SURVEYING THE PRINTED BOOK COLLECTIONS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY
| Pages | 15-19 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129010004460 |
| Published date | 01 April 1990 |
| Date | 01 April 1990 |
| Author | Edmund King |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
SURVEYING THE PRINTED
BOOK COLLECTIONS OF
THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Edmund King
VOLUME
11
NUMBER
4
1990
Perceptions
of the
decay
of
poor quality
book papers have been widespread
in
recent
times.
Generally, however, statistical
information
on how far
decay
has
gone
has
been less easy
to
come
by. The
advent
of the
paperback
in
book publishing
and its
rapid
growth have served
to
heighten awareness
of
the poor quality
of
many book papers made
since
the
mid-19th century. Damage
is
furthered
by
acids that have been absorbed
on
to
paper which then break down
the
fibre
chains.
The
British Library,
in
common with
many other large libraries
in the UK and
abroad, knew that
it had a
large problem
on
its hands. What
the
British Library needed
to
do
was
define
its
size, whilst
at the
same
time seeking
a
treatment solution
to
deal
with
it.
Deacidification,
the
neutralisation
of
acids
in
paper fibres,
has
been possible
for a
long time,
on a
sheet-by-sheet basis.
As
concern about
the
scale
of
paper decay
has
spread,
so the
search
has
grown
for the
achievement
of the
deacidification
of
hundreds, possibly thousands
of
books
simultaneously.
The Preservation Service
of the
British
Library
was
established
in 1983.
Shortly after
this,
plans were made
to
conduct
a
survey
of
printed books.
The
objective
was to
obtain
information
on the
scale
of the
decay
of
paper. Only with
a
greater amount
of
information could
the
British Library
attempt
to
match
its
needs with
a
programme
of treatment.
A few
years before this,
the
British Library
had
begun
to
fund research
into
a
mass treatment technique.
METHODOLOGY
It
was
decided
to
conduct
the
survey
on the
basis
of
random sampling. This would enable
large stock areas
to be
covered
in a
reasonable period.
The
British Library's
collections
are
arranged
by
shelf-marks often
grouped
in
broad subjects. Discrete
shelf-
mark ranges were selected which contained
books published from wide geographical
origins. Shelf-mark ranges were also selected
which also possessed,
in the
main, books
accessioned from
the 19th
century onwards.
Once
the
shelf-mark range
had
been chosen,
every alternate press
was
selected
for
sampling. Presses commonly consist
of
between seven
and ten
shelves.
Two
separate
tables
of
random numbers were deployed,
one
set for the
selection
of a
shelf
in a
press,
and
the
other
set for the
selection
of a
book
at
a
particular distance from
the
left-hand
side
of the shelf.
Shelves
in the
stack areas
of the
survey
are
generally
no
wider than
115 cm.
Each table
of random numbers
was
reused after
all the
numbers
on
each list
had
been marked
off.
The same information
was
collected from
each volume:
(1) shelf-mark;
(2) date
of
publication;
(3) country
of
publication; grouping took
place into language areas
(see
Table
III
for
the
full list);
(4) number
of
pages
in the
volume;
(5) condition
of
paper; this
was
measured
by
double folding (through
360
degrees),
the
15
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