5. Preservation Profiles


Pre- and post-filming 14.71
Bibliographic control and record distribution 7.71
Microfilming, 3 generations 67.00
Local inspection 1.76
Additional local costs 22.36

Total cost per volume $ 129.26

Total project cost $ 113,103


5.6 IOWA AND IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY


The Iowa State University Library has been instrumental in developing capabilities for library and
archives preservation in the state of Iowa. It is one of three institutions with full-time professional
preservation administrator positions, the other two being the University of Iowa Libraries and the State
Historical Society of Iowa. All three preservation programs developed in the 1980s, constructed
conservation treatment facilities to address the physical preservation needs of their collections, and began
to collaborate on a cooperative initiative that evolved into the Iowa Cooperative Preservation Consortium
and eventually incorporated as the Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium (ICPC). The
University of Iowa Libraries* conservation treatment facility is also home to a nationally recognized
training program in book binding and conservation. Other libraries in the state have also addressed
preservation needs with programs scaled to their smaller collections.

In 1994, ICPC received a NEH grant for state-wide preservation planning. The resulting plan, Fragile
Harvest: Preserving Iowa's Documentary Heritage, established goals for preservation program
development and collaborative pursuits by archival and library entities within the state. The Consortium
serves as a vehicle for the accomplishment of goals and plans developed in the NEH-funded planning
process. Among other activities ICPC currently conducts preservation education programs, distributes
preservation materials to publications for publication, and publishes a newsletter. ICPC also serves as an
advocate and a mechanism for collaborative preservation efforts within the state.

Cooperation is a cultural characteristic of Iowa and preservation is no exception. Over the years,
organizations in the state of Iowa have collaborated in the successful completion of a number of
preservation projects. The Iowa Newspaper Project, funded in part by NEH, was completed in 1992.
The major contributing organizations were the Iowa Genealogical Society, the Iowa Newspaper
Association, the State Library, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the State Historical
Society.

Since its beginnings in the early 1980s, the preservation program of the Iowa State University Library has
experienced steady growth. The Preservation Department is responsible for commercial binding,
conservation treatments, reformatting, and preservation education to address the preservation needs of
library collections of over two million volumes. The Department has established contractual relationships
with conservation treatment service vendors, preservation photocopy replacement service vendors, and a
preservation microfilm service vendor.

The Preservation Department includes a 3,000 square foot state-of-the-art conservation laboratory and is
equipped to undertake special treatment projects such as the conservation of the Manning Collection--
wherein 2000 design documents ranging from 1x1.5 inches to 5 x 15 feet in size were treated--in
addition to maintaining ongoing treatment program for collections. The Preservation Department head