Implementation of a condition survey for archival collections at an academic library, presented at Society of American Archivists 2012 Annual Meeting, Session 201

1. CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN,
OPEN EVERY BOX: CONDITION
SURVEYS AND STRATEGIC
PRESERVATION PLANNING
JENNIFER WAXMAN
SENIOR MANAGER FOR PRESERVATION AND ACCESS
CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY
SAA 2012 Annual Meeting
Session 201

2. CONTEXT
• Strategic plan mandated streamlining access
to unique and specialized material
• Creation of Archives Preservation Program
in Preservation Department
• Creation of Preservation Archivist position
(taking place of Preservation Librarian)
• Change in focus of conservation lab: 80/20,
archives to circulating collection split
SO, WWMLR DO?

3. CONTEXT
• Perform risk assessment of repositories
• Perform condition survey (or, needs
assessment) of collections
• Design and implement policy and
procedures based on findings

4. PRECEDENT
• Columbia University Mellon survey (2004),
PACSCL survey initiative, and CALIPR came
before me
• Determined approach: processed collections, box-
level, condition focused, mostly quantitative, some
qualitative
• Literature survey easy; very little about
condition surveys
• Gunselman’s 2007 AA article “Assessing Preservation
Needs of Manuscript Collections with a Comprehensive
Survey”
• NEDCC Preservation 101 condition worksheets
• British Library National Preservation Office survey
(2006)
• Evaluation of tools
• Worksheets, spreadsheets, databases

5. • Box-level, on site processed collections (for
this phase)
• Gather quantitative data on:
• condition of housing at collection, unit and
material level
• condition of all formats
• Gather qualitative data on:
• overall condition of housing at collection level
• condition of formats per unit
• intellectual access
METHODOLOGY

6. Survey tool redesign
METHODOLOGY
• kept collection, unit
and material level
data
• kept physical
condition, housing
and intellectual
access quality
ratings
• expanded format
tabs and sub-
format dropdowns
• added lots of
checkboxes to
identify condition at
unit, material level

7. METHODOLOGY

8. NYU Survey Tool and Survey Manual available here:
http://library.nyu.edu/preservation/archivespreservation
METHODOLOGY

9. • Staffing
• Part time students, teams of 2
• Solid training: Gunselman article,
Ritzenthaler excerpts, NEDCC
leaflets, NFPF Film preservation
guide, A/V format introduction and
inspection techniques, handling
and care training, mold isolation
procedures.
• Supplies
• Laptop, wifi
• Pencil/paper, pH pen, tape
measure
• First step: shelf check
IMPLEMENTATION

10. • 971 collections, 5501 containers, 7 minutes a
box
• Must review staff work periodically to ensure
consistency and effectiveness of tool.
• Half way through survey, noticed rating system
was fallible:
• Overall Housing Condition Rating 3 overused
• Had to further refine ratings and require surveyors to
record reason for designating a collection Rating 2
or below
• Had to backtrack and change all collections from 3
to 2 with new definition in place
IMPLEMENTATION

11. • 42% Rating 3
• housing made of
currently accepted
standard mats, no
failure to support
• 58% Rating 2 or
below
• indicates that
enclosures no
longer support the
items, +/- threaten
safety, +/- not
made of standard
mats
26
3%
535
55%
410
42%
Rating 1
Rating 2
Rating 3
Rating 4
n=971
Housing Condition Rating
FINDINGS: COLLECTION LEVEL

12. FINDINGS: UNIT LEVEL
1739 under-stuffed
boxes (33%)
1196 folders
slumping (22%)
1049 under-stuffed
boxes with slumping
folders

13. FINDINGS: UNIT LEVEL
Mechanical damage: under/overstuffed, Plasti-clips

14. Remediation projects
• Fix under-stuffing and slumping issues with internal
board supports and cylinders (discarded, rolled archival
folders)
• Train students, educate about long term effects of
decisions made during processing
OUTCOMES

15. OUTCOMES
Strategic planning
• Remediation projects and
conservation treatments
based on condition ratings
and curatorial priority
• Training and integration of
preservation actions into all
phases of archival
management (accessioning
and processing workflows)
• Write preservation-focused
grants armed with data

16. Electronic Media Survey
• Inconsistent descriptive practices made it very difficult to
locate electronic media in already processed collections
• Simplified survey tool: Excel worksheets
• Training guides used to identifying media with Wikipedia
articles about magnetic, optical and flash media
OUTCOMES

17. THANK YOU
jwaxman@cjh.org
@jwax55