University Libraries - Conservation and Collections Care

For Jane Roth, the connection to the University of Iowa started with her mother and father—and it’s continued to grow thanks to her commitment to helping students be as successful as possible during their time on campus and beyond. Roth recently completed her one-year term as chair of the […]

Books have the extraordinary power to turn their stewards into time travelers. A roughly sewn leather cover on a medieval book or a centuries-old doodle can reveal a lot about a book’s owner and its use. Minuscule notes scribbled in the margins of a plague-year calendar can hold weightier sway […]

The Library and Archives Conservation Education (LACE) fellowship preserves the past while training the conservators of tomorrow. With impressive collections and a legacy of excellence and innovation, the University of Iowa Libraries have long been known as a leader in the field of book […]

The Main Library Gallery’s fall 2024 exhibition, Hawkeye Histories | Sporting Stories, uses materials from the archives to offer a fresh perspective on Iowa athletics from the 1800s to the present. The free exhibition opened to the public on Monday, Aug. 26, and was curated by Dr. Jennifer […]

The University of Iowa Libraries is seeking nominations for the Arthur Benton University Librarian’s Award for Excellence. Funded by a generous endowment, this award acknowledges a Libraries staff member’s professional contribution in the practice of librarianship, service to the profession, […]

In March 2023, Conservation and Collections Care at the University of Iowa Libraries welcomed Yasmeen Khan as the featured speaker for its William Anthony Conservation Lecture for Book and Paper Conservators and Bookbinders, a celebrated event for the UI book arts community and beyond. During the […]

This remarkable facility boasts towering shelves, millions of volumes, and a satellite—and that’s just the beginning. The University of Iowa Libraries Annex sits on the outskirts of Iowa City, tucked between warehouses and against train tracks. Inside the 60,000-square-foot facility, long […]

The university librarians of the Big Ten Academic Alliance have launched the Big Ten Open Books project, a collaboration between the university presses and libraries of the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The first 100-title collection centered on gender and sexuality studies is now published. The works […]

Mahrya Burnett has been named the 2022 recipient of the Arthur Benton University Librarian’s Award for Excellence for her impactful contributions to the future of Open Educational Resources (OERs). As a scholarly communications librarian at the University of Iowa Libraries, Burnett champions […]

Linda Walton has been recognized with the 2023 Marcia C. Noyes Award, the highest distinction given by the Medical Library Association (MLA). This competitive national award is presented to a nominee with a longstanding and sustained record of excellence in medical librarianship. Walton’s […]

From the hardwood to Pasadena and the asphalt track to wrestling mats, now you have an opportunity to help preserve Hawkeye sports history, including the 1959 Rose Bowl, and make it accessible to all through a film digitization project. The University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections and […]

An interpretive exhibit of history of communal book making includes a reconstruction of a printing and binding shop at Middle Amana. This site is opened from 10 to 4 on Saturdays.   The long and continuing Amana book publishing program aligns with a Protestant dedication to literacy, scriptural […]

By Gary Frost An example of the binding discussed below is also available under the title “Replica of the Stonyhurst Gospel” in the Book Model Collection on Iowa Digital Library. Binding description This small book (137 mm x 95 mm) known as the St. Cuthbert Gospel has witnessed many turbulent […]

Items selected by guest curators for display in the Main Library Gallery are frequently drawn from Special Collections & Archives. Preparations for exhibitions provide excellent opportunities for rare objects in Special Collections to be examined for conservation needs. Professional care of […]

The UI Main Libraries Conservation and Collections Care Department presents the 2021 William Anthony Conservation Lecture Peter D. Verheyen Down the Rabbit Hole: Embracing experience and serendipity in a life of research, binding practice, and publishing September 30, 6 pm CSTVirtual, free and all […]

As part time interim Preservation Processing Coordinator in the UI Libraries Preservation Department, one of my main duties is to supervise the student staff who do the day to day marking work for new acquisitions and items that need to be reprocessed for one reason or another. From January to […]

Nancy E. Kraft, Head of Preservation and Conservation, has retired after serving 18 years at the University of Iowa Libraries.

On Monday, April 22, Iowa Museums, Archives, Libraries Emergency Response Team (IMALERT) members assisted with the retrieval and salvage of collection items in the flood-damaged Pacific Junction Railroad Museum (PJRM). We could not have had a more “perfect” flood recovery experience. The Mills […]

The Preservation and Conservation department employs 19 students in positions ranging from digitization to book repair to conservation. Within the Marking unit, student employees mark new books to prepare them for patron use. We start by property stamping them, then we insert a security device, and […]

This week is Preservation Week, which is sponsored by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), a branch of the American Library Association (ALA). Preservation Week is an opportunity to learn about and take action to preserve collections. The theme for this year’s […]

About a month ago the conservation department received a book for repair from the John Martin Rare Book Room in the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. Beth Stone, assistant conservator, noticed that the front cover of the book did not match the back cover. It was taller and wider than the text […]

Brad Ferrier, digital projects librarian, coordinates transcription and caption for Audio/Video (A/V) materials in the library’s collection. “Transcription is converting the speech in an audio file into a written plain text document. Caption is converting the speech in a video file into text […]