Past Projects
These pages give details of several initiatives which the British Library's Collection Care department has entered into with other bodies, either to undertake primary research itself or to provide expertise and produce findings on issues necessary to save the nation's written heritage. More information can also be found in Appendix 1 of the British Library Conservation Research Strategy
Raman Microscopy Research
This research was carried out as a collaboration between the British Library and University College London. Prof Robin Clark and his students used Raman spectroscopy in the analysis of materials (principally pigments) used in the making of illuminated manuscripts, early printed books and philatelic material. The results have been published in a series of research papers: please see the bibliography.
SEPIA 2 - Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access
The British Library was a partner in a European Union funded project called SEPIA 2 (Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access), which ended in 2003. The project had two main aims: to focus on training and exchange of experience of professionals working with photographic collections, and to increase awareness of the general public of the European photographic heritage. As part of the project, the British Library carried out experiments to determine whether scanning photographs would cause them harm. Fortunately, no adverse effects were demonstrated.
Ancient colorants and dyes
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, led by Prof K. Seddon, were able to identify the yellow colorant huangbo, used to dye the paper of the Diamond Sutra, as berberine. This work was published in volume 2 of The British Library Studies in Conservation Science in 1998
Archival leather research
The use of archival quality leather is essential to ensure the long term preservation of leather bound objects whether printed book, manuscript or archives. The British Library, in conjunction with other European partners, took part in a project to investigate the durability of craft leather, which concluded in 2001. Details of the report are on the 'Towards a longer lasting leather' page.
Deacidification
Deacidification is a process used to neutralise acidity in paper. There are several reasons why paper is or becomes acidic. The use of alum in size in the paper-making process contributes sulphuric acid and this makes the paper extremely brittle. Paper can also be affected by other agents such as acid caused by the break up of lignin within the woodpulp used for cheap paper. Much of the printed output of the UK and Ireland published after 1850 is on acid paper. This problem currently affects millions of items in the UK national collections. Other countries already undertaking mass deacidification include Canada, the USA, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany.
In 1999, the British Library’s Co-Operation and Partnership Programme commissioned a report to examine the feasibility of establishing a mass deacification unit in the UK. The report, ‘The Enemy Within’, was published in 2001, followed by a phase 2 report in 2002 and the results of a deacidification demonstrator project in 2003. These can be found on the Infosave pages of the Preservation Advisory Centre.
Digital Athenaeum
The British Library worked with the University of Kentucky on the Digital Athenaeum project in 1999 - 2002. This employed state-of-the-art technical approaches using new lighting methods and 2D/3D digital image processing and made it possible to enhance, recover and restore invisible or illegible information in damaged manuscripts. This follows on from the work which Collection Care undertook as part of the Electronic Beowulf project.
Survey on Conservation of Asian Documents
The British Library has been involved as a partner in this project to assess the current physical conditions and environments of UK Asian document collections. This has led to an improved knowledge of these collections, particularly knowing which materials require unusual or highly specialised handling and conservation techniques. An overall preservation and conservation strategy still needs to be developed.
Drying water-damaged books
In the aftermath of the devastating floods in Central Europe in 2003, The British Library partnered the University of Utah and several other organisations in assessing the effectiveness of a number of techniques for drying water-damaged books. It was concluded that simple air-drying was as good as vacuum freeze drying and had a negligible effect on the strength of paper.
