Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

Fig. 3: The consequence of 50 instances of handling for the paper (bound and unbound) with the lowest DP.
objects by readers-volunteers. The objects were
either bound books or folders containing loose
sheets of paper, resembling archival folders. The
aim was to subject each document to instances
of handling and monitor the accumulation of
physical degradation (tears, missing pieces) during
use, which involved turning the pages resembling
the process of reading. 25 different books
and archival folders were used, with paper of
different degree of polymerisation (DP), to investigate
how accumulation of mechanical degradation
depends on DP.
Only paper with DP600, missing pieces with
text accumulated at an insignificantly low rate
and in many cases did not develop missing pieces
even after 90 instances of handling. In order for
this data to be of use, it needs to be used in the
context of the average frequency of document
use at the collecting institution, which forms an
essential input into the collection model.
Conclusions
Collections can be seen as a dynamically changing
entity, changes depending on external (environment,
use), as well as internal impacts (material
make-up). Although the rates might be different,
the processes of change in collections and
those taking place in living populations are similar,
so the principles of modelling could also be
similar. In the Collections Demography project,
we are developing a general stock (population)
model, in which a collection could be defined as
a group of objects to which a given set of management
criteria are applied. This enables the
model to be used for examination and optimisation
of different management scenarios (with
respect to the environment or use), as suggested
in recent environmental management guidance.
References
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Specifications for Managing Environmental
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Dillon, C., Lindsay, W., Taylor, J., Fouseki,
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