Every year our staff, students and volunteers look forward to our Student & Volunteer Appreciation day, which we affectionately call “fun day”. It generally takes place in late November or early December, always before finals week. It is a time to show our appreciation for all the hard work our students, volunteers and staff do throughout the year, while having an opportunity to come together and learn some new bookbinding or book arts technique. In the past, we’ve done paper marbling, made handmade paper, created German long stitch binds, and more.
I have been coordinating our student & volunteer appreciation days for almost as long as I’ve been in the Lab, so for at least 12 years now. I love it because I am the type of person who enjoys planning these types of things, but also I love watching a student, volunteer or staff member just get really excited about something new. You never know if it’s going to be that quiet new volunteer who just can’t get enough of paper marbling, or that student who doesn’t have any art background but just does the most amazing pulp paintings ever! So after all these years, the thought of 2020/the pandemic ruining everything and not having any sort of student/volunteer appreciation day was just unacceptable!
I immediately thought, “What types of activities could we do virtually that would be no cost to the lab and would give everyone a couple hours to come together and decompress?” After a little brainstorming with Holly, we came up with a Button Hole Stitch binding (which I had recently learned) and a simple dissolving view. With the help of my wonderful student staff member and cohort buddy, Lexie, I prepped kits for our virtual event, as well as prepared a step by step video on creating a button hole stitch binding.
Here are some of the beautiful creations that came out of our little virtual fun day:
After nearly 5 months of working from home, Preservation Lab staff are finally returning to the Lab and to UC’s campus in a very safe and limited way. In mid-March, like most of the country, UC Libraries and the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library shut down, forcing staff from both institutions to pivot and begin working remotely. After many months of webinars, research, model making, box making, some general collections treatment, and a whole lot of Microsoft Teams meetings and town halls, both institutions are beginning to open back up and offer some services. Luckily for the Lab staff, throughout this period of solely remote work, our UCL co-manager and Preservation Librarian, Holly, would make weekly or bi-weekly runs to the Lab to pick up materials we might need while working from home. We would then schedule our contact-free pick up of requested materials with her. The whole process ran rather smoothly and got us by for many, many months.
Since the Lab is located on UC’s campus, in Langsam Library, the Lab follows UC’s procedures for Returning to Campus. The preparation for returning to the Lab involved a workplace assessment of the space, a phased plan for returning to the Lab (which was vetted and approved), mandatory COVID-19 training, daily wellness checks, mandatory facial coverings, and social distancing.
Jessica and Catarina, all masked up, during one of their first shifts in the Lab.
The Preservation Lab’s plan to return includes the use of a cohort system to reduce exposure and better aid in contact tracing, if needed in the future. For the month of August, two cohorts would go back for 3 to 3 ½ hour shifts, one day a week. For example, cohort #1 consists of Catarina and myself while cohort #2 consists of Kasie and Holly. Cohort #1 goes into the Lab on Monday mornings, while cohort #2 goes in Friday mornings. While working in the Lab, our focus is on production and treatment – this means that we are either actively treating special collections items or working to evaluate, measure or prep materials to take home for treatment or housing.
Catarina working on special collection materials from third party client Conner Prairie.
Catarina working on special collection materials from UC Libraries’ Classics Library.
Materials evaluated and prepped for split board bindings to be done at home by Kasie.
Materials evaluated and prepped for split board bindings to be done at home by Jessica.
We’ve also made slight adjustments to our workspaces so that staff can stay as distanced as possible while they work. For example, Catarina has moved to our student staff bench area since she and I, under normal circumstances, are benchmates and work right across from each other. I don’t think Catarina is minding having all this space to herself to spread out and work on multiple projects at once while she’s in the Lab.
In anticipation for this exciting and overwhelming change – going from working from home for over 4 months and basically living in quarantine to going back into the Lab and onto campus with another human being, while wearing a mask the whole time – we made thoughtful decisions regarding shifts and breaks. We only work 3 to 3 ½ hours at a time and we take individual breaks once an hour in our outdoor space just outside the lab.
Our little jungle oasis, just outside the Lab.
A place where we can go outside, take off our mask, have a snack and breathe some fresh air.
We each have dedicated sanitation supplies to make sure we disinfect before, during and after our shifts. We also decided that we would dispose of our own garbage at home, in order to further restrict access to our floor from non-Lab staff members, like housekeeping. Langsam Library, where the Lab is located, is also using a channel on Microsoft Teams to check-in and out while you are in the building. This not only let’s you know who else is in the building with you, who you might come across while in certain parts of the building (for example, the restroom), but will also give us a fairly accurate record to present to any contact tracing efforts in the future, if needed.
Overall, I think our approach to returning to the Lab has been a thoughtful and cautious one. From UC’s COVID procedures (wellness checks, facial coverings, social distancing, etc.) to our use of the cohort system and the small adjustments made to our workflow and setup, I feel very safe returning to the Lab and very fortunate to have the time/space to prep materials to take home.
Jessica and Catarina wrapping up their shift by sanitizing and taking their garbage with them – while also wearing their masks and distancing!
We are looking forward to expanding our plan in September to possibly include another cohort. Until then, make sure to check out our Instagram (@thePreservationLab) where you can see all the things we’re working on remotely and in the Lab.
In case you missed last night’s Facebook live event “Preserving Your Personal Library”, you can still watch it here on Facebook or on our MediaSpace channel:
Kasie, Catarina and I had a great time doing our first live event, although to be honest we were a bit nervous, however we thought it went quite well!
Part of the livestream included a step-by-step demo on how to create a simple paper slipcase at home. It requires no special tools and is really so easy to make that we encourage you to give it a try! You can find the full instructional video, complete with closed captions on our MediaSpace channel…
We want to send our deepest gratitude and thanks to Austin Winters for guiding us through this livestream and for coordinating everything for us. It was an absolute pleasure working with you, Austin! Also, we want to thank everyone who joined the livestream and for all your wonderful comments; it really means so much to us. And I want to personally thank my co-presenters, Catarina and Kasie, who are truly wonderful colleagues and collaborators.
Join Preservation Lab team members, Kasie Janssen, Catarina Figueirinhas, and Jessica Ebert for a special Facebook Live event hosted by our parent institutions: the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and the University of Cincinnati Libraries. The event, entitled “Preserving Your Personal Library”, will take place on Tuesday, June 16th at 7pm.
Kasie, Catarina and Jessica will be discussing at-home preservation concerns like temperature, humidity, pests, light damage and storage. They will be providing tips and tricks on how to address these concerns in a practical way, and Catarina will be offering up step-by-step instructions on how to make a simple yet protective paper slipcase at home! You can access the event via the Public Library’s Facebook events page: https://www.facebook.com/events/317097016118724/.
As you might know, the Lab generally employs anywhere from 4 to 6 student staff members at a given time. Our student staff are invaluable to the Lab, helping us keep up with our general circulating repairs, custom enclosures, Colibri covers, and commercial binding. Seven weeks ago, when both our parent institutions closed due to the pandemic, the Preservation Lab staff moved to working remotely. Two of our student staff members, Lexie Febel and Christine Shi, joined us in this adventure of remote work during COVID-19. Christine and Lexie are both conservation student staff members and our two most senior student employees.
Due to the nature of working remotely, general collections repair at home was unfortunately thrown out the window for our student staff, mainly due to a lack of time to prepare materials and projects before vacating the library. Fortunately for me, my fellow student staff supervisor in the Lab, Sidney Gao, was willing to collaborate to create thoughtful, virtual work-from-home assignments for Lexie and Christine. Sidney and I wanted to create assignments that would allow our student staff members to research and provide feedback on a topic that was important to both of them personally and professionally, while simultaneously helping us create a better work environment for student staff members. We also hoped that this opportunity would allow us to strengthen our skills as student staff supervisors.
Sidney and I decided to focus our assignments on mental health in the workplace, knowing that Lexie, as a Secondary Education major, and Christine, as a Psychology degree graduate starting her PhD in Psychology, would be passionate about this topic. The project includes three parts: research, synthesis of research and self-reflection, and recommendations for the Lab. Throughout the project we have been using Microsoft Teams to assign projects, communicate, share files, and offer feedback. And it is of no surprise to us that Christine and Lexie are doing a phenomenal job of their projects so far!
Part one of the Mental Health in the Workplace assignment. We’ve been using the Teacher Dashboard app within Teams to assign the various parts of the project and provide feedback when assignments are completed.
Since our student staff members and their work, both under normal circumstances and now, are so valuable to the Lab, it seemed only fitting for Christine and Lexie to share a little bit about their experiences working in the Lab:
Lexie:
(a 2020 Library Quality Service Award recipient)
Getting the opportunity to work at the Preservation Lab has been one of my favorite parts about college. This past March marked the 2nd anniversary of me working at the Lab, and I hope to stay there until I graduate in 2021. Working from home and completing assignments revolving around mental health has really enlightened me on certain topics and has encouraged me to reflect on my own mental health practices. On a normal day when I am actually at work in the Lab, I enjoy completing spine repairs, but one of my favorite things that Christine and I have gotten the chance to do was to make our own books, using marbled paper for the covers.
The case bindings Lexie and Christine (respectively) created in June of 2019 – not a fault among either binding, they were perfect!
Christine:
Working at the Preservation Lab has been an opportunity unlike any I have ever had. I’ve always had a passion for craftsmanship and the creative arts as well as a love and reverence for libraries, scholarship, and conservation. But after switching out of a design degree, I didn’t ever think I could have a job at the intersection of so many of my creative interests! The culture, work, and people at the Preservation Lab created a space for me to escape from a stressful campus and dive into a place of meditative craft and supportive learning. I loved being able to learn and practice new skills in bookmaking and repairs but also the opportunity to be a part of such an important mission.
Sidney and I wanted to reflect on our roles as student supervisors and have an opportunity to thank Christine and Lexie for their dedication and hardwork:
Sidney:
Working from home has allowed me the time to reflect on my position as a student supervisor, and on the value of student labor within libraries. I’ve gotten the chance to consider how my work-related philosophies influence those I supervise, and I realized that we truly cannot overlook the amount of mental and emotional labor that our student staff put into making libraries the wonderful places that they are.
The research I’ve done over this period of working from home has helped me understand the value of creating safe spaces and strong relationships with those I supervise. I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to work with Christine and Lexie on this assignment. They’ve used their personal experience and academic expertise to help me better understand the ways in which I can support those around me. For that, I am truly grateful.
Jessica:
My role as student supervisor has never been something that has come easily to me. In fact, when I took on this responsibility several years ago, it was something that made me anxious, and, I’ll be honest, that I dreaded. My fear and anxiety was twofold. First, I am a very introverted person and I struggled to see how I could be an effective student supervisor. Second, I feared that I would mess up, that I wouldn’t be good at it and the impact that would have on the students. These are two fears that I continue to struggle with today, but I am conscious of them and I like to think that I am continuing to grow and evolve as I continue this role. As I often tell my student employees and our volunteers when they make a mistake or the repair didn’t turn out quite the way they wanted, “You are not a robot! You are human!” We all make mistakes, the most important thing is that we learn from them and use that knowledge as we go forward. We are flawed, and that is okay.
When I reflect on Christine and Lexie, I am so proud of them. I am grateful for their commitment to the Lab and to their work. But beyond that, I am truly thankful that they came to work in the Lab and that I have had the honor to work with them, both in the Lab and remotely. I could go on and on about their amazing hand-skills, their dedication and focus, their intelligence, and their thoughtfulness. I am hopeful that the work they have done remotely will not only allow Sidney and I to create a happier and healthier workplace for student staff, but that it will impact me and my ability to continuously improve as a supervisor. I have no doubt that I will gain new understandings and grow; and that will directly impact future Preservation Lab student staff for the better.So, thank you both!
A huge thank you, on behalf of the entire Lab, to Christine and Lexie (who have been working with us remotely this past month) and Emily Wagner and Charles Harte (who will hopefully return back to the Lab once the pandemic ends and our “new normal” begins) for being valuable members of our team!
*While student employees are generally referred to as “student workers”, Sidney and I have decided to make a conscious shift in the language we use. We prefer the term “student staff”, as it more accurately portrays their role as members of our team and the great contributions they make to the Lab and to the libraries.
The Preservation Lab staff are all settled into the new reality of working from home. Today marks the close of our third week working remotely and quarantining ourselves during COVID-19, and after two weeks of adjustments, realizations, and finding our grooves, we thought week three was the perfect time to tackle a fun group project! You may recall last April when we were fortunate enough to have the wonderful Julia Miller come to the lab and teach us a variety of historical structures. In that one week with Julia we learned so many structures, from tablets to scrolls & rolls to a model of Ms 815. Julia also left each of us with a packet of all the materials we needed to create a model of Ms 987; a single-quire codex containing the proverbs of Solomon, which is part of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin’s collection. But in the past year, our day-to-day priorities always took precedent over model-making and we just never found the time to work on it together. Well, what better way to relieve a little stress and commemorate the anniversary of our workshop with Julia than with a little coordinated model-making!?
Since Catarina had made an Ms 987 model in a previous workshop she had taken with Julia [pictured below], she was kind enough to guide us through the steps in two Microsoft Teams chat sessions. She was also available via chat to answer any questions we had as we went along.
Catarina’s model from a previous workshop that we used as a reference during our at-home-model-making
Here are the finished at-home models:
Catarina’s model that will become part of the Lab’s permanent model collection
Sidney’s model
Hyacinth’s model
Jessica’s model
Jessica’s model
Holly’s model
Kasie’s model
Kasie’s model – like several of us, Kasie created a cutaway model, not fully pasting down one side of the leather and turn-ins and not attaching the pastedown
Kasie’s model featuring her furry coworker, Ru!
Many of us also took photos of our progress as we were making the models and we posted them in our Instagram stories. You can find those images within our story highlight entitled “Ms.987 Models” in the profile. We also shared our models with each other in our scheduled Friday morning video chat!
Where you can find our highlighted stories of our Ms 987 models
Kasie, Catarina, Holly, Ashleigh, and me (in the corner) showing off our models
We are so grateful to Julia for preparing all the materials for this model, as part of our workshop last April. The preparation she did for us made it so easy to construct these models at home. I would also like to thank Catarina for walking us through the construction process and for answering all our questions throughout.
Happy Friday everyone! Stay happy, stay healthy and stay safe!
You may recall back in September of 2018 when we shared an article I had written in our UC Libraries’ newsletter about photographic documentation in the Lab and a recent workshop I had attended through FAIC: http://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/source/photo-documentation-in-the-preservation-lab/ If you missed it, basically the workshop focused on a standardized and replicable UV/visible fluorescence documentation workflow, and was taught by Conservator Jennifer McGlinchey Sexton at Duke University. It was a fantastic workshop and I came back from it with a plan for a new UV workflow and a list of equipment for an improved UV setup. However, conservation photography equipment can be pricey, especially when you are embarking on improving a very specialized setup, like UV. On top of that we had just included a Near Infrared workflow into our photography repertoire and our budget was feeling the strain. So we took the smart approach and slowly bought equipment, here and there, when the budget allowed. Finally, we now have all the equipment we need for the new setup. Check out the results from today’s session:
Left: normal illumination, Right: UV radiation
Lucky for me, when it came to refreshing myself on the actual workflow I had learned at Duke the binder that Jennifer had put together for each workshop participant was incredibly thorough and all I needed to replicate the workflow in the Lab. Before we dive into the aspects of the new workflow and why it is “improved”, let’s discuss our previous workflow for a second. Like most conservation labs, we refer to The AIC Guide to Digital Photography and Conservation Documentation (currently on sale for $20!) for almost anything PhotoDoc-related. For UV, the book details the different types of ultraviolet radiation, various types of UV lamps, safety (both for the object and yourself), setup, filters, and workflow. In this volume the basic workflow describes using the camera’s “shade” white balance setting and then adjusting the temperature to 10000K and the tint to +35 in CameraRaw. Exposure is determined by the photographer using visual cues alone, as there is no way to white balance using a standard color checker; the Neutral 8 (N8) patch will no longer be neutral grey under UV fluorescence.
While this workflow produces very usable images that illustrate the fluorescence of materials, inks, pigments, adhesive and staining, it is subjective and makes replication of results more difficult. While our prior workflow for UV photography could use improvement, the workflow itself was not the main issue, in fact, this is the workflow used in many other labs. The problem child of our setup was the equipment, and I’m sure any lab trying to piece together a completely brand new PhotoDoc studio (which happened six years ago for us) on a budget can relate. Behold our previous “UV” lamps, which I affectionately referred to as the “Home Depot setup”:
Good ole black lights! Though, unfortunately, we did not have a velvet Elvis black light poster hanging in the studio to really take full advantage of these babies.
If we’re being honest, these low-pressure fluorescent lamps were super cheap and served their purpose for 6 years. Shooting with them was a bear; since the intensity was very weak, I would have to shoot with both lamps and we did not have any clamps to hold them in place. I had to either get someone to assist me or, once I got a wireless mouse, I got even more creative (ask me about it sometime – it’s pretty funny). The downside of these inexpensive lamps is the significant and noticeable visible light leakage. Since the fluorescent tubes are not properly filtered, the image you are left with has a blueish-purple cast to it:
Notice the blue cast to the background in this image.
In this image the blue cast is more apparent on the parchment page and the color checker.
Now onto the new
setup! The main components include:
1 – REL C4 Magnum-GO lamp* – this is an LED lamp with a peak output of 368nm. It comes with a filter over the radiation source, therefore eliminating visible light leakage from the lamp.
Taget UV and UV Gray Card – this color checker and gray card are specially designed for UVA fluorescence photography and allow you to white balance prior to imaging (gray card) and identify the RGB values (target).
Filters (which you should have regardless of your setup, but we did not have them previously) –
2E – cuts UV and blue
PECA 918 (or equivalent, we have a Hoya IR Cut filter) – cuts IR even more
We also purchased an adapter in order to fit both filters on our smaller 50mm lens
UV Glasses (always part of our setup but worth mentioning) – safety is very important and we purchased these goggles because they easily fit over eyeglasses.
Right to left, top to bottom: filters, SuperClamp, UV Glasses, Target UV, UV Gray Card, REL lamp
Fun facts about the REL lamp: The intensity of the lamp and the handle make it great for quick examination. It has a normal LED built in as well and you can have both functions on at the same time, making it easier to see if you’ve turned your studio lights off or if you want to do a quick comparison of normal illumination vs UV radiation. As with any UV radiation source you want to keep it away from your object until you are ready to image. When using a radiation source you also want to let the lamp warm up for at least one minute before imaging (away from the object or with the object covered). This is because when a lamp is initially turned on it can emit up to eight times more UV radiation, and allowing the lamp to warm up gives the output levels a chance to even out, making it much safer for the object.
Fun facts about the Target UV & UV Gray Card: I know the target and gray card are extremely expensive and not feasible for everyone, but there are definitely advantages to them if you have the budget to invest in the pair. Not only do the target and gray card allow for white balancing, thus giving you a more accurate color temperature and color representation, but the target is also double-sided and has 4 separate intensity levels: low, medium, high and ultra. This basically means that you can image a wider variety of fluorescence intensities without sacrificing exposure or color representation. For example, if you have an object with a layer of varnish on it that only mildly fluoresces, you would probably use the “low” intensity patch to white balance, whereas if you have an object with optical brighteners (extreme fluorescence), you would likely use the “ultra” intensity scale. This makes it very handy if you have one object that has multiple materials/inscriptions/staining that are fluorescing at very different intensities.
Normal Illumination
Low-low intensity
Low intensity
Medium intensity
High intensity
Overall, I am very happy with the new setup and workflow, and I am looking forward to using it more and more in the future.
*In the workshop we used by the REL C4 Magnum LED lamps and these UV Systems SuperBright 3 LW370 lamps. Both worked beautifully but it seemed as though two of the UV Systems lamps would be needed while I could get away with just purchasing one of the REL LED lamps. The UV Systems lamps would have also required a much more robust mounting system beyond the SuperClamp because of their weight and orientation.
The Preservation Lab is gearing up to co-teach a Book Arts Course with Gary Weissman in the English Department, Spring 2020. Jessica Ebert and I prepped for the closure session by securing these two books. The idea of creating this sampler was borrowed, with permission, from our friend and fellow bookbinder Fran Kovac.
That’s a lot of security! From top to bottom – bone clasp, two hole tie, O ring wrap, toggle, and 6th century wrap (wrapped two directions so as to see the design). Holly Prochaska (UCL) — Preservation Librarian
Each of our student workers is given a cubby, a general collections lab manual and a basic toolkit that is theirs to use and maintain throughout their time in the lab. Before a new student starts working and when a current student leaves or graduates I will take the toolkit and evaluate all the contents to make sure they are all there and in good working order. Usually when a students graduates and moves on this includes cleaning out years of scrap paper and debris. And often a complete scrubbing down is in order.
Over the summer I had several students graduate and leave us, so I had several kits to go through. When I was washing one of the older toolboxes I noticed some folded paper that was attached to the underside of a tray with masking tape. I immediately removed it, though it was already partially soaked with water.
Upon further inspection it appeared to be a collection of thoughts, quotations, poems, and a short story written on a piece of paper and a fragment of cloth. Some were written in ink, others in pen. I immediately texted the prior owner of the toolbox to see if they belonged to her, but she had no idea what I was talking about. My best guess is that these are several years old (the toolbox was in dire need of a good scrubbing), possibly dating back to before I was student supervisor and possibly before I even worked in the lab (i.e. 12 years or more).
What a fun mystery to stumble across! Especially when the most exciting things I usually find when I clean out student toolkits are bent microspatulas, collections of abandoned endbands or ALL the pencils! Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Student Supervisor | Conservation Tech | Conservation Photography Specialist
Since it’s Tuesday, but you’re probably wishing it was Friday, I thought I’d share some fun gifs of a 16th century German ophthalmolgy book from UC’s Archives & Rare Books Library that was recently treated and returned. But first, let’s take a look at the treatment carried out by our conservator, Ashleigh Schieszer.
This full vellum binding suffered the same fate as many other stiff board vellum bindings: significantly warped boards, a result of fluctuations in humidity. The volume arrived in the lab with vellum losses along the head and tail of the spine. There was also evidence of two ties at the fore edge that would have originally been used to keep the boards from warping, however, all but a small fragment of these ties were lost. Ashleigh humidified and flattened the upper and lower boards and added new alum-tawed ties sympathetic to the placement and size of the original ties. The binding was then housed in a cloth covered compression clamshell (created by our box-making magician, Chris) to help keep the boards from warping in the future.
Here you can see the fragment of the original tie with the new tie inserted below it.
Now onto the gifs. This volume has several anatomical flap prints that explore the inner working of the eye. Here are two of the flap prints, one which takes a look at the brain from above and another that examines the eye from the side:
We were in luck that these particular anatomical flap prints were in relatively good condition when they came to the lab. However, that is usually not the case with these very fragile multi-component prints. If you are interested in the learning more about the history, treatment and exhibition of these prints, check out Meg Brown’s article “Flip, Flap and Crack”. Jessica Ebert [UCL] – Conservation Tech/Photographic Documentation Tech
