Salvaging Sound Recordings on Discs

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Salvaging Sound Recordingson Discs
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The strong force of the river, 5-7 feet surged
into the National Czech Slovak Museum Library
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From the minute the records were packed out of
the library, we kept them stewing in their
juices, hosing them down periodically (and
keeping the lids on).
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• Containing the smell was a huge challenge
• Thermostat to continuous air
• Charcoal filter added to HVAC
• Starbrites set out
• Boxes stored offsite in a dirty room
• Staff equipped with charcoal filtered respirators

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• Staff safety a concern
• Fitted for respirators
• Antibacterial lotion before and after wearing
  gloves
• Wore plastic, disposable aprons
• Wiped respirators with alcohol wipes every night
  filter stored overnight in ziplock bag
• Showered and washed clothes at end of shift

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Extracting from the boxes safely took patience.
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LPs were carefully cut out of the outer plastic
around the jacket and then around the album.
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Wash in water with capful of photo flo or drop of
gentle dish soap brush circular with groove
Rinse in separate water.
Retain sleeves for accession information.
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Note cotton padding
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Record jackets rarely rinsed mostly just hung up
to dry and then pressed. A fan forced air through
stack, directed by plastic sheets.
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Boxes without lids and loosely packed posed
biggest problem.
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Supraphon LPs and 78s most likely to have
problems mold, ink running. Monitored as
hanging to dry, wiping ink off as needed.
The ghosting is embedded dirt.
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45s were a mixed bag. Record was in a paper
sleeve inside jacket entire album incased in
plastic. Some were then grouped together and
bagged with flap over it. Those came out clean!
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CDs/DVDs All 100 were salvaged and playable.

• Use distilled water
• Brush out like wheel spoke NOT circular
• Make new copy

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• Cleaning covers tricky
• Dry clean with eraser shavings
• Lift dirt off without pulling up text
• Damp cloth swipe, gently, with cotton moistened
  with Vulpex soap and water

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Patience!
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Discard inner board its not archival and it
is smelly, moldy, embedded with dirt.
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HenkoVac donated to UI Libraries by LBS/Archival
Products.
Experimental yet but looks quite promising. Using
HenkoVac vacuum packing machine to flatten covers.
Unflattened
Flattened
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Note rounded corner, tapered edge
New 3flap enclosure
Salvaged cover is slid into plastic sleeve
sandwiched between 3 flap and plastic no
adhesives used.
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When the image is stuck to the plastic, we can
often partially salvage the cover by digitizing
the paper cover lined up with the image on the
plastic.
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Still learning! The carbon fiber record brush
that Caitlin is using in the photo is actually
best used dry. The larger brush is better in
water.
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Records get a final cleaning in the lab once in
filtered water with a little Photo Flo, then
rinsed, and air dried. Brushed with micro brush
before and after as needed.
Randomly sampled records played just fine. We
are now using the same cleaning method for
recorded discs selected for digitizing.
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• Supplies used
• AjaxAntibacterial Soap (local store purchase)
• Photoflo (local store purchase)
• Dish Drainer 574701 (Target.com)
• Starbrite Mildew Control Bags 1015145
• Tarp and Cover Superstore
• 931 S Chapel Street
• Newark, DE 19713
• 800-453-7379
• 12 Record Jacket Sleeve SLP3
• Bags Unlimited
• 7 Canal Street
• Rochester, NY 14608-1910
• 800-767-2247 bagsunlimited.com
• Carbon Fiber Record Brush DC-05P
• NVI Sleeve City LLC

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• Ebaugh, Alicia. "Salvaging Collections is Like a
  Hidden Treasure Hunt." The Gazette (Cedar
  Rapids), August 4, 2008. http//www.gazetteonline.
  com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID/20080804/NEWS/41367
  1225/0/rss04
• Includes 4 videos
• How to salvage flood-damaged photos
• How to salvage flood-damaged LPs, CDs and DVDs
• How to repair flood damaged books
• How to salvage flood damaged documents

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Selected Bibliography

• Byers, Fred R. Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs
  a Guide for Librarians and Archivists. Council on
  Library and Information Resources and National
  Institute for Standards and Technology, October
  2003. http//www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/cont
  ents.html
• Cylinder, Disc, and Tape Care in a Nutshell.
  Library of Congress Preservation, viewed 20
  January 2009. http//www.loc.gov/preserv/care/reco
  rd.html
• Finch, Lorraine and John Webster. Caring for CDs
  and DVDs. National Preservation Office, British
  Library, July 2008. http//www.bl.uk/npo/pdf/cd.pd
  f
• Saving Sound Identifying Endangered Recordings
  and Planning for the Preservation of Audio
  Collections. Chicago, Illinois ALA/ALCTS, 2007.
• Includes presentations from the 2005, 2006 and
  2007 Association for Library Collections
  Technical Services conferences. Files in pdf,
  WORD, ppt, and wav. Compact disc, CD-ROM.

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• Preservation Beat
• http//blog.lib.uiowa.edu/preservation/
• Nancy E. Kraft
• University of Iowa Libraries
• Preservation100 Main LibraryIowa City, IA  
  52242-1420319/335-5286  FAX [phone]email
  nancy-e-kraft_at_uiowa.edu http//www.lib.uiowa.edu/
  preservation/