Preservation 101
2 Deterioration of Paper Collections
 

Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
Session 7
Session 8

 

Exploring
Basic Concepts
Inherent Vice: Materials
Inherent Vice: Structures
External Factors

Putting It Into Practice
Evaluating Your Collections
Final Assignment

Taking it Further
Additional Activities
Additional Resources

Exploring

External Factors

Climate | Light | Pollutants | Storage and Handling

Storage and Handling

damage
The sewing in this volume has broken due to excessive handling.

Poor storage and handling can also cause physical and chemical damage to collections. These issues are addressed in more detail in Session 5: Collections Care of this course.

Physical damage due to poor storage and/or handling might include tears, creases, dog-eared corners, scratches or abrasions, or damage to book bindings. In some cases disfiguring marks may be made on items (e.g., vandalism or writing on the back of photographs that either bleeds through or creates indentations). Rusting staples and paper clips can stain and deform paper documents.

Chemical damage due to poor storage and/or handling might include staining due to acid migration from acidic storage enclosures or adjacent materials such as news clippings or bookmarks.

 
Next
Putting It Into Practice: Evaluating Your Collections