ブックタイトルConservation and Restoration of Western Paper

概要

Conservation and Restoration of Western Paper

development was the Florence Flood in1966, and another one was the issue ofacidic paper tackled, in particular, after the1980s. Since there has been much discussionabout these two occurrences, their detaileddescription might no longer be needed.Due to the 1966 flood in Florence, a largenumber of precious collections belonging tolibraries were damaged and many experts indocument preservation from Europe and theNorth America worked together to rescuethem. Through their endeavor, innovativeideas and new understanding of documentpreservation were developed on a globalscale. The document preservation projectsthat were conducted by IFLA (InternationalFederation of Library Associations andInstitutions) and ICA (InternationalCouncil on Archives) were triggered by theFlorence flood damage. 1, 2Another turning point was the struggleagainst a new“enemy of books,”somethingvery different from the conventional enemyfor the preservation of paper-based material.Conventional causes of damage, such asflood, fire, insects and fungus, heat and highhumidity, improper handling, are all externalfactors in the degradation and damage ofpaper-based material. In general the extentof the damage shall remain within individualinstitutions or within certain localities at themost.On the other hand, the issue with acidicpaper is the case of the deterioration of paperdocuments caused by the disintegrationof paper itself - due to an internal factor,namely the acid in paper. All kinds of paperdocuments produced by the method of usingwood pulp as the raw material and alumand rosin as a sizing agent, which has beena common method to produce paper sincethe mid-19th century worldwide, can bedamaged by this problem of acidic paper.The beginning of countermeasures to dealwith acidic paper can be seen in the valuableresearch report compiled by William JamesBarrow, an American document conservator,Deterioration of Book Stock: Causes andRemedies (1959). Then, since the 1980sin particular, practical measures againstthis issue were developed in the librarycommunity. Some accomplishments, suchas the enactment of The NISO Standardfor Paper Permanence in US in 1984, theestablishment of IFLA Preservation andConservation (PAC) Core Program in1986, the revision of IFLA Principles ofConservation and Restoration in 1986 andthe film Slow Fires: On the Preservation ofthe Human Record in 1987 outlines theiractivities. 3, 4Together with these trends, a newunderstanding and approaches for thedocument preservation advanced on a globalscale, which will be described below.3. Concept of Document Preservationand ConservationIn the course of dealing with the damageto documents caused by the flood which hitFlorence in 1966, and then with acidifiedpaper, the concept and framework fordocument preservation and conservation inlibraries and archives have been developedand established. These processes can besummarized in the following five points.13