, evaluating resources, and using citations.
Ms. Whitehurst stated that the results of this program were mixed, but that they were encouraged by increases in usage, identification and evaluation of source materials as well as positive feedback.
-Craig Fansler

I was able to complete two re-backs from start to finish this week. The two leather spines had dried over night. On the final morning, I still needed to paste down the inside joints or hinge of the books. I had lifted the paper a day earlier. so I tore strips of Japanese paper which I glued underneath the paste down on the covers. I overlapped this paper onto the text block. When both joints were set, we cut a piece of card with a notch in it and used this to hold the boards open while the joints dried.

When both joints were repaired with Japanese paper(Okawara), a piece of card held the boards open to dry.

A finishing touch was to tool the spine. A heated metal tool is rocked across the spine to incise a “blind stamped” line which makes the spine lok more finished.

My books are now done! It feels really good to have slogged through all these steps and have a good final result that will last for years to come.

We’re almost home-honest! This stuff takes time folks- I mean it is important, one of a kind, historical material and must be treated like your pet bunny rabbit when you were 6. The first order of business today was to sew the headbands. To do this, two colors of silk thread are sewn around a core of twine. This stabilizes the the text block to which it is sewn, and forms a very attractive counterpoint to the text.

When the sewing is completed, the ends of the cord are trimmed and the headband is glued down. A piece of Japanese paper covers the sewing.

I cut pieces of leather to match the tone and the size of each book it will be used to repair. Using leather dye and cotton balls, the leather is dyed to match the existing color of the book boards and allowed to dry.

Using a very sharp “skiving knife”-the edges of the pieces of leather are pared down very thin. This is hard, very hard-no amount of holding you mouth in a certain way will help. Practice, practice, practice!

The leather spine piece is then put on the book and reinforced by string, which reinforces the raised bands.

After a half hour, the ends are turned in and the book is left to dry under a weight.

This morning, we used a small tool to fray the ends of the cords we glued to the spines of our books yesterday. The tool is a small wooden peg with 3 sewing needles attached which separates the strands of the cords. These frayed ends will be glued to the boards of the book later.

Then, we mixed paste to use for the days work.

The ends of the frayed cords were then glued down onto both book boards. I slid a piece of release paper on top of it and pressed the books for about 20 minutes.

I used my lifting knife to lift the leather off the cover boards of the book.

All the books were then placed in a press. The spaces between the cords were lined with two layers of Japanese paper and allowed to dry.

A leather lining was made and pasted to the spine. This leather piece was pressed onto the spine and the space around the raised bands on the spine reinforced with string tied to the press.

Tomorrow-rebacking the spine with new leather.

I’ve lifted the spine of my leather books and cleaned off all the residue. Next, the spine is glued out and either cords or tapes are glued onto the spine as sewing structures. This allows you to re-sew the parts of the book that are weak or broken-and let’s face it, after 300 years, you’d be a little worn too!

Sewing is done inside the signature sof the book, and when you reach each cord or tape, you exit the interior of the book and sew out and around the tape or cord.

Next, paper tears and loose signatures are also re-attached to the text block. Tomorrow, we’ll fray the ends of the cords and attach them to the boards with glue. This will make a very strong bond which will hold the boards onto the book. All of the books I brought to the workshop had loose boards-which means, the were not attached to the book at all. When I’m done, they’ll not only be well bonded to the book, they’ll look good too. Stay tuned!

Wilkes-Barre(bear), PA…not your idea of a fun spot, eh?Mine either.This is a place that did have a thriving economy, but that was when coal was king.It’s located on the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania, and now it is definitely a city struggling to make it.I drove 8 hours up I-81 to spend aweek learning leather book conservation from Don Rash, a seasonedbookbinder, calligrapher and letterpress printer who studied with Fritz and Trudi Eberhardt, two well respected binders.Don owns 3 houses, all adjacent to each other: one is Don’s home, one is his workshop and the third is used for student housing.I have the luxury of coming to Don’s school- The School of Formal Bookbinding-on a slow week-so it’s just me and one other student.

We began the first day by discussing each book we’d brought and how we would approach the repair.I brought nine books from Special Collections dating from the 17^th-19^th centuries.Immediately. I realized I needed a tool which I didn’t have-a lifting knife.Don had a new one which he sold me.The lifting knife is used to “lift” the old leather spine from the book.Before we tackled lifting spines, we learned to sharpen our leather skiving knife and my new lifting knife on wet Japanese stones while Bill’s numerous cats watched.

First all the books were ganged together in a large “lying press” with wooden boards separating them.We then took each book and lifted the spines of each one-trying to keep the fragile leather in-tact if possible- if not possible, we tried to save the labels.This required running the lifting knife along the outer edges of the spine and gently encouraging it to release itself.Unless you were really lucky, you just ended up with leather crumbs.When most of the leather was removed, we applied a poultice (glop) of corn starch paste and let it sit for 15 minutes.Then, we used a bone folder to get the remaining leather bits off the spine.Finally, we let the spines dry then removed them from the lying press. Tomorrow…paper repairs, sewing and headbands.

On Friday, March 13th, ZSR hosted a Disaster Recovery workshop sponsored by the NC Preservation Consortium. Thirteen participants from North Carolina attended representing High Point University, UNCG and Elon University, Rural Hall County Clerk, Wilkes Heritage Museum, Rural Hall Historical Museum, NC Museum of Art, Old Salem and the EPA. The workshop began with Sharon Snow welcoming the group and speaking on collections care and prioritization. Robert James, NCPC Executive Director, then covered all the primary areas of disaster recovery: planning, preparation, response, organization and the Disaster Plan.

Craig Fansler spoke next on stockpiling disaster supplies, preparedness, planning, and the importance of keeping your disaster Plan current and flexible. Numerous anecdotes from ZSR disasters were also shared with the group. I used the Field Guide to Emergency Response produced by Heritage Preservation (2006) as a guide for my discussion.

Michelle Brock, from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Emergency Management spoke on disaster Recovery for Heritage Collections. The priority in a disaster is to preserve-people first, then property. The four phases of emergency response are: planning, response, mitigation, and recovery. All disasters are local- Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Office of Emergency Management is our primary agency. Other important agencies are: FEMA and the NCEM-NC Division of Emergency Management.

Michelle discussed fire safety; gas leaks/chemical spills; natural hazards: hurricanes. tornados, ice storms, severe weather and flooding, etc. She advised getting a NOAA Weather radio which will wake you up in the middle of the night (or day) if severe weather is approaching. September is National Preparedness Month and activities are held to promote awareness from local public safety agencies: fire, law enforcement, DOT, CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team), and the hospitals. Ready.gov- is a government site for information making an emergency plan for businesses and individuals so they are prepared for emergencies.

Make sure your Insurance coverage is adequate; and you have prepared for loss of utilities, security, a back up site and media relations. Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) work to understand chemical hazards in the community, develop emergency plans in case of an accidental release, and look for ways to prevent chemical accidents. NIMS-National Incident Management System- provides coordination during emergencies. IPER- is the Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records and is run by the Council of State Archivists. IPER is trying to develop and deliver Web- and CD-based training for state and local governments nationwide.

Robert discussed the Heritage Preservation Disaster Wheel and it’s uses. This device helps you go through the steps of disaster response as well as listing how to preserve each kind of material. The final part of the day was dividing into groups who were provided with a disaster scenario and asking the group to make decisions about priorities and solutions.

Preserving Oral Histories

Tim Mitchell and I attended a webinar presented by Solinet on January 15, 2009 entitled: Preserving Oral Histories. This workshop was a discussion about the primary issues of preserving oral histories.

The activity of processing oral histories was covered first.The most important issue when processing is to prevent audio from being erased (either audio cassettes or CD’s).The processor should conduct a condition assessment to check for damage and if possible, play and listen to the material.A strong odor detected at this point would indicate deterioration.The items should then be labeled, re-housed; and new reformatted preservation copies made.

There are several free tools available for surveying oral history collections:

FACET (Field Audio Collection evaluation Tool) is a survey tool which is an open-sourced database that allows for recordinginformation about materials.

Preservation Tool for Audio and Moving Image Collections- Columbia University Libraries has developed and tested a tool to inventory and assess the physical condition of audio and moving image materials.

Damage to audio materials

Magnetic tape damage is usually referred to as “Sticky shed syndrome” and is the deterioration of audio material.

Acetate tape deterioration is the formation of acetic acid on the tape which is called “Vinegar Syndrome” because of the smell it gives.This material should be isolated in cold storage.The Image Permanence Institute has A-D strips to test for acetate decay.

Labeling Oral Histories- Guidelines for future users should be created that uses a consistency of format.Water-based markers (sold in specialty shops) or pencils should be used for marking on the material itself.CD’s should be marked on the inner hub.

Preserving Originals

-use highest quality format available

-make a copy of the original and use that copy for reformatting-put the original away in storage

-only use the master for making usable copies

-keep original hardware and software if possible

Housing

-use best quality materials

-arrange by material type or by format

-store the master separately

Paper/Board-use material that conforms with NISO Z39 standards

Plastics-use inert plastics-avoid PVC (polyester is a good inert plastic)

Temperature-the best temperature for audio materials is 50 degrees, 30-50 Relative Humidity

Avoid electromagnetic fields or UV radiation

Storage-film

-shelve vertically, except 16mm/35m which should be stored horizontally

-keep in a dust free environment

Storage-Magnetic media

-for optical media (CD-R), avoid light

Storage-Transcriptions

-use acid free paper

-for electronic transcriptions, store in multiple formats

Storage-Online

-RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)- a technology that employs the simultaneous use of two or more hard disk drives to achieve greater levels of performance and reliability.

-LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe)- based at Stanford University Libraries, is an international community initiative that provides libraries with digital preservation tools and support so that they can easily and inexpensively collect and preserve their own copies of authorized e-content.

-Dark Archives- a collection of materials preserved for future use but with no current access.This is associated with collections of online serial publications and databases that are held by an organization other than the publisher.

Preferred Digital Formats

Audio

.wav- considered the standard for audio archives

.bmv-broad cast wave- an open format with the inclusion of metadata

.mp3-a small file size, compressed file format that

Video

.MJ2 (Motion Jpeg 2000)- used by the Library of Congress as the standard format

.MXF- open source format that allows metadata inclusion

.AVI-Audio Video Interleave used primarily for video on the web

Audio Digitization Standards-the recommended rate for voice recordings:

Human Voice-sample rate- 96 kHz; bit depth- 24 bit

This workshop was thorough and illustrated that preservation issues for audio oral histories are unique and the housing materials, methods, and survey tools for them are specific to this audio material.

Craig Fansler

On Thursday, November 20, the North Carolina Preservation Consortium held it’s annual conference at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill, NC. The topic this year was “Cultural Respect in Preservation and Conservation”. There were four speakers at the conference, all from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines.

The first speaker was Michele Cloonan, Dean of the Library School at Simmons College in Boston. Cloonan has written extensively on preservation topics, and began the Preservation Program at Brown University. Her topic, “Preserving Collections with a “Respect More Tender, More Holy, and More Profound” focused broadly on respect for cultural property and especially library collections. She discussed the ideas of ethics and moral philosophy and how these affect our decision-making and the prioritization of our materials. She discussed the idea of a book: a book is an object, but it is also a living, breathing thing in the sense it is the embodiment of ideas-and ideas are alive. Cloonan believes preservation should extend broadly to both the book as object and to the ideas contained within it. Michele kept comparing the idea of preservation and cultural respect to the layers on an onion. She stated that preservation has power in it-like an onion has the power to bring tears- she mentioned the bombing of the Buddha in Afghanistan which brought a strong reaction, and some tears as well.

The following speaker was Marian Kamintz, Head of Conservation at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Kamintz spoke on the topic of “Conservation in Collaboration with Native American Communities”. Her main emphasis was on how the museum used collaboration to understand and interpret cultural layers of meaning. Often, Native American communities have individuals who possess traditional skills or knowledge. The museum meets with these individuals to understand materials in their collection, how and why these items were made, how to interpret them and sometimes, how to conserve or restore them. By using different ways of asking questions of native peoples in their consultations, the museum is able to understand their collection more fully-and as a result interpret these for the public. Kamintz focused on three major consultations over objects which garnered the museum much needed information: Siltez Dance regalia (Oregon), Passamaquoddy birch bark canoe (Maine) and a Hamsaml raven mask (Canada). In the case of the Siletz dance regalia, the museum was able to loan this item to the tribe for the first use of this item in an actual dance since it was outlawed in the 19th century.

After lunch, Karen Jefferson, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the Atlanta University Center spoke. Karen previously worked at the John Hope Franklin Research Center at Duke, the National Endowment for the Humanities and Howard University. Her talk was entitled: “Serving Many Masters: Legacy Collections in Archives. She spoke of the many entanglements which often arise as individuals or their families give materials to archives. Her library represents 5 universities in the Atlanta area, including Moorhouse College, which recently received the papers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The King papers are considered not only to be research materials, but ritual objects of veneration. Jefferson made the point that African-American women are often neglected by history while men are not. This is an issue Jefferson is not happy about. She said one of the intrinsic problems in collecting from African-American individuals is that often they don;t have “papers”. Civil Rights activists often don’t have a retirement-so their stuff IS their legacy and their only asset. This is difficult to sort out for archivists. For instance, for the MLK papers: the family holds the copyright, Moorhouse College owns the collection and Jefferson’s library is custodian of the collection.

Corine Megener, US Committee for the Blue Shield

The final speaker, and the most compelling, was Corine Wegener, President of the US Committee for the Blue Shield. This group is like the Red Cross for cultural property. Wegener spoke on “The Looting of the Iraq Museum and Cultural Respect during Armed Conflict.” Wegener is a retired Major from the US Army and served 13 years as a Civil Affairs Officer, tasked with protecting cultural property in Bosnia, Africa and Iraq. She described getting permission to go to Iraq in 2003 to help protect materials from the Iraq National Museum which had been damaged in the looting. Since Iraq is the “cradle of civilization”, the items in the museum were historically unique and internationally important. The damage to the museum affected the building and contents, the collections and all the computers. Since all the museums computers were taken, there was no inventory to refer to. This made identifying lost objects difficult. Many objects, such as was cylinder seals, were small, not catalogs, and easy to remove in quantity. fortunately, much of the collection was hidden by curators before the looting began. Many of the items in the collection, however, are still missing-and some have been seized as far away as New York City. This presentation was fascinating. Wegener discussed going to a bombed Iraqui Secret Police building. The basement was flooded because the water pipes were destroyed in the bombing-and many Jewish books, apparently being held secretly in this basement, were submerged or floating. They immediately froze the books on a semi trailer from Jordan, and shipped them to the National Archives. Wegener stated the dilemma: you are not supposed to remove cultural property from it’s home country! The problem is there are no Jews left in Baghdad-the few remaining were removed during the 2003 invasion. So what do we do with this stuff that isn’t ours and has no home to return it to?

An amazing day of information and networking with peers across North Carolina. I was especially gratified to acknowledge 4 scholarship recipients to our conference. this gets our name in front of new professionals and lets them experience a preservation conference and meet leaders from across our state.

Craig Fansler

A canvas roll of tools used for book repair

What is the most preferred kind of leather for bookbinding? How do you quickly and easily attach loose boards to a leather volume? What adhesive is most useful for leather book repair applications? Is there an easy way to pare leather without doing it all by hand? These and many other questions were answered for a group of 7 preservationists from across North Carolina last week.On Thursday and Friday, July 24-25, a Leather Repair Workshop was held in the ZSR Preservation Lab. The workshop presenter was Jim Hinz, a Book Conservator at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. The workshop was sponsored by the North Carolina Preservation Consortium, and was attended by preservationists from NC State, UNC-CH Medical Sciences Library, ECU, UNC-G and Duke. Because of bad weather, the workshop started late because Jim’s flight was canceled. By the time he arrived, however, everyone was more than ready to begin.

Jim began by discussing how leather has been processed and tanned over time, and how light, humidity and temperature fluctuations break leather down. Jim described how, over time, the processing of leather was better or poorer based on market demands and other factors. Today, leather is largely processed by a vegetable tanning process that makes it safe and stable. We then began a demonstration on “tacketing” - a process where a loose board (or cover) is re-attached to the book by sewing through a few locations along the shoulder of the book. This repair is a quick and easy way to the many loose covers of leather-bound books back where they belong. We also toned some Japanese paper with acrylic pigments and let them dry. These strips of paper were toned to match the color of the book’s cover and would be used to repair the broken joint on the outside of the book.

The second day of the workshop began with a discussion of how to hide the repair of the tackets with Japanese paper. We also tore pieces of the toned Japanese paper we had made the day before and covered the broken joint along the outside of the book. The paper blended perfectly because it was toned to the color of the book’s leather and it was a very light weight paper (Tengugo). We then discussed sharpening a paring knife using a sharpening stick (made from laminated board and sandpaper), oil or water stones, emery paper, or a leather strop. Jim demonstrated some sharpening techniques for the class. Following this, we examined various types and colors of leather-mostly calf and goat skins. Jim pointed out the grain and texture differences to the class. The next step was to prepare a book to be re-backed with leather. Starting with a suitable book, Jim lifted a layer of the boards on each side to allow the leather re-back to be inserted. He then applied heavy cord across the spine to simulate raised bands. We were then treated to a leather dyeing demonstration using leather dyes and fixative. Following this, Jim cut a piece of leather for the spine of the book and began paring it. He used a paring knife to pare the edges of the spine piece. The larger areas were pared using a paring machine which pared the leather to a thickness that would be very flexible as the book covers were opened and closed. Everyone got a chance to practice paring using the machine, paring knife and a sanding stick. The leather was then dampened and applied to the spine of the book where Jim expertly turned in the head and tail of the new spine and inserted the edges into the splits in the board. Jim then used a bone folder to reinforce the raised bands along the spine, and tied linen thread over each raised band to dry. The result was beautiful.

The answers to the questions in the first paragraph? goat; tacketing; PVA; and Scharf-Fix Paring Machine.

This workshop was packed with great information that frankly is just too hard to find. for some reason, these repair techniques are kept hidden in the conservator’s world and only trickles out when a knowledgeable and open-minded person like Jim Hinz comes along. I learned so much-not just information, but stiff I can use in my job from now on. That, my friends is invaluable! Another benefit from this workshop was spending 2 days with colleagues across the state who share similar jobs and concerns. I’m hopeful we’ll all be able to collaborate together again soon.