Conservation services are offered to private individuals as and when they come with request for conservation of their damaged paper document/manuscripts. Upon conserving, the text or document is digitized and returned to the owner with a digital copy held in our Archives for preservation for posterity.
We also conduct damaged assessment survey of their documents, offer assistance and give advice on integrated pest management, pest identification, environmental monitoring, collection management and safe treatment, prevention and future care of their documents.
Following are the different types of conservation of paper documents that the Archives carry out:
1. Preventive conservation: Any direct or indirect action on a damaged or undamaged paper document aimed at enhancing the life of the paper document by reducing future risk of deterioration can be term as preventive conservation. For example; regular inspection of the condition of a collection,
2. Curative conservation: Any direct action on a damaged paper document aimed at stopping active deterioration in the paper document can be term as curative conservation. For example; fumigation of a paper document collection that has live insects in it.
3. Restorative conservation: Any direct action on a damaged paper document aimed at improving the visual aspect of the paper document can be termed as restoration. For example; removing pencil marks from the document surface, or the filling up of a lost part of the paper document.