PRESERVATION TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR LAW LIBRARIES

The AALL Special Committee on Preservation Needs of Law Libraries began its work in 1987 and presented its final report and recommendations to the Executive Board in June 1991. The complete report will be issued as part of the AALL Occasional Papers Series. The section dealing with preservation treatment options for law libraries is published here separately as an LLJ article because of its general applicability . I. Overview: Decision-Making One of the most intractable problems in preserving library collections is decision-making. 1 Preservation action and treatment decisions, while they can be informed by experience, manuals, expert consulting, and model policy statements, are still highly subjective. The process does not lend itself to a standard formulation that can be applied by rote in all libraries, all law libraries, or even all law libraries of a given type. For each library, many independent variables influence the formulation of the preservation program and the selection of preservation and conservation options. 2 For the overall planning and development of a preservation policy for the library, these variables, which may well change over time, include: -Dimensions of the problem, number of volumes at risk; -User preferences and need for the materials at risk; -Condition of the physical plant and HVAC system; -Ability of the library to make decisions independently of the institution's administration; -Financial resources available in house, funding opportunities; -Staff availability and expertise; -Opportunity costs and competing agenda in the library. For the individual decision-making involved in the item-by-item conservation of ...