Making the holdings of the Austrian National Library visible

The exhibitions at the museums of the Austrian National Library are the poster children of the establishment. Together with the curators and departments, we rise to the challenge of presenting you with exhibition objects in an attractive way while, at the same time, observing preservational guidelines.

Before the exhibition

We first evaluate the condition of the valuable exhibits at the Institute for Restoration and decide on preservational measures, if necessary. Images are then mounted on passe-partouts and framed, and tailored book cradles are created for books.

External museums and institutions are also interested in the unique objects of the Austrian National Library. Only following careful evaluation do we make several objects available for loans as well. We prepare a condition log for each exhibit “on the road”, in which we log the exact details of its condition, as well as the environmental and technical conditions for exhibition.

As a general rule, the temperature should be 18 to 20°C and the air humidity between 45 and 50%. The incidence of light should be a maximum of 50 lux and contain no UV light.

Custom-made solutions

Depending on exhibition and exhibit, there are varying requirements of the Institute for Restoration. Two examples:

• In the exhibition » The Eternal Emperor. Franz Joseph I 1830-1916, there were 21 colour images, which needed to be housed in three-large format frames. For this, a passe-partout was cut from a large-format board respectively for eight and five images.
  
  
• The display case design at the » Literature Museum made it necessary to also present books in an upright position. To this end, a new book support construction was used, which enables the book to be presented at an angle of 60° while at the same time providing sufficient support.