Map conservation in an academic geography department

Time‐saving procedures and avoidance of material replacements due to damage and loss are the problems which must be appreciated in an academic department administering a collection of maps. The system adopted by this Geography Department, after much preparatory thought on issues of policy and administration, has proved that such problems can be obviated efficiently. Backlog of work inevitably builds up periodically, but opportunities to cancel this regularly occur during vacations. The capital expenditure is a long‐term investment, but the outlay per cabinet is a reasonable amount for a thousand maps, which will not depreciate appreciably for many years. This would not be so with maps kept in drawer units of wood or steel, where one would also need more floor‐space. The criterion is, therefore, to file vertically all maps and atlases possible, in the same way as a book library. This short paper deals with the various operations in administering such a collection.