This book provides an overview of current research needs in the field of book and paper conservation in Europe. It is a direct result of questioning what is needed to safeguard and preserve our written cultural heritage. Answers can be found in the individual contributions of over fifty authors. The holistic approach is new and certainly one of the beneficial aspects of this book.
The book is both a list of topics of research currently needed and a request addressed to the newly founded European Research Centre for Book and Paper Conservation-Restoration. It has been supported by a large number of colleagues from thirty countries across Europe and, for the newly founded Centre, serves as is a list of tasks to be done and an expression of common will. It is hoped that this book will help eliminate redundant research and thus avoid a waste of resources particularly important in these economically difficult times.
That we still do have unsolved problems in book and paper conservation has been shown elsewhere and the Research Centre was actually founded on this basis. It is, however, now important to carefully select the fist topics of research. To do this, experts from all over Europe have been invited to bring forward their concerns.
Each of the individual contributions represents the state of the art and the degree of knowledge available in that topic. The authors speak not only for the various institutions concerned with book conservation such as libraries, archives, universities, museums and print and drawing collections, but they also represent a wide range of aspects from the European cultural landscape as well as contributions from the United States, India, Iran and the Caucasus region.
As planned from the beginning, the need for European-wide cooperation is strongly supported by European politics and reflected in the eager response and large number of contributions to this book. It is equally important to note that the contributions all focus on practical aspects of immediate benefit to our book heritage.
This book, the first ever of its kind, can be seen as a effort to define the need and wish for more intense research and cooperation between individual disciplines.
From my own work as a conservator with several decades of experience, I know how important various points of view on one work of art can be in order to ensure doing it justice.
The benefit from this book for the field of book and paper conservation lies in the fact that scientific approaches to conservation are further stabilized and interdisciplinary dialogue is encouraged. As a forum, it serves as a sounding board for research - nothing is too insignificant - and underlines the holistic approach to conservation of books, charts, prints, drawings, etc
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