Putting It Into Practice
Evaluating Your Collections
Bound Materials | Documents/Manuscripts/Ephemera | Newsprint | Oversized and Framed Materials | Scrapbooks | Photographic Prints
You have explored how the components of paper-based collections deteriorate; you have considered the complexities of some of the composite objects found in paper-based collections; and you have briefly examined the role of external factors in collection deterioration. Now you will begin to relate this information to your own collections.
IMPORTANT: This examination of your collections is not meant to serve as a formal collection condition survey, but it will assist you in determining which materials need further attention. You may decide that one or more collection condition surveys are required for specific subsets of your collection (e.g., rare books, photographs, scrapbooks). This type of inspection most often takes the form of an item-by-item survey by a conservator with detailed knowledge of that particular type of material.
