Primary Research Group has published Survey of Academic Library Special Collections: Preservation Needs & Conservation Capacity, a new report examining preservation needs, conservation labs, environmental controls, condition assessments, preservation budgets, staffing, high-risk formats, access to external conservators, and urgent preservation challenges in academic library special collections.
The report finds that preservation needs are significant but usually concentrated in a minority of physical collections. 57.69% of respondents estimate that 10–24% of their physical collections will require preservation intervention within the next five years, while 34.62% estimate the figure at under 10%. Only 3.85% place the need at 25–49%, and no respondents report 50% or more.
Conservation infrastructure is limited. Only 30.77% of respondents maintain a dedicated conservation lab, while 69.23% do not. Research universities are much more likely to have such labs, at 43.75%, compared with only 10.00% of all other institutions.
Environmental controls remain a major concern. 46.15% are satisfied or very satisfied with temperature and humidity controls for special collections, but 30.77% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Among institutions with more than 40,000 students, 50.00% are dissatisfied and 16.67% are very dissatisfied.
Condition assessment and preservation budgets also appear weak. 42.31% say condition assessments are conducted rarely, and 11.54% say they are never conducted. Annual preservation budgets are very small for most institutions: 73.08% report budgets under $10,000, while only 3.85% report $100,000+.
Audiovisual materials emerge as the leading preservation risk. 65.38% identify AV formats as the highest preservation-risk category, far ahead of manuscripts and rare books, each cited by 11.54%. Access to external conservators is another weak point: only 30.77% are satisfied or very satisfied, while 42.31% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.