Judy,
Tom McNulty asked me to forward his report on "Diamonds or dinosaurs" 
to you. He is at home sick. If you have a question, I can try to 
answer it or his home number is 212-243-8748.

Thanks.
Sherman
sherman.clarke@nyu.edu

----------------
Diamonds or Dinosaurs? New Technologies in Landmark Libraries

Co-Moderators: Paul Glassman, Art & Architecture Librarian, Pratt
Institute; and Clare Hills-Nova, Reference/Collection Development
Librarian, Institute of Fine Arts Libraries, New York University

            Co-Sponsors: Architecture Section, Space Planners
            Roundtable, and ARLIS/New York Metro Chapter

Whether based at Universities, Art and Architecture Schools, or
Museums, many fine arts libraries are housed in "architecturally
significant" structures. Many such buildings were never intended as
libraries, and have been modified over the years to accommodate the
growing, primarily print-based collections they traditionally housed.
With the advent of electronic information storage and retrieval, the
challenges faced by these libraries have grown. In this lively and
informative session, five speakers addressed the challenge of
balancing the problem of growing collections with the physical
limitations imposed by important structures which, because of their
historical and aesthetic values, no one wants to alter too
drastically. 

Co-Organizers Clare Hills-Nova of NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, and
Paul Glassman, until recently of Pratt Institute, have firsthand
experience with the issues involved in this fascinating topic. For
their session, Diamonds or Dinosaurs, the co-organizers assembled a
group of nationally-renowned professionals who presented papers on
various topics of interest to preservationists, architects, and
librarians.

The first presentation, by Samuel Y. Harris, AIA, PE, of Kieran
Timberlake Harris, was titled "Infrastructure as Furniture."  Richly
illustrated with slides of various architectural projects, Harris's
discussion addressed some key issues in the alteration of significant
structures. He noted that many buildings are increasingly revered, but
that constantly changing demands are placed upon them. New
technologies, for example, require significant changes in a building's
infrastructure but Harris notes that the challenge is "to get it in,
without touching the structure, and to make alterations, but make them
changeable, or reversible."   Innovative uses of furniture, such as a
renovation of Penn State's Lecture Hall in which reading tables
contain power, data and lighting units, illustrate one solution to the
challenge. Another of several examples used to illustrate the
importance of reversibility is the renovation of the Philadelphia Free
Library, in which  a three-dimensional frame, which doesn't touch the
original structure but is rather a free- standing skeletal
construction, contains power, data and lighting infrastructure. Among
several other innovative solutions, Harris described a renovation in
which drop in "trays," slung from, but not forming part of the
original structure, accommodates the ever-changing cabling needs of
the increasingly  electronic environment. 

In "Librarian as Preservationist,"  Dr. Roger Moss, Executive Director
of The Philadelphia Athenaeum, offered a richly illustrated tour of
his historically significant collections and building, noting that the
building itself is considered "the largest artifact in the
collection." In bringing the Athenaeum into the electronic age,
certain modifications had to be made and certain areas of the building
were altered more radically than others. For example, in certain areas
considered "less historic," ceilings have been dropped to conceal
cabling. Dr. Moss addressed issues of reformatting and noted that
digitizing can make offsite storage more effective, noting that most
users are satisfied with an image of an object rather than the object
itself. Moss noted the irony in this positive application of the very
technology which has traditionally been viewed as a problem to be
confronted by preservationists, architects and librarians.

In "Challenges in Providing Environmental Control in Historic Library
Buildings,"William Lull of Garrison/Lull Inc. discussed some concrete
goals for the effective preservation of paper-based collections. Mr.
Lull specifically addressed humidification as a necessary requirement
to offset the effects of heating systems. In many historic buildings,
one major problem is condensation which forms on and around
single-glazed windows, and even on walls. Mr. Lull described two
solutions to the condensation problem. The first involved the
installation of a sealed plaxiglass enclosure on a single-glazed
window. This retained the original character of the window while
serving to protect the interior environment.  In another case,
paintings at the Barnes Foundation were backed with foam-core, which
eliminated the dangerous cold spot behind paintings. In general, Lull
recommends cool and dry environments for the preservation of
paper-based collections, and a relative humidity (rH) of at least 30%.

Finally, David Marohn, AIA, Senior Associate, Venturi, Scott Brown,
and Associates and Julia Moore Converse, Curator and Director,
Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, spoke on  "The
Client-Architect Partnership at the Furness Building for the
Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania."  Marohn
gave a brief history of the Furness Library, which was made a landmark
in 1985 after surviving the 1960s, when it was slated to be
demolished. The Library's quirky cathedral-like reading rooms were
designed (obviously, in the days before electrical lighting) to make
maximum use of natural light. Pointing out the fact that "more than
one user in a building creates a big challenge, Marohn's description
of the renovation project lead into the view from one of the buildings
users — Julia Moore Converse of the University's Architectural
Archives. Founded in 1978 with the deposit of Louis Kahn's papers, the
Archives now contains over 300 collections. In its current space in
the Furness Library, the Archive  was planned for maximum use by
students and faculty rather than as a repository or storage facility. 
Spaces are obviously designed for use, including special events as
well as student project studios. This important archive documents not
only the University campus but also the jwork of the Beaux Arts and
"Philadelphia School" modernist architects of the twentieth century.