Exploring

Paper Reproductions

Producing Photocopies and Facsimiles

It is best to contract out the production of preservation facsimiles, since complex machinery and procedures are involved. Small-scale preservation photocopying can be done in-house, but staff must be well trained in the proper procedures and the equipment must be properly maintained.

The basic procedures involved in producing preservation photocopies and facsimiles are as follows:

• Preparation—The materials to be copied are examined page-by-page to ensure that they are in the correct order and nothing is missing. If there are foldouts or other oversize materials in a bound volume, these are measured.


• Photocopying—Books are normally disbound for copying. During the photocopying process, a daily peel test (sometimes called a tape pull test) is recommended, to ensure that the image is adhering properly to the paper. When photocopying two-sided pages, care must be taken to ensure that the placement of the text or image on the verso and recto sides of the pages are maintained in relation to each other. Oversize and color materials may be copied separately as needed.


• Scanning—When scanning, items are also normally disbound (unless their value warrants reproducing them without disbinding). The institution must specify how illustrations will be scanned (gray scale, color), at what size foldouts will be scanned, etc.


• Inspection—Once copying or scanning has been done, the finished product is inspected to ensure that there are no pages missing, the copies are legible, the contrast is good, and the general quality is acceptable compared to the original.


• Binding—Paper copies are bound according to the NISO standard for library binding. See Library Binding elsewhere in this session. A statement is placed in the copy identifying it as a preservation photocopy; this should be noted in any catalog records as well.


• Storage—The copy or copies should be stored according to guidelines for paper-based collections. The original items may be retained after photocopying in case additional copies or another type of reformatting is needed in future. For books that have been disbound, the loose leaves can be foldered and boxed.