The Book Lab

Elise Calvi is Head of General Collections Conservation and Preservation Services in the Indiana University Libraries, where she is responsible for protecting, stabilizing, and improving the condition of the library’s research collections, primarily those in book form, through a range of preventive measures and remedial treatment activities. Elise’s prior experience includes working in academic libraries, archives, museums, and historical organizations as a preservation administrator, conservator, collection development librarian, curator, and consultant. Her early experience managing large-scale preservation grants led to publication of The Preservation Manager’s Guide to Cost Analysis. At IU she has used a collections-based approach and project management techniques to address preservation priorities systematically, such as described in “GreenGlass for Preservation Selection”, and has introduced minimally interventive, reversible book conservation treatment methods that are appropriate for special collections and older book structures and materials. Elise has a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Rhode Island.