Preservation Snapshot: 2020-2021 Project Wrap-Up

Becky Koch, Conservation and Preservation Specialist, Milner Library, Illinois State University

To say this has been an unusual year would be an understatement. Along with the personal stressors of living through a pandemic, our jobs rapidly and unexpectedly transformed. This year’s CARLI Preservation Committee wanted to capture our experiences and share them with our colleagues in the hopes that we could learn from one another.

Several themes shown through in this year’s interviews. First, flexibility. In March of 2020 we were told to pivot to work-from-home with little notice. To achieve this, our everyday work responsibilities had to change, and we needed to find new ways to provide our patrons with services. Our work became more digital-focused; many highlighted efforts to find digital surrogates or to create them if none existed. Digital reference services were enhanced and expanded. We all learned more about copyright and what we could digitize for our patrons and what we could not.

Not only did we provide access to materials through digital means, we also developed low or no contact ways of distributing physical materials. Several of you mentioned pulling requested books for patrons and leaving them on a self-serve hold shelf. Others mentioned placing requested books in lockers. No matter how we managed it, we all got materials to our patrons when they were needed.

We also relied on communicating with our colleagues and peers to exchange new information, and we did it in completely new ways. A few of you mentioned attending digital conferences, and we have all become expert Zoom users. While I think we all miss the informal nature of water-cooler chats, some mentioned the benefits of having planned, regular meetings with colleagues. Perhaps we will bring a few of our new habits into post-COVID life, although I will be grateful to have those informal conversations back as well.

As for specific preservation work, digital projects got a lot of love over the past year. Metadata was mentioned more than once as was digitization of materials. You also spent time researching and learning new techniques, something we do not often have time for in our regular work days. Some of you could perform work on physical items at home, but most were eager to get back into the lab.

As life is returning back to normal, I hope that we carry some of the things we have learned during this time into our future workspaces. Flexibility, communication techniques, and creative problem solving are just some of the skills we have developed through adversity, and they are lessons that I, for one, will not be quick to forget.  

The committee’s articles for the year are available on the CARLI website (https://www.carli.illinois.edu/products-services/collections-management/preservation-response-covid-19) and provide a snapshot of library preservation activities over the course of the past year.