Elaine Harrington discusses the preservation of diverse library collections, emphasizing the differences in handling physical versus digital materials. She highlights the need for proper environmental conditions, tools, and practices to ensure the longevity of these collections while addressing challenges in digital preservation. The presentation also explores pedagogical approaches and the role of special collections in academic research and teaching.

1. Preserving the Library of the Future
Elaine Harrington | Special Collections Librarian
UCC Library
Digital Humanities Seminar – UCC |
18 October 2017

2. Contact Details
Elaine Harrington, Special Collections Librarian | UCC Library
e.harrington@ucc.ie | 021 4903484 |
@walkerabroad
The Riverside: @theriversideUCC
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/
http://libguides.ucc.ie/specialcollections

3. Schedule
•Libraries & Special Collections
•Preservation
•Content
•Storage & Access
•Teaching

4. Libraries &
Special Collections

5. Special Collections
• “Unique and distinctive” collections of rare
books, and many other media, including
born-digital and digitised documents
(Cullingford)
• “Elements of distinction that serve to
differentiate an academic or research library
from its peers” (Dooley & Luce)

6. Format
• Early Printed Books
• Books from Presses
• Collections from individuals
• Newspapers
• Maps
• Pamphlets
• Literary Manuscripts
• Digital Files

7. Preservation

8. Tradition or Comfort Zone
In general libraries have better familiarity with
paper and how it can be preserved.
In general we are less familiar with how
digital content will survive.

9. Slide Credit: Folio 35 The Great Book of Ireland
Materials: Parchment or Vellum

10. Materials: Pre-19th Century Paper
Slide Credit: Aquinas, Thomas. Incipiu[n]t preclarissima opuscula diui Thome aquinatis sacri ordinis p[re]dicato[rum] in quibus
o[mn]is ph[ilosophi]e [&] diuina[rum] scriptura[rum] theoremata est co[m]plexus. [Venice: Hermann Lichtenstein, 1497].

11. Slide Credit: An Claidheamh Soluis 1901
Materials: Newspaper Paper

12. Materials: Leather

13. Materials: Glue & Binding Material

14. Slide Credit: Folio 37 of The Great Book of Ireland with condition report.
Materials: Different Inks

15. Slide Credit: Aquinas, Thomas. Incipiu[n]t preclarissima opuscula diui Thome aquinatis sacri ordinis p[re]dicato[rum] in quibus
o[mn]is ph[ilosophi]e [&] diuina[rum] scriptura[rum] theoremata est co[m]plexus. [Venice: Hermann Lichtenstein, 1497].
Preservation Tools of the Trade: Phase Box

16. Preservation Tools of the Trade: Folder

17. Slide Credit: U.2: William O’Brien Papers
Preservation Tools of the Trade: Paperclips

18. Slide Credit: Ls.3: Cin Lae
Preservation Tools of the Trade: Glue

19. Preservation Tools of the Trade:
Cotton Book Tape

20. Environmental
Storage

21. Materials
• Chemically stable materials will last
indefinitely with the proper care.
• Oldest books in UCC Library: 1476
• Sometimes proper care is not enough.
• Example: An Claidheamh Soluis – early 20th
century newsprint.

22. Environmental Factors
• Light: encourages chemical reactions
• Temperature: fixed between 13 – 16C
• Relative humidity: fixed between 45 – 60%
• Standard: BSI PD 5454
• Air pollution
• Mould
Slide Credit: @HarperCollinsUK pic.twitter.com/bZDyaHwSP7

23. Pest Awareness

24. Disaster Management
Slide Credit: Burned books from Leuven.

25. Storage
• Soundly constructed, well ventilated,
watertight
• Stable internal climate
• Secure

27. Transfer of Content

28. Manuscripts
Photostats
Paper Content
Slide Credit: Ls 1
Slide Credit: NLI Ms. 321

29. Digitised ContentMicroform
Paper Content

30. Audio-visual Content

31. Accessing Content

32. Appropriate Readings Rooms

33. Means to Access

34. Means to Access

35. Digital Preservation
• Ensuring access remains to the items
• Digital files transferable through the ages
Slide Credit: http://www.scenicreflections.com/download/534360/build_it_Wallpaper/

36. Mix of Content

37. Item: Plant & Paper
Slide Credit: Gerarde, John. The Herball, or, generall historie of plantes. London: Printed by A.I.J. Norton and R.
Whitakers, 1636.

38. Item: Metal, Plant and Paper
Slide Credit: U.2: William O’Brien Book of Signatures silver
and silk

39. Slide Credit: Torna Ms 43: Different formats about one item:
binding, photographs (acquired 2017)
Collection: Animal and Photographs

40. Uncharted Territories

41. Slide Credit: William Beauford. Map of Cork City, 1801. UCC Library.
Where We’re Going

42. Not One Type
Slide Credit: https://twitter.com/theriversideUCC
/status/661485110810820609

43. Barriers to Future Learning
Slide Credit: http://www.newstalk.com/Page-Not-Found:-the-internets-best-error-pages

44. Content on Social Media
Which invaluable, indispensable and priceless tool helps you carry
out the work your profession demands?
"What I can't I live without: ‘Access to the archives.’ My greatest
fear: what will email (even worse, social media) do to the future of
archives?"
Professor Michael Cullinane, University of Wisconsin
"Honestly, Facebook and other social media have become pretty
indispensable for me as a professional historian. I'm able to
engage in ongoing discussions and debates, set up panels for
conferences, and ask for advice from colleagues all over the world,
in real time, with incredible ease."
Professor C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa, George Mason University
Slide Credit: “Things Historians Can’t Live Without.” 20th September 2015. History News Network. Accessed: 21st
September 2015. http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160465

45. Historical Events
Slide Credit: http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/
Slide Credit: http://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SYSqGQzBvVA
JEMUmoCryvE2dpkrtzKkLEbi7O9gSRmg/edit?pli=1#gid=1251114053
#CharlestonShooting Tweets

46. Why Is Preservation Important?
As with #CharlestonShootings and Documenting
Ferguson internet memory loss creates a cultural
vacuum.
Information contained within may be used for
activities not yet considered:
• 19th century ship logs used for research on climate
change.

47. I Need An Ark!
Numbers of social media platforms are growing exponentially.
Again paper is a known quantity: linear feet or m2.
What space is needed for digital content?
Slide Credit: “Noah’s Ark.” Photographed: Maurizio Abbate.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/occhiovivo/350441273/

48. What Is Digital Preservation?
Slide Credit: DPTP Slides

49. Trusted Digital Repository
No one trusted digital repository into which archival materials can
be ingested, stored, and accessed.
Terms of service for nearly every free platform or low cost webhost
make absolutely no promises regarding digital preservation or
even the return of content to users in even of business failure or
decisions to eliminate the service.
Institutions creating own software packages to support archival
processes. E.g. Stanford ePADD supports archival processes
around the appraisal, ingest, processing, discovery, and delivery of
email archives.
Source: ePADD (Stanford University) Accessed 30th July 2015. https://library.stanford.edu/projects/epadd

50. Name Used by Use
Internet Archive
Internet Memory UK Parliament
Archivematica
Web Curator Tool
Heretrix
Figshare Data harvest
@mhawksey Twitter
Archiving Google
Spreadsheet TAGS v5.
Data harvest
Tools for Capture

51. Other Institutions’ Activities
Web Archiving Including Blogs
• UK Web Archive (British Library)
• National Library of Ireland
Twitter
• Library of Congress & Twitter (2010): create an archive of all public
tweets.
• National Archives and Records Administration White Paper on Best
Practices for the Capture of Social Media Records (2013)
• New Zealand National Library: Awareness and Use of the New Zealand
Web Archive (2015)
• DRI & Digital Humanities and Journalism Group: Investigating social
media archiving (2015)

52. Further Challenges
Material
• Remit: all or a selection. Conduct a social media preservation assessment needs’
survey.
• Copyright for archival purposes
• Ownership of content
• Frequency of collection
Ethics:
• Policies on privacy for social media.
Process:
• Staffing
• Skills: Technical expertise.
Storage space:
• Project requirements.
Access:
• How will be the archived content be used?
• Who can access it?
• Where can it be accessed?
• How locate records?

53. Preservation in Practice

54. Preservation & Access

55. Handling
• Use appropriate equipment:
 Foam supports
 Book snakes
 Weights
 Archival page inserts
• Support a book’s spine to reduce strain
• No resting on top of pages or manuscripts
• Keep food, drink and ink away from items
• No quick-fix repairs: adhesive tape,
laminators

56. Preservation in Practice
Varies from quick overview to hands-on classes.
Can be a variety of material:
• Oversize item
• Map
• Rough edges
• Inserts
• Gloves?

57. Book Supports:
Remember
Goldilocks

58. Leave the gun. Take the canoli.

59. Rough Edges
Slide Credit: K’eogh, John. Botanalogia universalis
Hibernica… Corke: Printed and sold by George
Harrison at the corner of Meeting house Lane, 1735.

60. Reprographics
• Can include:
 Photographing – without flash
 Scanning – book cradle rather than
flatbed
 Digitisation to provide surrogate
 Microfilming to provide surrogate
• Copying at discretion of staff
• Damage can be done each time

61. Reprographics
Required?
55cm
Tightly bound
Slide Credit: O’Neill, Henry. Illustrations of the Most Interesting of the
Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland. London: Henry O'Neill, 1857.

62. How to Manage Inserts?
Slide Credit: Handel, George. A New Edition of Six Concertos for the Harpsicord or Organ. London :
Wright & Wilkinson, [approximately 1784].

63. Unfolding
a Map
Slide Credit: Léarscáilíocht Éireann = Map of Monastic Ireland. Comp. R. Neville Hadcock. Dublin: Ordnance Survey, 1960.

64. Teaching

65. Special Collections as a ‘Lab for the
Humanities’
Special Collections shapes research & results.
At the beginning of a project:
• Imagining benefits & challenges
• How to manage challenges
• Knowledge, skills and further projects that emerge.
What we learn that we (and others) can take for the
future?

66. Pedagogical Challenges & Skills
Conversations with academic staff take time.
Finding a way to connect with students. Noise
and competition of what’s easier.
Ownership of collections
Constant change
Slide Credit: http://approachanxiety.com/2011/11/what-success-looks-like/

67. More Pedagogical Challenges & Skills
Managing expectations of access in use in a
still mostly print-dominated environment.
Handling
Reading & deciphering handwriting

68. Case Studies
Music
• MU1003: Studying Music at University
• MU6031: Sound Studies & Musicology
History – MA in Medieval History
• HI 6091: Skills for Medieval Historians

69. Slide Credit: Using Primary Sources: Hands-on
Instructional Exercises. Santa Barbara, California :
Libraries Unlimited, An imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2014].
MU1003: Studying Music at University

70. Output of MU1003: UCC Music History
UCC Music History
https://youtu.be/QpMaNfmKi5U
https://twitter.com/uccmusichistory

71. Output of MU1003: Henebry Wax Cylinders
Henebry Wax Cylinders
https://ucchenebrywaxcylin.wixsite.com/waxcylinders
https://twitter.com/HWaxCylinders

72. MU6031 Sound Studies & Musicology

73. Slide Credit: 1890s Guy’s South of Ireland Pictorial Map
Slide Credit: 1921 Purcell’s Almanac

74. Video as Experimental Source

75. Sound Editing and Recording Tools

76. Output of MU6031:
Burning of Cork

77. HI6091: Sources to Output
Blogging
Selecting sources
Handling
Photography
Copyright
Marketing & publicity

78. Slide Credit: https://youtu.be/nxL-UNlqRdE
HI6091: Skills for Medieval Historians

79. HI6091: Skills for Medieval Historians
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/tag/student-exhibition/

80. Lessons Learned
Range of projects possible even in a narrow time frame due to
wide range of sources.
How to use sources ethically and meaningfully.
Importance of drafts.
Importance of fact checking. Importance of public engagement.
Location of hosted sites.
Slide credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/4961717384/in/album-72157620363366377/

81. In Conclusion

82. Changing a Learner’s World

83. Be Future Ready
Slide Credit: Darwin, Charles. “Tree of Life.” On the Origin of Species…

84. Contact Details
Elaine Harrington, Special Collections Librarian | UCC Library
e.harrington@ucc.ie | 021 4903484 |
@walkerabroad
The Riverside: @theriversideUCC
http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/theriverside/
http://libguides.ucc.ie/specialcollections