book repair

In anticipation of Smithsonian Libraries’ participation in this year’s Museum Day Live events on Saturday March 12th, we wanted to highlight Library Preservation work at the Book Conservation Lab here at Smithsonian Libraries, and draw attention to the varied interests and skills that are inherent to Preservation work and are important and driving forces in preserving library collections for the future.

Smithsonian Libraries and Archives Preservation Team recently had the opportunity to participate in a three-day workshop exploring various binding techniques for atlas structures at our Book Conservation Lab in Landover, MD. The workshop was taught by Katherine Kelly, Senior Book Conservator at the Library of Congress where she has taught this course several times.  Guided by Katherine, our preservation staff constructed atlas models with a variety of map folding patterns, attachment techniques, guarded structures, and compensation methods.