Restoration and conservation of library collections
Việt Nam’s tropical climate, with its combination of high temperature and high humidity, provides the perfect environment for both mould growth and insect infestation. If not stopped in time these problems can damage or destroy both paper and non-paper collections.
Dedicated book restoration and conservation facilities have already been established at the
National Library of Việt Nam and at the
Institute of Hán-Nôm Studies Library in Hà Nội, at the
Hồ Chí Minh City General Science Library in the southern capital and at
Thừa Thiên Huế Provincial Library in Huế; other smaller facilities of this kind are currently being developed at
Thanh Hóa Provincial Library and
Yên Bái Provincial Library. Whilst the restoration and conservation centre at Hồ Chí Minh City General Science Library (funded by the Netherlands Force Foundation) is well-served in terms of equipment and trained professional staff, collaboration with foreign restoration and preservation agencies is eagerly sought by all of the other centres with a view to upgrading their skills and equipment, and the National Library is keen to introduce the science of book restoration and preservation more widely throughout its regional public library network.
In recent years the related issue of library collection care has been accorded top priority, both by the National Library and by many provincial and municipal governments, and despite continued financial stringency many new climatised storage facilities and reading rooms have opened. However, in the most outlying regions library storage facilities remain inadequate, with high humidity encouraging insect infestation and mould. This poses a particular problem for those public libraries which hold important ethnic minority collections, but - because they are located in poorer provinces - do not have sufficient funds to care for them (see
Ethnic culture - libraries).
