Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Conservation on the other hand is the repair treatment and restoration of these
information materials. Both preservation and conservation are important
functions of the academic libraries since they point at prolonging the life and use
of the materials. The rate at which these library materials are given a pride of
place determines the rate at which information literary is boosted and fostered.
PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION
Preservation
This is an aspect of information management which implies the survival of the
physical medium which contains the information whether printed, hand written
or electronic.
• From an archival perspective, preservation may be viewed as the totality of
processes and operations involved in the protection of information and
archives against damage or deterioration.
• It is therefore concerned with the longevity of either the physical media or
the information contained.
• Preservation is considered as a set of specific steps undertaken to maintain,
restore, repair or otherwise conserve archival information in appropriate
facilities and equipment
• The objective of preservation is to ensure that information survive in a
usable form for as long as they are needed.
• It is important to maintain the medium in which information was originally
created although this is not necessarily a condition for the preservation of
information.
Preservation involves four related activities.
• Maintenance
• Examination
• Conservation
• restoration
Maintenance:
This is the daily care of information and archives, particularly in the current and
semi-current information environment, when they are housed in offices or
information centers;
Maintenance ensure the general protection of information against environmental
hazards or other physical dangers.
Examination:
This refers to the preliminary procedure taken to determine the original materials
and structure of an item and to determine the extent of its deterioration,
alteration or loss.
Conservation:
This is a reactive approach towards preservation of archives. It consists of a set of
methods, techniques and skills applied to the physical documents to repair them
and finally protect them from further damage.
It is an approach that uses chemical and physical techniques to maintain
deteriorating information.
It is usually carried out by specialists or professionals in respective laboratories.
It is the intrusive protection of archival material, by minimal physical and chemical
treatments necessary to resist further deterioration, which will not adversely
affect the integrity of the original.
Conservation covers the preventive measures and processes of repair of damaged
information.
This is the overall term that encompasses the policies and practices involved in
protecting information from deterioration.
Restoration
This refers to the technique and professional judgments used by specialized
conservators in the making good of materials damaged by time use and related
factors.
It is taken to mean the attempt to restore damaged information materials to their
original condition by careful application of the appropriate techniques.
Preservation is a vital element in the whole process of a Library’s programe. The
aim of information and archival preservation is to prolong the utilizable life of
useful research information.
Conclusions
Preservation aspects are given a least priority in many libraries. The modern
librarian is faced with a complex problem as he has to deal not only with the
traditional media but also with modern media such as video recordings,
photographs, microfiches, microfilms, CD – ROMs, computer software, online
databases and their quick obsolescence of associated technologies. It is the duty
of the librarian to preserve and conserve the intellectual content of the
documents for the generations to come irrespective of media and technological
changes. Librarians should learn quickly to adopt themselves to the changing
scenario.
Amazi, I. (2015). Preservation of information resources in academic libraries in
Nigeria: case study of Federal University of technology, Owerri. (BLIS Project). Imo
State University, Owerri.