Research
"The student identifies, evaluates, conducts, and applies current research and thought in library and information studies and in other fields."
" Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." |
ZORA NEALE HURSTON |
While taking my summer seminar course, Preservation Management, the amount of research done in archival and special collections librarianship is astounding. A lot of the research done is interdisciplinary as to fully understand the material being preserved, one must ventures into the creation of the material itself, down to a cellular level at times. For example, my main research paper was done on the conservation and preservation treatments done for the Charters of Freedom in its lifetime on display to the National Archives in Washington D.C.. My thesis was that due to the importance of the documents, more funding and available conservation treatments could be applied and those treatment methods have the ability to trickle down to smaller institutions. During my research, I learned my original thought process was not necessarily wrong or right, but merely had to be adjusted as each piece of parchment has to have unique preservation management plan according to its storage, its composition, previous conservation treatments, and more factors. Over the course, I looked into several different published conservation treatments and preservation methods to other parchment documents or manuscripts with iron-gall ink applied to its surface. In our lectures, I discovered that iron-gall ink is extremely acidic in its original composition, therefore over time, it eats through the parchment, eventually tearing the document apart, along with the possibility of being illegible over time. Despite the aged material, archival and special collection research continues to thrive as researchers seek new ways to prolong the myriad of materials that hold vital information from our past and in order to maintain access to those items, it is essential to seek new avenues of preserving our history.
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Review of conservation treatments and preservation management for George Washington's Last Will and Testament
One of a Kind: The Comparison of Preservation and Conservation Treatments of 18th Century Parchment with Iron Gall Ink
Hope D. Alwine (unpublished) |
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Collection Management ResearchA part of being a librarian is collection management -- whether it be the physical collection or an electronic resource collection -- it is vital to be able to view the components of the collection and ensure that the user is getting what they need. One important factor of collection management is viewing a collection as an organism, its need to grow and eliminate unneeded parts. A fascinating part of research within the LIS field is the research that goes into collection management for the various types of libraries. Librarians conduct pilot programs and report their findings while other researchers examine multiple case studies to see the various methods side by side. The goals of research align to better the entire library community. Without research into the traditionally mundane methods of things like collection management is why the field of librarianship and its components can continue to change with the time as well as the delivery systems of information. Libraries, librarians, and librarianship does not stand still as it is research that maintains the integrity and effectiveness of the LIS field and its profession.
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