Back to GdC Homepage
Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER
With the foundation of the University in 1817 this Town Library became the University Library. The value of many documents was underestimated for some time, as was the case with the map collection. The map room only became a separate section in 1958, whilst valuable atlases had been previously integrated into the Department of Manuscripts and Valuable books. Modern atlases are treated as the other printed books and not as a separate collection. A catalogue of the map collection was published in 1967 and soon a supplement will follow. As we do not have special funds for buying new maps, our collection is mainly historical. We obtain new material by donation, e. g. the editions of the Belgian National Cartographic Institute. Modern maps are bought by the Geography Department of the University.
Map storage and conservation involves a number of problems not faced by book librarians. The physical format of maps often makes conservation, restoration and storage difficult especially with large maps. Four years ago, we discussed the problems of map restoration and the methods used. The rules and principles governing restoration are often very difficult to maintain; every collection contains difficult or anomalous material in which normal methods are impractical.
From 1977 onwards we employed a conservator so that we cou1d develop a scheme for the conservation and preservation of our co1lection. Our main aim in cleaning, disinfectioning, restoring and backing is to use safe and durable methods. On the other hand, restoration needs to be reversible. We apply only natural products; chemical processes are seldom used.
The first step is the disinfectioning of the document. The maps are often attacked by biological agents. For disinfectioning we can use the Laboratory of Disinfectioning of the Academic Hospital. After disinfectioning the second step is to clean the document. If this is not done, dust would be fixed to the paper when using rice paste for the backing of the maps.
We soak maps in water and wash them with a mild neutral soap, a process which does not dissolve the old colours. Soaking in water has a positive influence on the paper: broken particles are washed away and the fibres are restored, so that the resistance of the paper increases by 25%. The second advantage of cleaning with water is also that the pH- value of the paper increases by more than one unit. To protect the maps from later deterioration after the cleaning and restoration of holes and cracks with Japanese paper and rice paste, those in relief sand intaglio printing are backed with Japanese paper, the maps printed by planographic means with unbleached and untreated cotton. What is the good of restoration if one cannot store the maps in a suitable way? The majority of our maps are not published as part of a map series. We have mainly old maps, where almost every map is an entity. If possible, we try to store all maps flat, without folds, in acid-free paper folders. These folders cut down the dust and reduce the amount of handling of the sheets. All our folders are the same size (90 x 120 cm), and are stored in map cabinets of 95 x 125 x 105 cm with drawers. In each drawer we can keep 40 folders, but to work easily 20 folders would be suitable.
To save space we experimented with placing smaller map cabinets on top of existing ones. This turned out to be inconvenient for the staff, who need the tops of cabinets free when handling the maps for sorting and shelving. For the large maps we found a vertical storage cabinet (65 x 180 x 120 cm), that relies on the application of self adhesive tape with holes to the maps for suspension bars. This system is also inconvenient for the staff, as one has to be a giant to remove the maps from the cabinet. We therefore have to roll up large maps and store them in special wooden cabinets on suspension bars. I do not have to point out the inconveniences of his type of storage to the user. It is always a fight between the map and the staff to make the map flat for consultation. We have not found another solution for the storage of this material. Recent map series are kept in map cabinets (55 x 140 x 105 cm) with vertical storage systems. 50 maps are stored together in hanging acid-free strong paper folders. We cannot spend much money on controlling the climatic environment of the map room, but we try to maintain a relative humidity of 50% and a temperature of about 20° Celsius.
We try to control wear on the items by reducing the frequency with which they are consulted. This means having good catalogues which give an exhaustive description of the items. A big problem for helping the users is the photographic reproduction of the maps. The size of the maps makes photographic reproduction so expensive that students cannot afford it. We found recently a new cheap system for the reproduction of maps and plans used by a private company (Repro-Center, Olifantstraat 18, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium). They make a microfilm of the map, which can be used for reproduction on paper, transparent paper or on polyester. The maximum size for the reproduction is the format A1.
lf you can afford to microfilm your collection, you are protecting it against further deterioration and you can fulfil all the requests for reproduction. Then the question of whether one should give permission for photocopying maps or not is solved, and so is the balance between conservation and the provision of a good service to the users.