CHSOS at the 85th World Library and Information Congress of IFLA in Athens, Greece.
This is the annual conference of librarians (about 4000 participants from all over the world).
We delivered a 2 hours workshop to present “low-cost analytical technics for manuscripts” in collaboration with the Qatar National Library.
For nearly 50 years, forensic techniques have been used to determine the composition of library materials have been increasingly used to determine the most appropriate conservation treatment, storage, and exhibition of these old and fragile items.
Until recently, only the largest, best-funded programs could afford this expensive equipment. Today there are new devices that are available at much lower cost. Forensic discovery of material composition is no longer for an elite group, but available to a broader community, which allows libraries and conservation laboratories to share and add value to their documentation of collections.
This program demonstrated four techniques using these tools. These four techniques can be implemented without high cost or complex technical training: Technical Photography, Reflectance Spectroscopy, hand-held microscopy, and RTI.
