Special Collections’ Conservation Workshop - About Workshop

Special Collections’ Conservation Workshop (SCCW) has been framed in years 1984-1998 and currently is function as team of 8 persons.

Main goal of department is securing and conservation (preventive and complex) of special collections, preparing items for domestic and foreign exhibitions, conducting photographical documentation of conservations, protecting reference collections of individual Departments (in many cases, also of historical value) as well as conservational supervising of storage conditions for collections and creating conservational opinions and evaluations.

Methods of preforming this tasks reflect unique character of items selected for conservation as well as newest trends and recommendation presented by Department for Protection and Conservation in National Library in Warsaw.

Workshop is equipped with standard installations and tools as well as wide stock of high quality materials of reputable Polish and foreign manufactures and could preform conservation activities on European level.

SCCW’s team, besides various activities preformed on behalf of Wroclaw University Library, also took part in outside works, inter alia, conservation of manuscripts from Cieszyn Repository (1992), renovation of archive documents from University of Wrocław Archive (1993), conservation of antique collection from Former Library of Evangelical Castle Church from Olesnica (1997-1998) – so called chained library, only one prevailed in this part of Europe, restoration of antique prints of The Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław (2004). In years 2004-2008 Workshop conducted preventive conservation of 17 manuscripts and old prints from collections of Cyprian Norwid Voivodeship and City Public Library in Zielona Góra. In years 2008-2009 it accomplished complex conservation of 7 items for The Main Library and Scientific Information Centre of Wroclaw University of Technology.

As part of cooperation with Philipps-Universität Marburg (1993-1995) Workshop preformed, inter alia, conservation of 150 incunabula from WUL’s Old Prints Department, and during realization of Robert Bosch Foundation project 159 volumes from this Department were renovated.

Realization of the cultural project Biblitheca Sonans (2004-2005) allowed conducting conservation of 130 manuscripts from two collections of the Music Collection Department: from St. Elizabeth Church in Wroclaw library and from Duke Rudolf’s Library from Legnica. Items were secured irregularly in 80’s and 90’s of the 20th century. Due to this project these collections were renewed almost completely. In the framework of the project were also included incunabula from Old Prints Department. Bibliotheca Sonans allowed the renovation of 10 codices and 8 preserved fragments of items.

Constantly widen knowledge allows SCCW’s team for proper and esthetic protection of Wroclaw University Library’s thesaurus.