Planning Surveys and Assessments — Interview with Ann Lindsey

I am the Head of Conservation. In addition to the conservation treatment of the Library’s paper based materials, we participate in numerous preservation activities such as environmental monitoring, pest monitoring, disaster planning and response, and assessment.

We have a six-week preservation internship every summer, the Mary and Samuel Somit Preservation Internship. It is intended for students or recent graduates of a library training program who would like to pursue preservation in their careers. We decided that the 2016 internship would be a condition survey on a large portion of our Special Collections Research Center. We planned and executed a statistically sound random sample survey. We surveyed 300 randomly chosen items, and developed a questionnaire with over 40 questions for each item. We then ranked each on a 5 point scale for condition. 

Absolutely! A condition survey can help to focus on the greatest needs of the collection, and reduce the sometimes scattershot approach to conservation treatment. A building assessment can pinpoint problems that regular maintenance can address before it spirals into a larger and more expensive project. One example would be finding evidence of leaks in a building assessment. Perhaps a case could be made to find the source and fix them. Or you might be able to move a known problem up on a priority list.  It takes not only time, but expertise to conduct a statistically sound survey or building assessment, but the costs can be well worth the effort. 

We wanted to get hard data so that we had a better understanding of the condition of a large portion of our Special Collections. We could also use the data for fundraising for more conservation staff. In these competitive times, administrators and budget managers need specific data. It might be a commonly held belief that your collection is in dire need, but without numbers, your needs can go unmet. To be able to say that a certain percentage of your collection is in poor condition according to your well defined and well supported data makes for a much stronger argument for staff, supplies, or equipment.

I do feel like we met our goals. We learned quite a bit about the types of materials in our collection as well as the condition of the items. We have used this to target our conservation efforts more effectively. Fundraising is a more tenuous endeavor. Even if it hasn’t been immediately productive, it has gotten our department noticed. We are able to say with a fair amount of certainty what level of work is needed, and we know that the work will be multi-generational. There is more work than we can ever do in my lifetime, but that is something every conservator learns to accept. We also know that with the data acquired in our survey, we can make intelligent decisions.

As I mentioned we had a six-week internship. After our intern got up to speed on statistics, he designed the survey tool. That took about two weeks. It takes two people to effectively do a survey. Technically, it could be done with one person, but it ends up being quicker if one person is doing the observation and one person is documenting the response. It took two of us three weeks to do the survey. A less intensive survey with fewer questions would undoubtedly be quicker. It then took about a week to analyze the results and write a report. So, all told it was about nine weeks of work.

This project required a fair amount of expertise both in statistics as well as a thorough understanding of the material, in our case, book structure and history of the book. You must strictly adhere to the methodology in order to ensure accurate results.

I’ve done many surveys, but looking back, the biggest surprise is fatigue. Everyone gets tired, but after hours of doing a survey, you get decision fatigue, and it affects your ability to make good decisions. I usually only expect do to do the surveying for half days at the most. This can make scheduling difficult, but it’s best to avoid skewing the results.

I would have expanded the survey to encompass our entire Special Collections. But that would have taken much, much longer. Ultimately, I was very happy with the results.

There are many resources both in print and online. A couple of good resources are: 

• Library Collection Assessment through Statistical Sampling, Brian Baird, 2004.
• Preservation in Libraries : Principles, Strategies, and Practices for Librarians, Ross Harvey, 1993.
• “The Yale Survey: A Large-Scale Study of Book Deterioration in the Yale University Library, “Walker, Greenfield, Fox, and Simonoff, from College and Research Libraries, March 1985, pp. 111-132.