Making the Most of What We Have: A Framework for Preservation Management in Rare Book Collections

Abstract

We are facing an uncertain future in special collections—one that will most likely continue to require us to make tough decisions. With cutbacks and limitations on resources plaguing us, the expense and time required for item-level treatment make it necessary to set preservation priorities within our collections.1 At the same time, digital initiatives continue to expand in scope and resource allocation, creating new opportunities and challenges in preservation management. Digitization has a valuable place in special collections as a supplement to physical preservation, but the danger arises when the digital begins to supplant the physical.

So we need to . . .