Organization gives $1 million grant to libraries for preservation, auxiliary facility

A $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will allow IU's libraries to put in place a new preservation system and auxiliary facility.\nThe new auxiliary library facility will be built at 10th Street and the Bypass. The facility will feature a preservation lab and additional shelving for lesser-used volumes.\nInitially, the grant will provide the libraries with $300,000. It will then provide $700,000 if the University can matching twice that amount in private funds.\n"It's an honor to receive this award," said Suzanne Thorin, Ruth Lilly University dean of University Libraries. "We are very pleased."\nHeavy use of the libraries leads to the need for preservation of many books. Having a facility designed especially to meet this need is important, she said.\n"Our collection is 13th in size and sixth in circulation (in the United States)," Thorin said. "We use our library more than larger universities, I think because of the emphasis on arts and humanities."\nGroundbreaking for the laboratory is expected in late spring, and the lab will eventually be open for tours. Students will have access to books in the auxiliary shelving by requesting for the book to be pulled.\nPreservation now takes place in the basement of the Main Library, and that facility serves mostly for book repair. Preservation is necessary because of damage caused by heavy use, natural aging, environmental damage, mold, pests and water.\n"This allows us to do more sophisticated treatments than we could have," said Melissa McAfee, head of the University's preservation department. "We can take on areas such as conservation of paper and photographs."\nThe funding from the grant will provide money for the laboratory and equipment, and two staff members are expected to be added.\n"Those positions will allow us to expand our conservation treatments," McAfee said. "They will also allow us to increase productivity."\n"We think people care very much for books. It's easier to raise money for this than electronic media because that isn't real for some people. You can hold books in your hands," Thorin said.\nThe new facility should benefit every library within the University system.\n"The work of the University is to safeguard and transmit the knowledge of the past while simultaneously leading the way into the future," IU President Myles Brand said in a press release. "We simply cannot do that work without our libraries. That is why the Mellon Foundation's grant is of central importance, not only to the library, but to the University as a whole."\nMcAfee said it is vital that Brand and the rest of the administration consider the libraries to be significant.\n"This wouldn't have happened without the support of the library administration," McAfee said. "It is important that IU administration is in support of us"