“Use or AbUse? The Library’s Books Are in Your Hands” will be on display from April 3-June 9, on the first floor exhibition areas of the Hugh M. Morris Library at the University of Delaware.

This exhibition, which coincides with the American Library Association’s annual nationwide celebration of Preservation Week, April 23-29, showcases books that have undergone different types of “AbUse” in order to inform patrons about factors related to the deterioration of these items.

Organized by Susan Maguire, library assistant in the Center for Digital Collections, “Use or AbUse” is on view in the four cases near the Reference Desk on the first floor of Morris Library, as well as the single exhibition case on the first floor. Various types of conservation treatments performed by the staff of the Library’s Conservation Lab for rare materials from Special Collections are exhibited in that case. An online version is available here.

Damage to library materials is caused by natural elements such as temperature and humidity extremes, light, pollutants in the air, mold and pests. Their detrimental effects are usually gradual, cumulative and irreversible. Some library materials deteriorate more quickly than others because they are made from inherently unstable materials such as acidic paper, magnetic tape and nitrate and cellulose-acetate base photographic film. Natural disasters such as fires and floods, and building problems such as plumbing failures and roof leaks take their toll on library collections in a more immediate way.

People also contribute to the deterioration of library materials. Although some damage to library materials is willful, most is the unintentional result of uninformed or careless handling by patrons or staff; and, even though wear and tear from normal handling and use is inevitable, much of the damage that occurs could be avoided. It can be difficult to tell whether a book is damaged from normal wear and tear or some other cause; this exhibition invites viewers to judge whether the damage of the object displayed is the result of normal use or abuse. Answer keys are located inside each exhibit case.

For more information about the Preservation Week activities and resources, visit http://www.ala.org/alcts/preservationweek/.

More information may also be found at https://twitter.com/PreservationWk/. Find quick tips for #preserving your personal collections at http://www.ala.org/alcts/pwtips  #audio #textiles #scrapbooks #photos #film #preswk.

About Special Collections and Museums

Subject strengths of Special Collections of the University of Delaware include history and Delawareana, political papers, science and technology, art and literature, represented in books, manuscripts, archival collections, electronic materials, maps, prints and photographs from the 15th century to the present. Political papers, family papers to ships’ logs are among the primary source material. The recently gifted Mark Samuels Lasner Collection greatly enhances the collection’s strengths in British literature of the 19th and early 20th century. For an introduction to the range of holdings, browse exhibitions at: https://library.udel.edu/spec/exhibitions/ and finding aids for unpublished materials at: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/index.htm/.

The recent merger of Special Collections with the University Museums brought into the collection works of American art of the 20th century (especially prints, photographs and work by African American artists), European prints, Inuit art, Pre-Columbian art and minerals.

Exhibitions are offered in the Special Collections Gallery in Morris Library, Old College Gallery, Mechanical Hall Gallery and in the Mineralogical Museum in Penny Hall. All exhibitions and accompanying programs are offered to the UD community and general public without charge. Collaborative initiatives and programming with students, faculty and departments across campus foster diversity and enhance interdisciplinary research and teaching. For information about Special Collections and Museums as well as current and past exhibitions see:  http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/ and http://www.udel.edu/museums/.