ABSTRACT
For more than 25 years, preservation of library materials has been a growing concern in librarianship in many parts of the world. The comprehension of the problems implicit in the deterioration of the books and other materials in their custody together with the definition of ways by which these problems may be controlled or ameliorated, if not solved outright, has come to occupy a host of individuals. These problems also promise to continue to be prominent concerns in the future. The finite nature of paper library materials together with the multiplicity of interactions both within the finished products and between them and those who use and work with them has given and continues to give librarians, binders, physical scientists, conservators, and many others an extended list of problems all of which cry for solution and all of which have come to be gathered under the heading of preservation.
