Digitization of Cultural Heritage Materials
In addition to the federal guidelines below, read the Preservation Directorate's Preservation Guidelines for Digitizing Library Materials, which focus on preservation considerations for the original items in the digitization workflow.
Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative
With guidelines for both still image and audio/visual digitization.
Older Reports
Guidelines for Electronic Preservation of
Visual Materials
Submitted by Picture Elements, Inc. 1995.
Illustrated Book Study: Digital Conversion Requirements of Printed Illustrations
Submitted by Cornell University Library, Department of Preservation and Conservation and Picture Elements, Inc. July 1999.
Mass Deacidification
The Library's Mass Deacidification Program extends the useful life of at-risk paper-based collection items for continued access.
Mass Deacidification Annotated Bibliography 1990-2010. [PDF: 507 KB / 76 p.]
An updated bibliography including background references covering the physicochemical properties of paper, methods for testing paper properties, and the fundamental chemistry of mass deacidification.
Mass Deacidification: A Selective Bibliography, 1990-2009
Library of Congress Technical Specifications for Mass Deacidification. [PDF: 4.99 MB / 115 p.] 2004.
The Library's Requests for Proposal issued September 7, 1990, to Provide Deacidification on a Mass Production Level of Paper-Based Books in the Collections of the Library of Congress.
Select Bibliography on Mass Deacidification (up to 1997)
Technology Helps Library Save its Paper Collection. April 1997.
Article in the April 21, 1997 issue of the Library of Congress Information Bulletin describing the deacidification program at the Library of Congress.
Mass Deacidification Report : Introduction. December 1994.
Provides overview of a two-part Action Plan that was approved by Congress. Each part is documented by separate reports listed below.
- Mass Deacidification Report: DEZ Process Evaluation. [PDF: 171 KB / 26 p.] October 1994. Report describes the progress achieved following the 1992 approval by Congress of the Library's Action Plan to refine the diethyl zinc (DEZ) mass deacidification process and develop other deacidification processes.
- Mass Deacidification Report: Bookkeeper Process Evaluation. [PDF: 191 KB / 29 p.] September 1994. Report from the Technical Evaluation Team established by the Library of Congress to evaluate the Bookkeeper deacidification process, including testing methods and reports from individual team members.
National Policy on Permanent Papers
The U.S. Permanent Paper Law (P.L. 101-423) requires the use of acid-free paper for federal records, books, and publications of enduring value.
Final Report to Congress
on the Joint Resolution to Establish a National Policy on Permanent
Papers. December 1995.
James H. Billington, Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Michael F. DiMario. December 31,
1993.
Final report submitted to Congress pursuant to provision of Public Law
101-423 section 3 of the Joint Resolution to Establish a National Policy on
Permanent Papers.
2nd Report to Congress
on
the Implementation of PL 101-423.
James H. Billington, Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Michael F. DiMario. December 31,
1993.
Report submitted to Congress pursuant to provision of Public Law 101-423
section 3 of the Joint Resolution to Establish a National Policy on Permanent
Papers.
Preservation Research and Testing
The Preservation Research and Testing reports below without a link are available in print upon request via our online form: Ask a Librarian.
No. 9501: Effect of Some Deacidification Agents on Copper-Catalyzed Degradation of Paper. [PDF: 157 KB / 12 pp.] C.J. Shahani & F.H. Hengemihle. November 1995.
No. 9502: Desorption of Residual Ethylene Oxide from Fumigated Library Materials. [PDF: 353 KB / 13 pp.] Frank H. Hengemihle, Norman Weberg & Chandru Shahani. November 1995.
No. 9503: Accelerated Aging of Paper: Can it Really Foretell the Permanence of Paper. [PDF: 326 KB / 18 pp.] CJ Shahani. November 1995.
No. 9604: Cylinder Audio Recordings: An Annotated Bibliography. Gibson, Gerald D., with Carole Zimmermann and Terry Erb. 1996
No. 9705: Digitizing Library Collections for Preservation and Archiving: A Handbook for Curators.
Report submitted under contract to the Preservation Research & Testing Division of the Library of Congress by William R Nugent,. 1997.
No. 9806: Unified Strategy for the Preservation of Audio and Video Materials.
Report submitted under contract to the Preservation Research & Testing Division of the Library of Congress by William D. Storm. 1998.
No. 9807: Condition Survey of Motion Picture Holdings in the Library of Congress: Evaluation of Storage Environments for Motion Picture Collections.
Report submitted under contract to the Preservation Research & Testing Division of the Library of Congress by James M. Reilly, Douglas W. Nishimura and Daniel Burge. 1998.
Revised Numbering Scheme
No. 9: Bibliography on the Preservation of Magnetic Media. Gibson, Gerald D. February 2002.
An extensive annotated bibliography covering monographs, journals, conferences, technical reports, and other sources and including author, title, and subject index.
No. 10: Compact Disc Service Life: An
Investigation of the Estimated Service Life of Prerecorded Compact
Discs. [PDF: 431 KB / 32 p.] Chandru J. Shahani, Michele H. Youket, and Norman Weberg.
Prepared for the Library of Congress by William P. Murray, Consultant, St. Paul, Minn. Originally published in August 2004; revised 2009.
No. 11: The Effects of Laser Engraving
on the Estimated Service Life of Prerecorded Compacts Discs (CD-Rom). [PDF: 284 KB / 19 p.] Chandru
J. Shahani, Michele H. Youket, and Norman Weberg.
Prepared for the
Library of Congress by William P. Murray, Consultant, St. Paul, Minn.
Originally published in September 2004; revised 2009.
Longevity of CD Media: Research at the Library of Congress. [PDF: 363 KB / 14 p.] Chandru J. Shahani, Basil Manns and Michelle Youket. December 2005.
NIST/Library of Congress Optical Disc Longevity Study: Final Report. [PDF: 404 KB / 32 p.] Library of Congress and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, September 2007.
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