Save the Treasures of the Long Room
Save the Treasures of the Long Room
The work is carried out by teams of Preservation Assistants, who are trained and supervised by a Conservator. The teams comprise full time staff, employed on one-year contracts. Candidates come from all over the world and a variety of backgrounds including Library and Archive Studies, Archaeology, History of Art, History and Conservation.
The tasks carried out include:
- The removal of dirt from books and shelves with the use of vacuum cleaners fitted with HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters, and low-pressure vacuum tables
- The application of a leather consolidant (Klucel G) to degraded leather
- Minor in-situ stabilising repairs, including the consolidation of delaminated leather, and hinging-on of detached spine pieces
- Tying-up detached boards with unbleached cotton tape.
- The fabrication of custom-made enclosures for fragile items.
- Recording the condition, structure, and treatment of each book in a database
In 2008 work started on collections on the gallery level of the Long Room with 13,000 books on lower perimeter shelves treated by early 2009. By mid-2009, 62,838 books on the north side of the Long Room books had been cleaned. The estimated total number of books in the Long Room is 200,000.
A donation of €50 will enable us to treat five of our rare and precious early printed books, and a gift of €250 will enable us to treat an entire shelf of books. Click below to donate - enter "Save the Treasures" on that page as the specific area you would like to help.