Preliminary Steps

The first step, once the grant was awarded, was to hire a qualified conservator to perform the work. We were fortunate to hire Linda Barone, who came to us with much conservation experience. While we awaited Ms. Barone’s arrival, we had personnel from the Libraries’ systems department start work on a conservation database. This was a massive undertaking, which would track all 1,500 (plus!) books and would include detailed information about their condition and treatment needs as well as future photos from before and after the treatments. When Ms. Barone arrived, she first surveyed all the books before beginning conservation treatments. This alone took three months to complete.