Archival Practice: A Brief Introduction: Preservation

What is preservation?

Preservation refers to the accumulation of actions that are undertaken to protect materials from deterioration and assure they can continue to be accessed well into the future. The concept is broad, and includes things like controlling the environmental conditions in archival spaces, cleaning materials and making sure they are stored in adequate containers and shelved appropriately, protecting materials from coming in contact with objects or substances that can harm them, handling materials in ways that do not cause damage, and treating damaged material.

Archives create preservation policy documents to establish procedures for the protection of their records. Emergency response plans are also created to detail how the archive will protect and salvage material in the case of an unforeseen event. Preservation considerations also inform acquisition, as archives should not acquire material if they do not have the capacity to preserve it. 

These are some links to information and educational resources on preservation:

• Preservation (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
• About Preservation (National Archives and Records Administration)
• Preservation 101: Preservation Basics for Paper and Media Collections (Northeast Document Conservation Center)
• Preserving Archives (International Council on Archives)
• Preservation of Archival Records: Introduction (National Archives and Records Administration)

Preservation of digital material

Preservation guidelines exist both for analog and digital archival material. Digital preservation is also very broad and highly technical, and includes things like creating backups of digital collections to avoid information loss, conducting integrity checks of files, and carrying out file format migrations to avoid digital obsolescence.

If you are specifically interested in digital preservation, you can access UPRM Library's online guide on the subject by clicking here. The guide provides an introduction to the basic concepts of the discipline and includes links to many helpful sources.

Agents of deterioration

The Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) has created a list of 10 agents of deterioration which represent threats to the permanence of information resources and heritage objects. These are the following:

Use the links below to learn more about agents of deterioration from the following organizations:

• Canadian Conservation Institute
• Gaylord Archival
• New Zealand National Library
• Smithsonian National Postal Museum