PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF BOOK AND PAPER

Librarians and archivists are expressally involved by the Italian Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio (Dlgs 42/2004) in the conservation of cultural heritage and it is crucial that they can be provided of a proper training in the specific field.
As part of the Master's Degree programm in Archival and Library Science, the course "Preservation and conservation of books and documenti" aims to contribute to the acquisition of the skills necessary to manage the preservation in archives and libraries, addressing both the theoretical assumptions and the operational modalities.

The goal of the course is to give future archivists and librarians the tools to plan and manage preservation activities and conservation treatment in archives and libraries, to check the conditions of books and documents, to establish the priorities for intervention, to compare modalities and invasiveness of the main conservation operations.

No prerequisites are requested for attending the course and undertaking the final exam.

The course will initially present the theoretical principles in cultural heritage preservation and the specific activities of archival and book preservation; it will then focus on the conservation treatment of books and documents.

PROGRAM
The evolution of book and document conservation in the 20th century: events and actors.
Cultural Heritage in archives and libraries.
Preservation as regulated by the Italian Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio.
Study and prevention activities, maintenance and conservation treatments.

Materials and manufacturing techniques of historical books and documents.
Degradation processes affecting books and documents.
The conservation treatment and the safeguarding of materiale evidence: considerations on the reversibility and invasiveness of the intervention.
From planning to testing of the restoration intervention.

Conservation treatments: operations and evaluation of the results.

Study materials in the form of essays, articles, pdf presentations will be provided to students during class.

The evaluation will be based on the final oral exam, concerning:
theoretical principles of cultural heritage preservation, history of conservation in archives and libraries, historical manufacturing techniques and the processes of degradation affettino materials and structures of books and documents, the activities in which preservation is carried out in its various forms (study, prevention, maintenance and restoration), also with regard to the conservation treatment phases examined in class.
The ability to analyze and make critical judgments developed through active participation in the lessons and with the study will be considered, as well as the ability to use an appropriate language for the topics discussed.

The course will be structured in 30 hours and developed through theoretical lessons - which will specifically concern the evolution of the preservation of book and documentary materials, the techniques of manufacture and the recognition of materials used for the realization of ancient artifacts, the evaluation of the phenomena of degradation of materials, the assumptions and criteria for evaluating interventions - and practical demonstrations of some phases of the restoration intervention. As far as possible, in consideration of the restrictions in force, the lessons will be held at Studio Res, Via N. Tommaseo 13, Padova.

Italian

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