Assessing Preservation Needs of Manuscript Collections with a Comprehensive Survey

This article describes the planning, funding, methodology, and impact of a comprehensive survey of the physical condition and preservation needs of manuscript collections in the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) unit of the Washington State University Libraries. MASC librarians and management determined that these collections, as well as MASC's historical photograph collections, should be systematically surveyed and assessed, so that a prioritized preservation treatment plan could be developed. MASC librarians designed and executed two separate surveys, one for photograph collections and one for manuscripts. The manuscript portion of the survey project, which supported the development of a comprehensive preservation treatment plan for processed manuscript collections, is the subject of this article.