For employees at “Sharjah Documents and Archives Authority”

The National Library and Archives and concludes a training course in document preservation and restoration.

Based on its keenness to train and qualify archivists with the aim of preserving historical documents, taking care of them, preserving them in appropriate environments, organizing and classifying them in accordance with legal requirements and following the best scientific practices and rules, the National Library and Archives concluded a training course on “Techniques of Preservation and Restoration of Documents” organized for employees of the Sharjah Documents and Archives Authority at the Conservation and Restoration Center.

In the first week of the two-week training course, participants were given practical technical training in the restoration laboratory equipped with the latest equipment necessary to restore damaged documents and give old documents a longer life. Participants were also trained on the stages of document diagnosis and analysis before and after processing.

The course stressed the need to carry out sterilization, cleaning and complete cleansing of documents from mold and insects in the designated place, which is separate from the storage sites. The course also focused on methods of treatment of newspapers, maps, books, and negative image film since each form of documents has a specific method of preservation and processing.

During the second week of the course, the participants were briefed on ways to save documents, books, multimedia and maps. The training course also provided an introduction to the means of receiving the preservation requests, instructions for inspecting the technical conditions of archive preservation, and calculating storage spaces in line with the procedures followed in the National Library and Archives.

Moreover, Sheikha Al-Qahtani, Head of the Conservation and Restoration Department, Sheikha Al-Sawafi, an archives specialist, and Shaima Al-Amiri, an archive specialist delivered lectures and presentations in the course. The National Library and Archives continues to cooperate with the archives of local and federal government and with the concerned authorities in many specialized activities and events, with the aim of qualifying archivists to preserve the memory of the nation according to modern methods and advanced technologies.