The conservation treatments, carried out either on manuscripts or printed books, indelibly mark the appearance of the volumes and constitute a part of their history. A study of the treatments is helpful both for the history of a volume as well as for the history of conservation itself. The Fondo Antico of Greek manuscripts in the Vatican Library was established between the first half of the fifteenth and the first quarter of the seventeenth century. Conservation treatments were carried out either before the manuscripts entered the Library from outside the Vatican (having taken place in Greece or in Italy, or after their arrival at the Library, taking place somewhere in Rome or in the Vatican workshop until today. The treatments are evident but have been sometimes obscured by other treatments carried out more recently. The aim of this research is to bring light on the period in which a volume was treated identifying the place or the techniques, and rarely the persons who worked on this. To obtain this, two approaches were necessary: first the study of the treatments themselves by recording materials and techniques, and secondly the study of archival sources with the purpose of retrieving information, relative names, dates and historical events. The technical approach provides details about the practices adopted by workers century by century, identifying teams, names of restores who signed their work, or workshops connected with the Vatican milieu. The Library accounts were of great help to that end and, in the future, will probably provide more information to researchers who will try to connect conservation treatments with persons and workshops in other collections of the Library. However, behind the techniques adopted, the materials used and the numbers or percentages of the volumes restored, the relationship between books and society has been essentially reflected.

From Club Room to Carnegie Library traces the extent, influence and development of book lending provision in nineteenth-century Ulster. This innovative survey starts with the neighbourhood book club that met at an inn or in a member's house, then examines how enterprising business owners diversified to lend books for a fee, before going on to explore the range of organisations that added book lending to their activities and finishes with the establishment of the public library service which was financially assisted by Andrew Carnegie. Within these investigative chapters criteria have been devised and applied to focus on the purpose, occurrence and location, book consumption and membership of these facilities. For the first time information from diverse secondary literature has been critically analysed and pertinent data expressed in tabular form to collate and therefore reveal extant knowledge marshalled under the relevant criteria. The tables, included as extensive appendices, are an integral part of the research. The primary sources, some unique to this research, have been explored to expand the number of book lending facilities, widen the geographical coverage and discover more about the people who established and used the facilities. The information thus gained has also been tabulated so this new information is also in accessible format. The final chapter combines the secondary literature and the primary research to develop a detailed account of this educational and recreational practice, to discover patterns and provide statistics about book lending practices that to date have been vague or avoided altogether. From Club Room to Carnegie Library is a unique examination of book lending practices which takes the subject to greater depth and covers a longer time frame than previous work on the topic.

The contaminated book as a cultural asset is presented from three perspectives: philosophy, microbiology and cultural studies including medieval studies. The prejudice of the microbe as the enemy of the collection is questioned. Instead, the microbe is brought to the fore and made contextually visible as a book-biographical sign: traces on the book, including microbial ones, can bear witness to fire, flood, evacuation, and historical epidemics. For this witnessing, different readings of 'world' and of 'dead/living' must be considered, working toward a theory of things. It is based on studies of objects in medieval anthologies in the holdings of the Leipzig University Library, which have also been studied using microbiological and molecular biological methods at the DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures in Braunschweig. For the determination of the book biographies, both collections form mutual references. A new readability of the 'world as a book' is shown, which is made readable through its DNA, but also through its cultivation needs. With the idea of the book as habitat, a new view of the relationship between cultural property and microbe is opened - against destructive contamination towards the microbe as innovation potential for collections.

Digital material has different preservation requirements than non-digital and is at greater risk of loss unless deliberate preservation activities are undertaken. Digital preservation is an on-going managed process designed to enable continued use of digital material for as long as necessary. Much of the digital preservation research to date has focused on understanding technical steps in preserving digital objects and there has been less attention paid to assumptions about selection and the conceptual underpinnings of practice. Selection is done, not conceptualised. Therefore the aim of this research was to investigate the theory and practice of selection for digital preservation in UK memory institutions. The objectives employed to achieve this aim were firstly to examine the underlying theory relating to selection in libraries, archives and museums of non-digital material. The research then went on to investigate who the stakeholders are in selection, how selection of digital material is performed and identifying the key influential factors in selection. An intensive, qualitative approach was used to complete these objectives. A thorough review of the literature provided a theoretical background to selection in libraries, archives and museums. Then preliminary data were gathered through a set of exploratory interviews with eight digital preservation experts in order to provide an overview of selection for digital preservation. The findings from these interviews then formed the basis for the second set of interviews with twenty five practitioners working in libraries, archives and museums. The views of practitioners were under-explored in the literature although it is they that perform selection. In addition to these interviews, twenty two current digital preservation policies were examined. This research has found that there is on the whole little change required for selecting digital material, in comparison to selecting non-digital material, although technical criteria relating to the ability of the institution to manage and preserve the material are of high importance. There is a clear assumption in institutions of selection leading only to permanent collecting, which should be questioned. This research has uncovered drivers to selection, including external funders, and barriers, which include a lack of confidence and knowledge on the part of practitioners in how to select and manage digital material. Concepts identified through this research provide a deeper understanding of selection for digital preservation in different contexts and encapsulate key factors underpinning selection. The concept of professionalism is a key factor; the need to be professional and ethical guide s practitioners through specific professional skills and knowledge. The practitioners become engaged with digital material and the level of engagement mirrors the way digital material is conceptualised by practitioners. Many stakeholders were identified, including managers, senior managers, users, creators and donors, funders, other organisations and IT staff. Relationships with stakeholders and the possible roles they play in selection were found to be key factors in selection. These findings contributed to the achievement of the final objective, which was to develop a conceptual model of key factors underpinning selection for of digital material for preservation. The conceptual model consists of five main concepts and their relationships: professionalism; relationships; organisational capabilities; material properties; and boundaries. There is a clear need for greater availability and access to training and networking opportunities for practitioners in order to increase engagement with digital material. Through this research, factors relating to selection have been identified and conceptualised. It has uncovered issues not previously addressed, in particular relating to the social aspect of selection. This research provides an understanding of the complexities of selection and the influences upon it.

Within a context of recent and rapid transformation in authorship and participation practices on the Internet, this thesis explores the implications of an emerging digital culture for heritage institutions, such as museums and archives. Combining insights from internet, education and museum theory it explores different experiences of participation and meaning making around digital heritage collections opened to public engagement and contribution. In particular, the investigation analyses and contrasts the online activities of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), partner in the research, with alternative approaches. The thesis applies ethnographic research methods to investigate embodied and virtual settings. Based on the empirical findings, it identifies different theoretical models of online engagement with heritage content. It then extrapolates from these models a conceptual framework that could be used by heritage institutions to analyse and re-assess their online practices, intellectual positioning and strategic ambitions in the context of the paradigm shift brought about by digitality.

This research examines the decision-making process of computer users with reference to deletion and preservation of digital objects. Of specific interest to this research is whether people provide different reasons for deleting or preserving various types of digital object dependant upon whether they are making such decisions at home or at work, whether such decisions are to any extent culturally determined, and whether they consider others in the course of making such decisions. This study considers the sociological implications of such decisions within organisations, and various psychological errors to be expected when such decisions are made. It analyses the reasons given for these decisions, within the contexts of home and work computing. It quantifies the frequency with which these activities are undertaken, the locations in which such objects are stored, and what aids the user in making such decisions. This research concludes that, while computer users generally desire their digital objects to be organised, they are not provided with adequate support from their computer systems in the decision to delete or preserve digital objects. It also concludes that such decisions are made without taking advantage of metadata, and these decisions are made for the same reasons both at home and at work: there is no discernible difference between the two contexts in terms of reasons given for such decisions. This study finds no correlation between subjects' culture and reasons given for deletion / preservation decisions, nor does it find any correlation between age and such reasons. This study further finds that users are generally averse to conforming to records management policies within the organisation. For archivists and records managers, this research will be of particular interest in its consideration of the usage of and attitudes towards records management systems. Specifically, in organisations possessing formal records management systems, this research investigates the frequency with which individuals violate records management procedures and why they consider such violations to be necessary or desirable. This research also argues towards a more proceduralised decision-making process on the part of the ordinary user and a deeper integration between records management systems and computer operating systems. Designers of formal information systems should consider this research for its implications regarding the way in which decisions are affected by the context in which those decisions are made. Information systems design may be best suited to understanding---and ameliorating---certain types of cognitive error such that users are enabled to make better deletion and preservation decisions. User interface designers are uniquely positioned to address certain cognitive errors simply by changing how information is presented; this research provides insight into just what those errors are and offers suggestions towards addressing them. For sociologists concerned with institutional memory, this research should be of interest because the deletion and preservation decisions of members of an organisation are those which shape the collection of digital artefacts available for study. Understanding the reasons for these decisions is likely to inform what interpretations can be drawn from the study of such collections. Also of interest to sociologists will be the variety of reasons given for deletion or preservation, as those reasons and decisions are what shape, to some extent, institutional memory.

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