11/10/2009 COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT COMMITTEE Minutes

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS DELAMINATION The removal of previously applied reinforcements of silk, tissue, or acetates. May involve the use of aqueous solutions, solvents, or enzymes. In some cases, there may be no practical way of removing laminates without undue risk of further damage to the underlying sheet. Many such "preservation" processes were applied without thought to reversibility, and adhesives may have cross linked into an impervious adhesive mass. TAB SEWN • Refers to the process of taking previously sewn volumes and converting them to loose leaf format. Involves hand sewing each signature onto a guard or tab, and then punching the tab for insertion into a loose-leaf binder. This facilitates copying without having to place the entire volume on a copy machine. However, only volumes with intact folio sheets and little fragmentation are appropriate candidates for this process. Eighteenth century documents are not generally considered good candidates for this method because of their age and the resulting advanced degree of acid hydrolysis. Early nineteenth century documents are similarly suspect. While this technique is extremely attractive since it avoids the bulk and cost of encapsulation, it should nevertheless be applied judiciously. CAPSULE Refers to an enclosure fabricated from Melinex 5160 or equivalent stable base archival quality polyester film for the protection of embrittled or severely damaged books and documents. Capsules are usually fabricated from 3 mil thick material (4 mil for large items) and may be sealed on either three or four sides. Capsules are usually punched and inserted into loose-leaf binders for organization and storage. SPECIAL NOTES: In determining the required loose leaf capacity and how many binders will be required to house a given volume, the general rule of thumb is .006" per capsule plus the height of the text block. Example: an average 600 page volume with no index will require 300 capsules. If the text block measures 2-1/2" and we multiply .006" x 300 capsules, approximately 4- 1/2" total space will be required. We therefore know that we will require two binders of 2- 1/4" capacity each to house this volume after encapsulation.