The objectives, problems and implementation of the protection of the historic book collection of Elbląg Library

The origins of Elbląg Library date back to 1601 when a library was established at the municipal gymnasium. The book collection grew for many years thanks to donations from the school professors, city mayors, church ministers and other prominent inhabitants of Elbląg, such as valuable manuscripts and incunables from St. Dominican friars which included De revolutionibus by Nicolas Copernicus and richly ornamented De humanis corporis fabrica by A. Wessalius printed in 1555 in Basel. In 1869 around 1000 volumes belonging to Ferdinand Neumann were added to the collection, including a fourteenth-century manuscript and priceless polonicum like Elbląg Chart, Polish law code, which went missing during war-time activities. In 1846 the library was separated from the school and renamed as Stadtbibliothek. In its history the collection moved places on a number of occasions. In 1915 it found its home in a new building in the present Plac Wolności which during World War 2 suffered severe damage. In July 1946 an idea came up to protect the collection by incorporating into the book resources  of Toruń University. In 1947 the majority of Elbląg collection was transferred to Toruń. About 8 thousand volumes got to the Baltic Institute in Gdynia and 18 trunks (!) with the most invaluable manuscripts and old prints went missing in mysterious circumstances. The deposit was regulated in an agreement  and set for the period of twenty-five years. The recovery of the collection became possible only in 1979 when the library in Elbląg moved into its new premises, the historic complex of buildings located in 3 - 7 Stary Rynek and 1 Zamkowa streets. The agreement was terminated on 27.10.1994 and the recovery planned for 2000. The returning of the collection to Elbląg ended in 2002.

The current collection of Elbląg Library is of high historic and scientific value and constitutes one of the most priceless set of book resources among the Polish libraries. It consists of 69 incunables (early prints until the year 1500), 527 manuscripts, 8 938 old prints (published between 16 and 18th century), musical scripts, cartographic prints, bookmarks and graphics. The enormous set of 29 751 books dated from the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, and of 1 250 newspapers and magazines published between 17 and 20th century must also be considered as part of this historic collection.

The recovery of the collection was a huge challenge. During the first two years it remained in the transition storage. In 2004 Mr Jacek Nowiński became the library director and took great care of the collection as part of the cultural heritage for future generations.

The action plan aiming at the comprehensive preservation of the historic collection of Elbląg Library covers the most recent recommendations and methods. It includes two types of activities: passive preservation (preventive measures) and active preservation.

The term of preventive measures is understood as a broad spectrum of preservation activities related to the proper maintenance of resources and prevention from further damage. The library has at its disposal storage rooms which meet the highest safety standards. Air-conditioned rooms with limited access to daylight are equipped with racks of shelves adjustable to the size of the books. Books enter these storage areas after having been disinfected in the library fumigation chamber and manually cleaned by the trained personnel from surface impurities.

Digitalisation is another important element of the collection protection. Elbląg Library possesses its own digitalisation shop which is equipped with the PS 7000 scanner emitting cold light and eliminating possible page deformations. The scanner has a special dividable board with four movable elements that enable safe operations on a scanned object without exercising too much pressure on it. In 2009 the digitalisation shop will purchase another scanner allowing A1 scanning, which will facilitate the digitalisation of endangered and extremely fragile copies of the local press.

The other type of measures concerns a comprehensive programme of the collection in Elblag Library consisting of active preservation. With the view of enormous needs in this respect, and in order to be able to implement proper preservation measures, the library acquired sufficient rooms. In 2008 a project co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage resulted in the purchase of equipment for the preservation shop. Already during the project realisation a series of practicum took place in the shop for the third year students of Paper and Leather Preservation Course at the Institute of Monuments and Preservation of Toruń University.

The opening of the preservation workshop was held on 16th January 2009. It was combined  with the ceremony of awarding the library with the status of the National Book Resource, after many months of application efforts.

The active preservation measures are two-fold. Firstly, they fall into the category of traditional preservation and consider each object individually. At present, work is being conducted on the preservation of posters and leaflets produced between 1821 and 1940 by Elbląg Theatre. In 2009 another project will enable preservation of herbal books from 15 – 18th century.

Secondly, Elbląg Library is running the so-called mass preservation activities, aiming at the protection of 19 and 20th century collections of items produced on acid paper. The first stage planned will involve the assessment of the condition in which theses collections remain by means of the Stanford method. Results will make it possible to design further action, e.g. the scope of necessary deacidification.

Another variation of the mass preservation is also the combined process of total assessment of the collection condition and its cleaning. Issues related to this process were first discussed during the practicum of 2008 and are now gradually developed by the employed preservation shop personnel.

D. Jutrzenka - Supryn