Why there is so much concern about preservation of paper is because paper has existed for centuries and “most of society’s writings and visual images have been recorded on paper” (Kundrot and Zicherman, 2001). Paper continues to be an essential part of our civilization and education. It is through preservation that we will be able to preserve our past and transmit our cultures from generation to generation.

For sure, we should preserve paper, not primarily because of the paper per se, but because of the information that is on the paper. One may jump to the conclusion that we could just save the information by transferring the information onto some other medium. Though our primary aim is to save the information contained, our secondary aim would be to try to maintain the aspect of “look and feel”, that is, trying to save the information in its original state without alteration.

For sure, we can preserve paper to some extent but it is not for sure whether we can actually preserve paper for life. The main reasons being that the paper itself is problematic and complex in nature and the preservation methods available are not as efficient and effective.

● What is permanence?

Paper permanence has been much more of a concern since some 150 years ago (Havermans, n.d) and “one of the main causes of this fact is attributed to the change of the raw material of paper, from cotton pulp to wood pulp” (Lanting 1985 and Fellers 1989 in Havermans, n.d)

Permanence can be defined as “the ability of paper to last at least several hundred years without significant deterioration under normal use and storage conditions in libraries and archives” (ANSI/NISO standard, Z 39.48 – 1992 in McCrady, 1998).

● Paper a problem in its own self

“The conservation of old books (…) is a problem caused largely by the nature of the paper itself. Printed paper is not a substance in its own right but a mixture of many materials, including cellulose, lignin, sizing agent, filler and ink. It follows that the deterioration of paper is a complicated process (…).” (Willey, 2004).

Means and ways have been sought as to how to preserve paper but the main problem with paper is that it is itself made up of organic materials and organic materials are bound to deteriorate with time. The fact that paper is made from wood pulp is in itself a problem. As said by Havermans (n.d), “the change from cotton to wood aggravated the problem, as wood cellulose has a lower degree of polymerisation than cotton cellulose”.

● What makes things even more complicated is that no one really knows what are the exact factors that deteriorate paper. Some have claimed that lignin is the main factor with regards to the deterioration of paper whilst others have claimed the contrary. But what is lignin?

Lignin is the fibrous part of the plant and it is usually very resistant to degradation and even indestructible in its natural state. However, lignin is no longer strong when it has been manipulated with in order to make paper. It becomes weak when it has undergone pulping and bleaching. Pulping and bleaching loosen the bonds in the lignin and this in part helps to explain the fragility of the paper. Why some thus accuse lignin of being a factor in paper deterioration is because the lignin is known to contain certain amounts of acids and even emits acids through age as they deteriorate. Most would quickly come to the conclusion that removing all lignin would solve the problem of paper deterioration. However, it has not been scientifically proved that lignin is the only source of the problem. As said by Winston (1995) in FACTS (2000), “sections of the pulp and paper industry maintain that lignin is no villain and can safely remain part of the permanent paper manufacturing process, (…) there is no scientific evidence to support the belief that lignin is detrimental to paper longevity”. Also noted in the 64th IFLA General Conference, 16 – 21 August 1998, is the fact that “some scientists even claim that lignin might even be a benefit to permanence” and Begin (1998) in Strlic and Kolar (n.d) maintain the fact that “it has been recently demonstrated that the main factor affecting its stability is acidity, and that lignin does not have a negative impact, providing the paper contains a sufficient amount of calcium carbonate”. Is it really feasible to remove all the lignin present in paper?

The answer would be no. Bearing in mind what McCrady (1991) says, it would be long before trying to get rid of the lignin. More and more lignin will be included in paper as time goes on, because of the increasing use of recycled post consumer fiber (…) and the growing international pulp shortage which provides incentive for use of high yield pulps.

The fact that there has been so much controversy about lignin is that lignin is a complex matter. As said by McCrady (1991), Lignin is actually not one compound but many. (…)

In their natural unprocessed form, they are so complex that none of them has ever been completely described.

It is true that lignin contains certain carboxylic acids but still, it is not the sole matter to be introducing acids in paper. There was a time when Resin and Alum were used for the sizing of paper and consequently, the hydrolysis of Alum gives rise to sulphuric acid. Therefore, even whilst removing lignin, still there would be other problems that would lead to the deterioration of paper.

“For sure, we should preserve paper, not primarily because of the paper per se, but because of the information that is on the paper.”

(Part I) Tara Helena LAM