Facilities

PCS adds a unique quality to UT-Austin's School of Information by giving students access to facilities, equipment, and other training resources essential for the work of preservation.

The PCS program provides UT students access to a non-circulating library resource center (open 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday-Friday) consisting of a wide range of conservation-related reference materials including monographs, periodicals, and newsletters. Additionally, the resource center has preservation-related video, catalog, and product literature collections. Most notably the resource center features the personal library of Gary Frost, a pioneer in the field, as well as a small library from Columbia University, PCS' previous home.

PCS offers full conservation treatment resources in its laboratories. The facilities consist of fully-equipped book and paper labs, a luminescence spectrometer with fiber-optic attachment, a scanning station with an Agfa Duoscan T2000Xl scanner, a photo-documentation setup, a Wei T'o freeze-drying unit, a classroom with multimedia projector, bookbinding models, historical samples of plastics and inks from ballpoint to iron gall.

Using the conservation facilities, PCS students and faculty have assisted with recovery from small-scale disasters and completed special projects for many of the libraries and special units on campus, including the Center for American History, the General Libraries, the Alexander Architectural Library, the Benson Latin American Collection, the Tarlton Law Library, and the geology library, as well as Austin Community College.

See also: School of Information technology facilities