Heritage Health Index: Valuable Library Collections at Risk
-- Library Journal, 12/16/2005
Libraries hold the bulk of valuable collections in the nation and are least prepared among the holding institutions to care for them, according to findings in the Heritage Health Index, a survey conducted by Heritage Preservation in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Items held in special collections in libraries and other institutions are at risk. The survey addresses the condition of 4.8 billion items held by more than 30,000 U.S. institutions, including archives, historical societies, and museums. Libraries hold 63 percent of all collections and 94 percent of books/bound volumes, with 33 percent of the latter category in unknown condition. Libraries also hold 43 percent of the nation's archival records/manuscripts, and maps/oversized items; 50 percent of unbound sheets; 29 percent of photographic collections; 78 percent of moving image collections; and 17 percent of all art objects.
These library collections are vulnerable to catastrophic loss, as 78 percent have no emergency plan to respond to such situations. Forty percent of U.S. libraries offer no environmental controls to preserve collections. Among the institutions surveyed, libraries are least likely to have institutional staff involved in preventive conservation—53 percent of all libraries, 45 percent of public libraries, 62 percent of independent research libraries, and 76 percent of academic libraries. Libraries also are most likely to lack temperature, relative humidity, or light-level controls. Only 54 percent of libraries allocate funds for preservation—the lowest amount of all institutions surveyed—and are least likely to use income from endowed funds for this purpose. The report recommends that institutions place a new priority on safe conditions for their collections, that they develop emergency plans, and that they assign staffers to preservation—and that government and the private sector provide more support for preservation. One telling story: when the University of Hawaii, Manoa, suffered a flood in October 2004, the Hamilton Library lost 110,000 maps but managed also to save many rarities because it had a disaster plan.
