Preservation Services

We seek to find ways to prevent damage, extend useable life, and repair damage for the library’s collections, in all formats. If the library collects it, our mission is to preserve it. 

Preservation and conservation staff routinely prepare and send selected books out to contract vendors for binding or deacidification. Highly skilled specialists care for other physical materials onsite in our well-equipped Conservation Lab. We serve as technical advisors to the library on such issues as storage and storage environments for collections, handling, display, and disaster recovery.

In our Digital Preservation Lab, we salvage archival material from obsolete digital media and we coordinate preservation of the library’s digital collections. We partner with the Digital Conversion Unit to prepare materials for scanning and to preserve audio and video recordings.

Read about Conservation Lab projects on the Beyond the Reading Room blog.

Read about our digital preservation work on the Bits and Pieces blog.

The Cathleen A. Baker Conservation Fellowship supports visiting conservators doing research and learning in the Conservation Lab.

The Mark and Theresa Lafer Digital Preservation Internship Program matches students interested in digital preservation to projects in the U-M Library, on campus, or in the Southeast Michigan community.