During fiscal year 2008, the Preservation Directorate completed renovation of its two 25-year-old science labs. These labs now provide over 9,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities and meet the standards of energy efficient “green technology.” These “green” Preservation Research and Testing facilities include smaller, lighter, faster, and cleaner instrumentation using less electricity and solvents, and requiring less destructive sampling and sample preparation.
The optical properties and imaging lab has new capabilities to track changes in optical properties of materials (appearance, color, brightness, and translucency) using a new environmental scanning electron microscope and other imaging and measurement systems. This lab also houses equipment for diagnosing audiovisual and digital media.
The mechanical and chemical lab has new capabilities to track changes in chemical compositions, bonding, pH, tensile strength, fold endurance, etc. This lab houses an updated, customized, glass-enclosed "TAPPI" room that controls the environment according to Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) specifications for testing durability and strength. The lab also houses the Mass Deacidification Center for document treatment, newly protected by its own glass-walled enclosure to prevent contamination of analytical equipment.
Read more about the the equipment available in the labs, in the Preservation Science Instrumentation web pages.
The Preservation Directorate is in the process of developing to create a new 800-square-foot preservation science reference "Center for the Library's Analytical Science Samples" (CLASS). The CLASS reference room will safeguard and make accessible the Library’s rare and valuable preservation science sample collections for analytical comparison and study by scientists and other scholars, as well as science research institutions. These collections include pigment-coated and transparent papers, as well as the TAPPI Standard Paper Materials Collection of seventy differentiated papers; the Forbes Pigment Collection of over 1000, often rare, colorants; and the original Barrow Book Collection of 1000 volumes, dating from 1509-1899, first assembled in the 1960’s and the basis for the development of mass deacidification to ensure longevity.