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Alaska State Libraries, Archives, & Museums Alaska State Library

Conservation Book Repair:
A training manual

  • Written by Artemis BonaDea
  • Illustrated by Alexandria Prentiss
  • Published by Alaska State Library, Alaska Department of Education
  • 1995

Many conservation book repair programs in Alaska owe much to the author of this work. Artemis BonaDea has spearheaded the education of Alaska library personnel in these techniques since 1988. Beginning with brief presentations and one-on-one training in the 198Os, she has presented workshops in several Alaska locations since 1990.

In 1990, the Continuing Education Committee of the Alaska Library Association (AkLA) and the Library Coordinators of the Alaska State Library identified training in book repair and conservation as a high priority. In response, AkLA applied for and received an Interlibrary Cooperation Grant to offer three conservation-style repair workshops across the state. When added to previous presentations, at least one or two sections of this publication were presented in Palmer, Homer, Sitka, Juneau, Fairbanks, and Anchorage. In varying the length of presentation and location during the workshops, we determined what worked best in training and what hand-outs proved most useful. We also discovered that, while the hands-on workshops were very helpful, the trainees inevitably had questions when they returned to their libraries to face repair problems on their own. In addition, not all portions of the state could be offered these workshops, although we still believe that hands-on training works best for this subject. We considered a video tape as an alternative, but soon settled on a medium which would be universally accessible to all small libraries in the state: the written word with numerous illustrations.

As the workshops came to an end, this book began to take shape. Artemis had developed handouts for the presentations and in response to telephone requests. Subsequently, several individuals volunteered to follow the methods of conservation book repair found in this volume and offer suggestions in the attempt to make the language and illustrations as clear as possible. The explanations found in the publication have been field-tested in workshops as well as by individuals who have not been able to attend the workshops.

The Alaska State Library and the Alaska Library Association collaborated in producing this publication, but primary credit must go to Artemis BonaDea who has worked very hard to make this a successful publication. Artemis received training at the University of Washington, the University of Iowa, and Johns Hopkins University. Her work on this volume is artful, accessible, knowledgeable, and exacting: the same as her repairs. We are delighted to present this book to Alaska libraries and hope that it proves to be helpful. We will appreciate any comments and suggestions.

Kathryn H. Shelton, Librarian III Alaska Historical Collections
Alaska State Library Alaska Department of Education
Juneau, Alaska August 1995

Page last updated 05/10/2019