PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION OF BOOK AND PAPER

Librarians and archivists are professionals directly involved by the Italian Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio (Dlgs 42/2004) in cultural heritage preservation. In this perspective, the Code also requires their possession of adequate and coherent training in the specific field.
In the frame of the Archival and Library Science curriculum, the present course aims precisely to provide students with the skills necessary to manage the preservation activities in archives and libraries, addressing both theoretical assumptions and operational methods of the discipline.

The goal of the course is to train students in planning and managing preservation activities/interventions in archives and libraries, recognizing the main processes of decay, prioritizing interventions, and comparing different methodologies and invasiveness of conservation/restoration procedures.

The possession of prerequisites is not required to attend the course and the final exam.

The course will initially present the theoretical assumptions and techniques of archival and library heritage preservation, then will focus on book and document conservation/restoration.

PROGRAM
The evolution of book and document preservation in the 20th century: actors and events.
Cultural heritage in archives and libraries.
Preservation as stated by the Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio.
Study and preventive activities, maintenance and conservation/restoration interventions.
Manufacturing materials and techniques of books and documents.
Decay processes in books and documents.
Preserving the historical material evidence during conservation/restoration: considerations on the reversibility and invasiveness of the intervention.
Conservation/restoration treatments: operational phases and evaluation of outcomes.

References and materials (essays, articles, presentations) will be available on Moodle.

The final examination (oral) will take into account the knowledge acquired on:
theoretical principles, main events and actors in the historic evolution of the preservation of cultural heritage;
materials and techniques in the historical manufacture of books and documents;
the main decay processes in archival and library materials;
activities/intervention in cultural heritage preservation (study, prevention, maintenance and restoration) in archives and libraries;
the main conservation/restoration treatments.

Active participation in lectures will be considered, as will the ability to use a language appropriate to the topics covered.

The course will consist of 30 hours that will be developed both through theoretical lectures and examination of explicative samples.

Italian

Language: Italian

oral