Help?
Description
Library collection generally contains a wide range of organic materials, including paper, cloth, animal skin, and adhesives, and modern media such as microforms, optical and magnetic discs, digital formats, photographs, and audio and visual media. The organic substances undergo a continual and inevitable natural ageing process. While measures can be taken to slow this deterioration by careful handling and providing a sympathetic environment, it is impossible to halt it altogether. The chemical and physical stability of library material also depends on the quality and processing of the raw products used in their manufacture together with the design and construction of the final artifact. Over the centuries, the pressures of mass production have reduced the material quality of what is received in libraries.
