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Banks/Pilette

Book Review

Paul N. Banks, Roberta Pilette, Preservation, Issues and Planning, Chicago and London, 2000, American Library Association, pp. 360, soft cover, $70, ISBN 0-8389-0776-8. Available from American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL, 60611.

This is a guide to the practice of preservation for the field of librarianship. Such a presentation of one specialty to the many other specialties of librarianship is a purpose of ALA publications and this work fulfills that goal.

The component essays offer concise expositions by authoritative presenters. The contents comprise (1) “Defining the Library Preservation Program: Policies and Organization” by Carolyn Clark Morrow, (2) Preservation Programs in High-use Library Collections” by Sara R. Willaims, (3) “Preservation Program Planning for Archives and Historical Record Repositories” by Christine Ward, (4) Programs, Priorities, and Funding” by Margaret Childe, with the assistance of Laura J. Word, (5) Planning for Preservation in Libraries by Jutta Reed-Scott, (6) “Issues in Digital Archiving” by Peter S. Graham, (7) “Environment and Building Design” by Paul N. Banks, (8) “Collections and Stack Management” by Duane A. Watson, (9) “Preservation Management: Emergency Preparedness” by Sally A. Buchanan, (10) “Library and Archives Security” by Richard Strassberg, (11) “Exhibition Policy and Preparation” by Roberta Pilette, (12) “Selection for Preservation” by Carolyn Harris, (13) “The Conservation of General Collections” by Jan Merrill-Oldham and Nancy Carlson Schrock, (14) “Commercial Library Binding” by John F. Dean, (15) “Preservation Microfilming and Photocopy” by Eileen F. Usovicz and Barbara Lilley, (16) “Special Collections Conservation” by Eleanore Stewart, (17) “Digitization for Preservation and Access” by Paula de Stefano, and (18) “Preservation of Information in Nonpaper Formats” by Eleanore Stewart and Paul N. Banks.

The editors and contributors have made this a successful ALA publication by illustrating that preservation in libraries and archives is not realized through unilateral actions of preservation workers. This book illustrates that preservation management is prompted by the objectives of all departments of the collecting institution.

To take examples; Clark Morrow and Graham in their respective contributions define preservation topics in terms of institutional mission. “...without the existence of a preservation policy that represents institutional consensus, the preservation program will be seen as competing with collection development and access programs, instead of being an integral part of both.” Clark Morrow, p.4. As regards digital archiving Graham says; “Nothing makes clearer that a library is an organization, rather than a building or a collection, than the requirement for institutional commitment for electronic information to have more than a fleeting existence.” p.104. Or; “...to grapple with the ephemerality of electronic information is to answer the abstract question of why we are librarians.” p.111.

This book takes the premise of interdepartmental influence of preservation one step further. The narratives directly address departmental librarians with preservation accountabilities providing them with concise guidelines that would be useful even in the absence of an established preservation department. In the same mode the work provides scripting for preservation workers to bring to agendas of other library departments.

Another editorial objective was to encompass, in a balanced manner, three areas of library and archives preservation. These are “care of materials of artifactual value, preservation management of paper-based collections of primarily informational value, and the still largely uncharted management of information in the new media.” That balance is well achieved. The component essays can also be allocated under somewhat different sub headings. There are seven items on planning; tactics of persuasion, funding and infrastructure design, eight items on methods and routines of a working program and three items that discuss “issues” or challenges to preservation. The issues items fulfill the promise of the subtitle; “Planning and Issues”.

I have identified three issues essays as Harris on selection, Graham on digital archiving and De Stefano on digitizing for preservation and access. These contributions focus on clarifying the mandate for preservation and so speak to the more political and cultural issue of preserving the preservation function itself.

The topic of selection at first would appear to fall into routine and Harris defines the routine process effectively covering Identification and criteria for decision making at the item and collection levels. Beyond this selection is posed as both a crucial process and a challenge for the wise allocation of preservation services.

The material selected for preservation is a smaller portion of endangered collections that are thus deselected and the even items selected may require “reselection” by preservation staff. Another complicating factor of selection is that it can operate out of sync with the magnitude of preservation processes, either beyond or far short of capacity. Also problematic is the synchronization of collection development goals with preservation policy and method. Harris addresses these issues well.

Graham on Digital Archiving actually addresses the subject of the very process of knowledge transmission. He discusses the tasks of medium preservation, technology preservation and intellectual or content preservation in the environment of electronic collections. But his focus is on the commitments to the process of responsible transmission. In this context he sketches the organizational, fiscal and institutional commitment needed. He makes the case that the library community is the only one dealing with the combination of issues that must be faced in combination if digital archives are to be preserved. This is a challenging prospect very well expressed.

DeStefano on Digitization for Preservation and Access presents another challenge by repositioning the negotiation between preservation and access. In the context of electronic information “...the relationship between preservation and access becomes more than reciprocal - it becomes almost synonymous.” This repositioning of functionality toward preservation OF access suggests a new integration of previously “very different sets of activities”.

On balance this publication spanning program planning, methods of practice and prospects for management of future challenges is unprecedented. Like a “snapshot “ of the Worldwide Web it is fairly awesome. For me it confirms the depth of experience and research and the long time germination which has enabled this snapshot of the field of library and archives preservation.

While this work is dedicated to Carolyn Harris it is also a tribute to Paul Banks who died shortly after its publication. His contribution to the publication on "Environment and Building Design" is a masterful exposition that exemplifies his ability to direct the library community to efficient and decisive action. Paul’s contribution co-authored with Eleanor Stewart on "Preservation in Nonpaper Formats" exemplifies his ability to define whole new sectors of the field of library and archives preservation.

The Editors, Paul Banks and Roberta Pilette have provided the portal and assembled the component works into a very appealing flow. Although most librarians may choose to use this book as a reference tool, any use will convey a cohesive, cooperative and interactive field of preservation to the librarian. It is also likely that use of this work will shift the librarians' perception of the field from one requiring negotiation of preservation and access to a more positive perspective of a service unit aimed at the preservation of access.

Reviewed by Gary Frost, Conservator, University of Iowa Libraries

submitted, 12.3.2000