Preservation And Conservation Of Library Materials As Reflected Through Library And Information Science Abstract (1971-2009): A Review Work

The concept of preservation is included with the maintenance of libraries and archives since ancient times. Libraries need to preserve its collection in order to protect and preserve the history and culture of a nation for the posterity. Preservation is considered as the fundamental and an important task of the libraries. Traditionally some organic and natural methods were used to keep the books and other materials physically usable for a long time by slowing down or preventing their decay. Then we developed a more advanced way of preserving the materials in digital format. Though digital preservation needs constant attention still it is a long-term storage of information. This study is a review work from the Library and Information Science Abstract [LISA]. The study aims to know about the various traditional and digital methods of preservation and to identify the principal language of the research works and the journal in which maximum works were done.


INTRODUCTION
Preservation is a branch of library and information science concerned with maintaining or restoring access to artifacts, documents and records through the study, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of decay and damage [9].
It is the protection of cultural property through activities that minimize chemical and physical deterioration and damage and that prevent loss of informational content. The primary goal of preservation is to prolong the existence of cultural property [1].

NEED FOR PRESERVATION
Preservation is a fundamental role and responsibility of the library. Libraries and information centers do not just collect materials; they also provide access and bring together various documents and research materials that are scattered worldwide while protecting the originals. So, preservation is needed to assure the long-term uninterrupted access to the intellectual content of the library's collections, either in original or in re-formatted form. Preservation allows for the continuity of the past with the present and the future [9,10]. It is an ongoing activity that is a part of the normal workflow. Awareness of this & a sense of individual responsibility must be fostered. Library and archival collections represent an investment that preservation can protect.
In today's digital age the society is using digital technologies to create knowledge and share it. Preserving the digital materials of today is critical to preserving the nation's history and culture. As the libraries are committed to collecting and preserving the cultural heritage and historical documents so it is their duty to collect and preserve the digital heritage for current and future generations.

PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION
Preservation and Conservation has become an important concept now a days. It should be distinguished from conservation which refers to the treatment and repair of individual items to slow decay or restore them to a usable state. Conservation is occasionally used interchangeably with preservation, particularly outside the professional literature. Although preservation as a formal profession in libraries and archives dates from the twentieth century, its philosophy and practice have roots in many earlier traditions [1,4]. In library science, preservation is treated as an active and intentional process, as opposed to the passive sense of preservation that might be applied to paleontological or archaeological finds. The survival of these items is a matter of chance, from an information science perspective, while the preservation of them after their discovery is a matter of intentional activity. In common practice preservation deals with the maintenance aspect and conservation with the remedial treatment and restoration of the already damaged specimen. the concept of repair and restoration falls under the purview of conservation but repair+ restoration +observation falls under the arena of preservation [6]. So, Preservation refers to much broader area under which the concept of conservation is a part.

DIGITAL PRESERVATION
Digital preservation is the management of digital information over time. Preservation of digital information is widely considered to require more constant and ongoing attention than preservation of other media. Digital preservation can therefore be seen as the set of processes and activities that ensure continued access to information and all kinds of records, scientific and cultural heritage existing in digital formats [3]. This includes the preservation of materials resulting from digital reformatting, but particularly information that is born-digital and has no analog counterpart. Digital preservation is defined as: long-term, error-free storage of digital information, with means for retrieval and interpretation, for the entire time span the information is required for [5].

IMPORTANCE OF DIGITAL PRESERVATION
Digital preservation helps providing global access to materials.  Digitization applies to photographs, books, maps, artwork, documents, microforms, negatives, objects and more.
 The film can be scanned in the future as technology changes.
 Digitization can bring life to faded or worn documents through processing of grey scale images which can bring about very fine text, graphics and even data which was not previously possible to make out.  Optical character recognition makes text images word searchable for research. Images can also be indexed to begin and create character needed for cataloguing and further enhancing the collection [5].  Water marks can be used to protect and identify images along with personal security.

TRADITIONAL PRESERVATION
Essentially the library is a repository of books and other non-book materials to be used by the users. The total collection of library materials is stored and preserved if the library exists. Books and other paperbased materials are the major constituents of the library. It is the social responsibility of a librarian to keep all the books and other library materials physically fit to be used by the readers. The basic materials and constituents of the physical entity of library materials are mostly organic and these are susceptible to natural decay and deterioration. If the environmental condition is adverse, the process of decay and deterioration is accelerated. In a modern Library there are many printed or non-printed non-book materials which are paper based such as journals, newspapers, theses, conference and seminar papers, pamphlets, reports, and the like. Special materials are also there in the library such as maps, graphic materials, audio-visual materials, and various other types [6,7]. All these kinds of materials need to preserve and conserve in a proper way in order to use for the readers. The exhibition of archive and library materials has the potential to damage documents and can even lead to loss if security measures are inadequate. Custodians of holdings should be aware of the risks involved from exposure to inappropriate environmental conditions, unsafe support methods and inadequate security provision and strive to maximize the safety of items during periods of exhibition. Areas of concern should include temperature, relative humidity, light, support structures, security measures and disaster risks. Each of these areas can be complex and extensive in terms of choosing the right parameters and equipment and making provision for a suitable and secure environment. In order to achieve this, one objective must be to remove hazards that are unacceptable and to reduce any remaining risks to a degree that is considered tolerable bearing in mind the need to provide access to the exhibits [9].

OBJECTIVE
The main objective is to study the nature of work and the various activities in the field of preservation as it is a continuously changing activity. The specific objectives are:  To study different traditional and digital methods of preservation.  To know the developments in the digital technology for preservation as well as how the traditional methods persist in this digital era.  To know in which language maximum works were done.  To study the number of works per year.  To study which journals are mostly used in this subject.

SCOPE & LIMITATION
The study is divided into 4 phases for the following reasons: a) It was observed that how the preservation work gradually developed in the first 10 years. b) After the initial development how the process of preservation started in the digital area in the next 10 years. c) Then it was observed in the following 10 years that how both the traditional & digital methods of preservation were practiced simultaneously and d) in the last 9 years the focus is on the traditional preservation to know how the traditional methods persist in this digital era. Due to random sampling the year 1981 reflects no study in this work.   most remarkable in the research work of 39 years are as follows: -microfilming, preservation of electronic resources, audiovisual preservation, micro-graphics, optical storage.

CONCLUSION
From the present study it can be concluded that, 1. English is the principal language for communication of research works. 2. Maximum works were done in the year 1976 and 1985 i.e., in the first 20 years of the study. 3. Among different areas of traditional and digital preservation, a) preservation of paper & paper permanence and b) audio visual preservation and conservation is the leading area respectively. iv) The journal Restaurator is the most used journal in this subject.