Conservation
The Zentralbibliothek Zürich’s Conservation Department is responsible for the conservation and restoration of its diverse physical holdings and prepares new media for use. Its work revolves around preserving our special historical collections, alongside assisting with ZB exhibitions.
The Zentralbibliothek Zürich brings together an extensive range of historical and contemporary holdings under one roof. Preserving collections of different kinds and making them available calls for a wide variety of skills. The Conservation Department encompasses the three areas of preservation and restoration, bookbinding and the Tag & Label Division. We handle special collections spanning seven centuries – manuscripts, old prints, maps and panoramas, sheet music, prints, photographs, paintings and other works of fine art – with as much expertise as we do modern media. To achieve this, we sometimes collaborate with external partners.
Preservation and restoration
Protecting our cultural heritage is the Conservation Department’s core mission. We look after historical and contemporary holdings from the perspective of preservation and restoration, this includes new arrivals such as donated books, pre- or posthumous bequests and archives. We assess them from a conservation and restoration point of view and develop a packaging concept that suits the objects in question. In our internal studio we exclusively restore items from our own holdings and get them ready for the in-house digitisation process. We also coordinate externally funded projects in the field of conservation and restoration and support curators with their in-house exhibitions.
Bookbinding Division
The Bookbinding Division, together with the Tag & Label Division, helps ensure that newly acquired media are made available to users quickly – and are well protected. If necessary, we repair damaged books or prepare them for re-binding by external service providers.
Tag & Label Division
Our Tag & Label Division works closely with the Bookbinding Division, preparing newly acquired media for users by affixing a shelf mark and an electronic tag to them. Damaged and historical shelf marks are professionally replaced or secured, enabling us to integrate conservation work into the library processes.
Contact
The Conservation Department does not accept external orders. For specialist restoration advice, or if you work in this field and would like to discuss a matter with your peers, please contact us: