Summary and Evaluation of the Testing Sponsored by the Library of Congress of Books Deacidified by the FMC, Akzo and Wei T'o Mass Deacidification Processes
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| Médium: | Článok |
| Jazyk: | angličtina slovenčina |
| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
| On-line prístup: | http://www.viks.sk/chk/res_2_94_109_127.doc |
| Abstrakt: | Conclusions. This series of independent testing by the Institute of Paper Science and Technology has revealed that the methods currently available are not able to treat all library materials, will not necessarily provide a uniform treatment and will adversely affect the condition of the books. Given the limitations of the deacidification methods currently available, the benefits gained from deacidif-ication need to be carefully weighed against the costs, both financial and damage to material, against alternative preservation methods such as microfilming, and against the strengthening techniques currently under development. For example, the graft copolymerization technique developed by the British Library and the University of Surrey23 and a technique involving the Bibliotheque National de France, Usine Speciale de Separation Isotopique and the German chemical company Hoechst24 have the potential to not only slow the rate of degradation but to increase the strength of paper and hence make it more usable. This is a better long-term solution. While these results suggest that deacidification can prolong the life of new library material, it is necessary to use a combination of techniques to ensure the preservation of all library materials. This would include hand treatment of rare and valuable items, copying of brittle material, mass treatment for modern publications on acidic paper and, most importantly, the promotion of the use of permanent paper to enable the problem to be contained. Summaries. In September 1990. the Library of Congress issued a request for proposals to provide deacidification on a mass scale of paper-based books in their collection. Three companies responded to this request - FMC Corporation, Akzo Chemicals Inc. and Wei To and Associates. Each company deacidified a sample ol books that was then independently tested against a large number of physical and chemical criteria. In 1992. the Library ol Congress released these test results. No evaluation accompanied the results. The following article is a summary and evaluation of the results of the testing. The results reveal that none of the three methods is able to effectively treat all library materials, none always provides uniform treatment and all adversely affect the condition of the books. |
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| ISSN: | ISSN 0034-5806 |
