Our Mission Statement
To make information available in support of the ASU Library mission, and to maintain the condition and integrity of the collections in the effort to preserve knowledge, both artifactual and textual, now and for the future.
In pursuing this mission, we have a highly trained staff and a fully equipped conservation lab for doing in-house treatment and repair for our circulating collections and our many specialized collections. As part of our treatment program, we use the services of Etherington Conservation Services and The HF Group, a member of the Library Binding Institute.
Current staff
- Suzanne Morgan, MSIS, Conservator
Preservation services
- evaluates material and recommends treatment
- repairs or rebinds damaged bindings and other housings
- repairs and encapsulates flat items
- provides support for collection management, reformatting, and exhibit workflows
Our goal is to return the repaired material to our patrons and to specialized library collections as quickly as possible.
Currently we are participating in an ASTM study on the aging of paper over a period of 100 years. The study will be completed in 2099. Our laboratory is registered with the University, and complies with EPA laws and regulations.
The Preservation Department was founded in 1987 under the direction of Sharlane Grant, and is located on the first floor of Hayden Library in room 139. Lois Schneberger was Department head from 1996 until 2004. After her retirement, Preservation became a part of the Collection Development Division, now CSCO. David Moore supervised the Conservation Lab from 2004 until his retirement in 2010. Beverly Schlee became the lab's supervisor in 2010. Suzy Morgan has been the lab's supervisor and head of Preservation since Beverly retired in 2015.
The ASU Library Preservation department does not provide preservation, conservation, or rebinding services for collections that are not currently part of the ASU Library.
The American Instistute for Conservation's website has lots of helpful information about how to preserve and care for your own personal collections, as well as how to locate a conservator for hire. Other sites with preservation related information include those of the Library of Congress, ALA, Regional Alliance for Preservation, Northeast Document Conservation Center, and the Image Permanence Institute.