The Preservation Department of the MSU Libraries was established in 1991 with Mary Ann Tyrrell serving as the first Preservation Librarian. Earlier initiatives in preservation activities included the formation of a Disaster Planning Committee in 1987 and the beginnings of a book repair unit which was expanded in 1992.

In addition to the Preservation Office, the newly created department consisted of the Binding Preparation, Book Repair, and Collection Renewal units. Major accomplishments the first few years included participation in a CIC cooperative microfilming project to preserve a large collection of Africana books at MSU that had become brittle and would have been lost otherwise. A properly outfitted book repair lab was added and disaster response equipment and supplies were purchased for the main library and its branches. In 1993, a Preservation Advisory Council was appointed to consult on preservation-related issues. Exploring preservation reformatting methods for replacing the growing number of aging, brittle books in its collections, the department added commercially bound photocopy reproductions as a regular part of preservation program. Digitization is now being added to the options for preserving the older collections in their original formats, and the department is working closely with Special Collections and the Science Library to select and prepare materials to use in initial projects for digitization.

In 1997 the Access and Preservation Division was created as part of a reorganization of the MSU Libraries. The units now making up this division are Binding Preparation, Collections Conservation, Collections Renewal, Preservation, and Stacks Maintenance.

• Ph Test Pen
• Acid-free paper
• Gator Tails
• Pink Ties
• Zip Lock Bags

Links to other conservation and preservation resources

Conservation Online (CoOL)
Indiana University Library Preservation Department
MSU Libraries Disaster Preservation Plan