Today I returned to the library’s digital imaging services facility in Queens, this time for a tour of the Conservation Lab. If library materials need repair before they can be digitized, they’re brought here. #libraries #conservation #preservation #NYC
Today I returned to the library’s digital imaging services facility in Queens, this time for a tour of the Conservation Lab. If library materials need repair before they can be digitized, they’re brought here. #libraries #conservation #preservation #NYC https://t.co/jMNrKDRIAi
At the entrance to the Conservation Lab is a wall-mounted wood case with glass doors. Inside the case are what the person who led the tour called “tooling tools.” They’re no longer used by the conservators, so they’re here as a display. #libraries #conservation #preservation #NYC
A closer look at the tooling tools. On the end of each is a different design. I was told they were used to stamp designs into leather. Gold and other metals were also poured into the molds to create design pieces. #libraries #conservation #preservation #NYC
Upon entering the Conservation Lab, I immediately noticed this large piece of equipment, which is a board shear from the 1800s. It’s still actively used to cut and trim boards used for mounting, say, newly restored oversized maps, etc. #libraries #conservation #preservation #NYC
Deeper into the lab, we got to see the conservators at work. Here, one is doing inpainting, “where damaged, deteriorated, or missing parts of an artwork are filled in.” She’s using color pencils and watercolors to do the work. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inpainting #libraries #conservation #NYC
Here, one of the conservators is doing bookbinding repair. They explained that the back covers were missing on several of these, so they found paper that perfectly matched the front cover in color and texture and did the repairs. Like new! #libraries #conservation #NYC
At this table, a conservator is tending to the creases, crinkles, and stains on an illustration of the Brooklyn Bridge done on drafting linen, a cloth once “commonly used as an alternative to wood-pulp papers.” en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drafting_… #libraries #conservation #NYC