Cycle of a book - part 2/5: Preparation of processing

Published on 7 May 2015

Prior to the processing of documents, preparatory work is carried out. The books lay for many decades in the depository in Neratovice, covered in dust. Thus, they must be cleaned first, in some cases even repeatedly. After cleaning, a more detailed sorting is carried out. The preparatory work also includes searching library databases to find out whether another copy of the book in question exists in the system; if so, the copy is added to the record and a complete separate record need not be created.

Before being processed, all books are dusted and cleaned. Damaged books are handed over to the personnel of the Collections preservation department of the National Library, who carry out the necessary conservation procedures. Periodical documents, yearbooks, and publications falling into the category of Freemasons’ libraries are set aside. Periodicals and yearbooks will be processed later, depending on the scope of training of hired personnel and the time available for the project. At the same time, incomplete publications are examined, particularly their content and artefact value. Important titles of high content value are passed on for further processing; those with low content value are excluded from the follow-up activities.