Building Preservation 211

Building Preservation 211 Building Preservation: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Stacks Assessment Thomas H. Teper and Stephanie S. Atkins This article discusses the results of two collection assessments conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The library’s Preserva- tion Committee completed the first assessment and reported its results in College & Research Libraries in 1989. The second assessment was completed in 2002 and accompanies the institution’s initiative to establish the library’s first centralized preservation and conservation program. Both assessments focused on the central stacks collection, a repository collection serving the institution’s forty-two branch and departmental libraries. Although a reanalysis of the first assessment’s data was impossible, the authors attempted to draw comparisons between the two assessments’ results. Af- ter thirteen years without a preservation program and without any significant facilities improvements, the results provide insight into the results of deferred collections care and facilities maintenance and offer guidance for conducting similar studies with other research library collections. ince the publication of the sur- than fifty years.2 Written thirty years af- vey results from Stanford ter Barrow published his research, the University’s Green Library in authors in Illinois indicated that the real- 1982, the library preservation ity of this prediction was becoming “pain- community has come to rely on collection fully obvious” to librarians and other cul- assessments as a means of learning about tural resource managers.3 Indeed, the the physical state of library and archival 1989 survey’s results indicated that 37 collections.1 In 1989, the University of Il- percent of the collection suffered from linois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) pub- serious deterioration, 33.6 percent from lished the results of its own assessment— moderate deterioration, and 29.4 percent Library Collection Deterioration: A Study of from no significant deterioration.4 the University of Illinois at Urbana- Although an assessment does not pro- Champaign. In the introduction, the au- vide concrete data about each and every thors cited William Barrow’s assertion volume, a properly planned and con- that many of the twentieth century’s pub- ducted assessment provides a preserva- lished books may have a shelf life of less tion administrator with the means to de- Thomas H. Teper is the Head of Preservation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; e-mail: [email protected]. Stephanie S. Atkins is the Assistant Circulation and Bookstacks Librarian at the Uni- versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; e-mail: [email protected]. The authors wish to thank and ac- knowledge the Research and Publication Committee of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, which provided support for the completion of this research. 211 212 College & Research Libraries May 2003 velop a better understanding of an reality that became painfully obvious to institution’s collections. Indeed, operat- many of the institution’s librarians in 1989 ing under the assumption that preserva- has been compounded by thirteen years tion funds must be targeted at the areas of additional acquisition and deteriora- of greatest need, the value of an assess- tion. At the time of the 1989 assessment, ment in the initial planning of preserva- the central stacks collection held roughly tion activities and those expenditures is 5.3 million volumes. Thirteen years and still of paramount importance for maxi- almost 500,000 additional volumes later, mizing expenditures. Brian J. Baird and the current assessment evaluates possible colleagues recently reiterated this point comparisons between the two data pools in a report on surveys conducted at the and quantifies the collection’s physical University of Kansas: condition as the library launches a new preservation and conservation program. One of the greatest challenges fac- ing academic and research libraries UIUC Library and Its Collections today is the preservation of collec- The University of Illinois at Urbana- tions. The majority of materials Champaign library is nationally and in- housed in research libraries are ternationally renowned for the depth and unique and irreplaceable. Unfortu- breadth of its collections. Its specialized nately, the number of these items collections are dispersed among forty-two needing treatment far exceeds the departmental libraries, more than twenty availability of resources. Therefore, of which are located within the main li- libraries must carefully evaluate brary building. Currently, the library’s their collections and use that infor- total collections number nearly 10 million mation to develop proactive preser- volumes and 22 million pieces. vation plans.5 With approximately 5.8 million volumes, the central stacks collection is the Spurred by a growth in professional single largest repository in the campus interest in preservation, the University of library system. As collections of currently Illinois began to investigate various acquired material grow, departmental li- means of addressing preservation needs braries transfer older and seldom-used throughout the library in the late 1970s titles into the stacks. As a result, the stacks and completed a report in 1980. Another contain the most diversified and oldest body of individuals completed a state- circulating materials in the library. wide analysis project in 1986.6 Despite this Unlike many of its peer institutions, preparatory work, preservation within UIUC has maintained a closed stack sys- both the state of Illinois and the Univer- tem, granting access only to faculty, sity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s li- graduate students, and a limited number brary failed to make the headway that it of undergraduates. The result is a circu- did at other institutions, headway that can lation model in which many patrons re- be seen in the publication of reports from quest items, while staff retrieve and re- many institutions completing the Asso- shelve them. ciation of Research Libraries’ Preservation Planning Program and the continued de- The Central Stacks Collection and velopment of preservation programs at Collection Maintenance many of these institutions.7 For many years, the library’s administra- Although preservation programs be- tion focused primarily on amassing its came almost commonplace in many uni- unique and valuable collection more than versities and, to a more limited extent, on the collection’s condition or mainte- colleges, UIUC’s library was unable to nance. With the notable exception of li- develop and maintain a comprehensive brary binding, rare books and special col- preservation program. As a result, the lections received most available Building Preservation 213 preservation and conservation funds. tiple stacks leaks in 2001–2002. In addi- Browsing through the stacks, it is evident tion, poor air circulation, accumulated that the collection is showing signs of sig- dust, and insect infestations have all left nificant deterioration. The stacks office their marks on various parts of the col- staff stabilized materials, when possible, lections. using boxes and pamphlet binders; and The collection’s impressive growth in the library’s small book repair and pam- the second half of the twentieth century phlet-binding unit followed suit when- has created another significant problem— ever requested. However, the number of overcrowding. In many areas, the items needing attention exceeded the collection’s growth has exceeded its staff’s ability to keep pace with the level shelving capacity to such an extent that of need. books are stacked on the floor in aisles. The staff also faces the downside of Presently, the library is in the process of such comprehensive collection building; building a high-density shelving facility the depth and breadth result in large col- to alleviate the overcrowding. In prepa- lections of non-Western material and sig- ration for this, the library’s administra- nificant collections of semi-ephemeral tion imposed a moratorium on all depart- material. Consequently, the stacks hold mental library transfers into the central the bulk of the library’s aging collections stacks collection, a move that alleviated and the most significant holdings of ma- some pressure on the stacks but added terials that continue to be produced on significant pressure to the various branch acidic paper—Eastern European, African, and departmental libraries. and Latin American materials. The stacks’ poor storage conditions The Stacks Collection and the exacerbate the problem of aging collec- Assessment tions and acidic paper.8 Built in 1926, the The central stacks collection consists of original building and most of its subse- monographs, bound periodicals, and a quent additions lack basic air-condition- collection of 82,000 microforms. The mi- ing and humidity controls. In air-condi- croform collection resides in an environ- tioned portions of the stacks, tempera- mentally controlled room and has re- tures generally remain relatively stable cently received some collection despite the lack of operational reheat sys- maintenance by re-housing a significant tems. However, those portions not air- portion of the collection. Special formats conditioned often experience extreme such as audiovisual materials and digital fluctuations in temperature and humid- media are not material types represented ity, with ranges from around 60° to well in the collection.

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