CUL - Main Content

Established in 1974 with responsibility for preserving Columbia University Libraries’ collections in all formats and genres, the Preservation and Digital Conversion Division added digitization to its regular operations in 1995. The Division provides a comprehensive program to prolong the existence and accessibility of the collections for current and future students and scholars, by acting to prevent or retard deterioration of physical materials through correct housing and environment, through disaster preparedness, and through staff and user education; where possible, acting to improve the condition of materials through conservation treatment; and, when necessary, acting to change their format in order to preserve their intellectual content, including converting analog content to digital form. The Division coordinates with other units in the Libraries to assure preservation of digital content.

Learn more about Conserving Cultural Heritage at Columbia and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's challenge to the Libraries.

Columbia University Libraries Preservation Policy

• Preservation Reformatting and Metadata
• Imaging Lab
• Conservation
• Binding and Shelf Preparation
• Audio Preservation

• Photography, Digital Photography, Flatbed Scanning, and Microfilming
• Publication and Digital Reproduction Policy and Procedures
• Guidelines for Borrowing  Materials for Exhibition

• Audio/Moving Image Survey
• Special Collections Survey

• Digitizing the Columbia Spectator
• Medical Heritage Library: Digitizing monographs and journals from the Health Sciences Library
• Lindquist Native American Photographs