NEH Brittle Books
Microfilming Project

The Columbia University Libraries, thanks to the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), is engaged in the Slavic Culture and History Preservation Microfilming Project (SCH). This multi-year project will preserve printed source materials on Slavic and East European art, history, literature, politics, religion, and social movements. The majority of the titles are in Slavic languages (88% Russian, 5% Ukrainian, and 7% other), but a small number in Lithuanian, Latvian, Hungarian, and Finnish will also be included. These materials rank high in the Libraries' Preservation Master Plan, which matches preservation priorities with collecting priorities, themselves designed to serve the needs of scholars whose research and pedagogical work is based at Columbia as well as others who use its collections.

The materials selected for microfilming are in very poor condition as evidenced by the high degree of brittleness of their paper and the deteriorated nature of their bindings. All will be preserved on high-quality microfilm which will be stored off-site under archival conditions. Item-level catalog records, accessible through national databases and through Columbia's online catalog, are being created for each title. Scholars may borrow Columbia's positive copies of the microfilm through interlibrary loan or may purchase copies at cost. See also Columbia University Libraries Brittle Books Policy.

Phase I of SCH, a one-year effort (2000/01) primarily targeted the Libraries' Slavic Culture and History pamphlet collection of materials published between 1800 to 1960 and numbering an estimated 9,500 titles. Approximately one-third of the titles are part of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library's renowned Bakhmeteff Archive. Phase I also included some brittle monographs published between 1800 and 1960 from the Libraries' Slavic and East European history collection. In all, 4,222 volumes representing 3,250 titles were preserved. Phase II, a two-year effort (2001/03) continued work on the pamphlet collection but concentrated more heavily on monographs, filming a total of 7,820 volumes.

Phase III (2003-05)  turned to Slavic-language serials. Phase IV (2005-07) will complete monographic call number ranges begun in Phase II and serial call number ranges begun in Phase III. The project focuses on titles in East European history and literature published between 1850-1960 primarily in Russia and Eastern Europe.

The brittle materials addressed by this project represent an invaluable national resource, and they are seriously endangered. The scale of preservation needed is alarming, given the high level of embrittlement of Slavic materials both in their countries of origin and in the United States. It is vital for libraries here to take the lead in saving these volumes if our scholars and students are to continue having access to the information they contain.

For more information, please write, telephone, or send email to:

Janet Gertz
Preservation Division
101Q Butler Library
535 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10027
(212) 854-5757
gertz@columbia.edu