All concerned with preservation ‐‐ librarians, archivists, conservators ‐‐ will recall the two volumes by G.M. and D.G. Cunha, Conservation of Library Materials: a Manual and Bibliography on the Care, Repair and Restoration of Library Materials, 1972. It constituted an invaluable contribution to the literature and remains an important source book. This volume by Swartzburg, Bussey and Garretson is reminiscent of that earlier work, albeit more specific in its scope, and is likely to prove no less valuable and enduring to the preservation cause.
The book is in two parts with four appendixes. A “Summary History”, entitled “The Design of Libraries and the Preservation of Books”, forms Part One. It is short but packed with highly relevant information: ten pages are devoted to the history of libraries, 12 to the development of American libraries and ten to contemporary design. These three sections are followed by 20 pages of bibliography reflecting the preceding pages, each entry being provided with a very brief comment on its content and relevance. It aims to be select not comprehensive. This swift canter through five millenia is readable and surprisingly informative. It covers book production, the design and development of library buildings in a way which will ensure that it will become a reliable means of quick reference both for library students and the non specialist librarian and archivist.
The first part amounts to a general introduction to the second, which is entitled, perhaps unexpectedly after 20 pages of bibliography, “A Guide to the Literature”. It discusses in six chapters, each with its own specialist bibliography, matters which are basic to successful preservation in libraries and archives. Most of the first five relate to design and planning of buildings. Chapter one, “Planning: the Librarian, the Consultant, and the Architect”, begins: “The building is the first line of defense in preserving library and archival collections. It is their home. A good home, sound and well built, will extend the life of the materials within and will also provide a good environment for the people who come to use the collection”.
It is hardly new; indeed it is so well known as to be easily overlooked This book is not, however, concerned to break fresh ground in preservation but to remind readers of the essentials, not all of which have been fully appreciated in the past, in straightforward language. The roles of the librarian, consultant and architect are related to the brief for the building where preservation considerations are seen as imperatives among the ingredients in good building practice. It may all seem rather obvious and elementary but a survey of library buildings across Britain will quickly dispel any idea that it is unnecessary. The 15 page select bibliography again provides a good guide to the preceding eight pages of discussion.
Each of the five succeeding chapters follows the same pattern ‐‐ a short, tightly comprehensive survey of the subject with briefly annotated bibliography. They deal with design, construction and renovation; the interior ‐‐ shelving, storage, interior design and exhibition space; the environment; safety, security, emergency planning and insurance. Virtually every preservation requirement is dealt with succinctly and in language which any member of library or archives staff can understand. Temperature, humidity, lighting, air pollution, all of those well known ingredients in the preservation picture, are treated in a way which will delight students of librarianship and many established members of the profession. It also gives important reminders about subjects sometimes taken for granted such as the necessity of fire resistant furnishings and the toxic fumes which such materials are known to emit.
The sixth and final chapter, “Preservation of Library and Archival Materials”, addresses familiar themes. It deals with them in 12 instructive but easily digestible pages, moving, for example, in two pages from paper production in the first century A.D. to deacidification and acid‐free paper without ever slipping into th<?tlb=12.8pt>e technical detail which so easily deters young staff interested in conservation. The problems posed by bindings, photographs, film, magnetic tape and computers are described equally cogently. If readers want to go further ‐‐ and many will be content with what is given ‐‐ the annotated bibliography again provides a carefully evaluated list of titles.
The summary treatment accorded to preservation problems may be thought by some to suggest complacency. Yet no serious preservation issue is omitted and attention is drawn to matters which do not always receive the attention they deserve. The explosive nature of nitrate film, the importance of inbuilt fire retardants in furnishings, the reminder of the low “flash point at which flames burst out on draperies, carpeting and upholstered furniture” in the devasting Los Angeles Public Library fire, such considerations are not necessarily at the forefront of the minds of those putting up new buildings. Emergency plans, a welcome alternative expression to “disaster planning”, are never more important than during a library development.
This publication is not aimed at specialist conservators although there is much in it which they might profitably read. It will be particularly welcome to those librarians and archivists whose immediate responsibilities include conservation awareness and especially to those many architects who are embarking on designing a library building for the first time. It contains many memorable phrases: “preservation and accessibility should and can work together”, “the atmosphere that is uncomfortable for users and staff is harmful to collections”; and warnings: “librarians and archivists have not always been able to play an important role in the design of their buildings. During the past century many have been dominated by committees, boards, donors and architects”.
The obvious American dimension of the book may be thought a disadvantage in a British context, but that would be a mistake, since so much of British present practice depends on or has taken a lead from the American experience. In fact, the book has the potential to be regarded as required reading for all librarians setting out to put up a new building or extend and refurbish an old one, and, no less importantly, for their architect. It is not merely good preservation practice which is to be found in this book. It also provides realistic reminders about the design and building of libraries in general. The bibliographies will prove especially valuable as aids to book selection in times of hard‐pressed library budgets.
There are many books on preservation. Few are as readable and straightforward as this or as easy to recommend. It should find its way onto the shelves of all libraries and archives concerned to protect their stock and, it may be hoped, onto the personal shelves of those staff involved in preservation.
