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June 18, 2026
Policies, Postcards and Prophylactics: Conserving Lothian Health Services Archive’s UNESCO-awarded HIV/AIDS Collections (1983-2010)
My name is Emily and I am Project Conservator at Lothian Health Services Archive. LHSA is based at the Centre for Research Collections, where we share a conservation studio with Emma Davey, Conservation Officer for the CRC, and two private conservators.
Lothian Health Services Archive holds the historically important local records of NHS hospitals and other health-related material. I am currently working on a 12-month Wellcome Trust-funded project to conserve LHSA’s HIV/AIDS collections. This material documents the social and medical response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Edinburgh and the Lothians from 1983 to 2010. The first suspected case of HIV/AIDS in Scotland was discovered in Edinburgh in 1983. The infection rate in the city steadily grew and by 1989 it was seven times higher than the national average, which led to Edinburgh being dubbed the “AIDS capital of Europe” in the national press. This is material of vital importance which comprehensively documents an important part of medical history. In 2011 the collections were inscribed to the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register which emphasises its importance to national documentary heritage.
The collections are made up of a variety of media, mostly loose paper documents, leaflets and postcards but also badges, stickers, photographs, 35mm slides and canvas and plastic bags, as well as rubber and latex items such as condoms and balloons.
An example of the diverse range of materials found in the HIV/AIDS collections.
Many people assume that modern collections such as this do not require conservation, however this is not the case, and there are already items in this collection that are severely damaged. For example, previous storage has led to planar distortion, creasing, tearing and the accumulation of surface dirt on paper documents. Low quality materials used in paper making has also resulted in deterioration of paper sheets.
Paper documents in the HIV/AIDS collections. Plastic paper clips causing planar distortion of the sheets.
Damage to other items is often due to the inherent nature of the object. For example, rubber items such as the balloons have become brittle due to loss of plasticiser and objects have become stuck together due to the migration of adhesives.
A balloon from the HIV/AIDS collections. Loss of plasticiser has caused the balloon to become very brittle.
There is also a collection of digital media such as 3.5” floppy disks, VHS, audio cassette tapes and film reels which have been transferred to modern storage facilities to avoid loss of information due to obsolescence of the viewing equipment.
A screen shot from a video in the HIV/AIDS collection. Shows loss of image quality.
In this project, conservation of paper materials mainly involves the re-housing of paper items in acid-free folders and boxes and carrying out basic conservation treatment such as surface cleaning, tear repair and flattening if needed. Conservation of non-paper materials mainly focuses on re-housing the objects in appropriate archival storage, rather than on interventive treatment.
I really enjoy working with this diverse range of material in this collection. When I graduated last year specialising in paper conservation, I never thought I would be working with such modern materials. So since starting here, I’ve had to research plastic conservation and digitisation methods and develop new ways of storing modern objects with paper collections, which I’ve found challenging and fun! With more and more modern materials becoming deposited in archives, I believe skills gained in this project will be really useful in the future, and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to work with such a varied and interesting collection.
If you’d like to find out more about this project and the conservation of modern materials, please visit our blog.
Emily Hick Project Conservator Lothian Health Services Archive Emily.Hick@ed.ac.uk
SAE Technical Papers – new e-resource
The Library now subscribes to the full collection of SAE Technical Papers available within the SAE Digital Library. This provides access to over 90,000 technical papers from the Society of Automotive Engineers, ranging from 1906 to the present day. Papers are available in the fields of design engineering, aerospace 
engineering, advanced materials, power and propulsion, transportation, tests and testing, fuels, energy sources, safety etc.
A full list of our databases is available at http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/library-databases/databases-a-z
Accessible Archives – new database
Accessible Archives has been added to our A-Z list of databases – Eyewitness accounts of 
historical events, vivid descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records. Includes archives from African American Newspapers, American County Histories, Civil War archives and many other eighteenth and nineteenth century newspaper and journal archives.
A full list of the collections and coverage is available at http://www.accessible-archives.com/collections/
Making new (3D) plans II
Yesterday I blogged about our exciting plans for the display and interpretation of nearly 1000 historic musical instruments in the new St Cecilia’s Hall, including how we are able to work on-screen on 3D walkthroughs.
Going through the photos taken from various meetings shows that 3D modelling isn’t always high-tech however. Here are Sarah Deters, Audience Development Assistant and Jenny Nex, Curator, deciding on the placement of two fabulous 17th century archlutes from our Collections by taking the place of the musical instruments.
Should we display them facing in or out?
For those who might be interested, here are the instruments in question. On the left is one made by Harz in 1665, and on the right the example by Rotundus, dated 1699.
RASHID AL-DIN 1314 Library Exhibition Time Lapse Film
For the past month or so the DIU have been capturing our first ever time lapse footage of the installation of the current library festival exhibition RASHID AL-DIN 1314. We filmed over several weeks trying to capture the main installation events. This included the prep work by conservation, the delivery of objects from the National Museum, swathes of discussion over the exhibition, hard core carpentry skills and an insane press pack in full flight all leading up to the opening night. What we captured is only part of the story in that all the planning had been completed and work scheduled before shooting began including our own part of supplying the images for the display boards and background supports. It has been a huge revelation to see and document the level of application that goes into creating a Library exhibition. The overriding impression is of a truly massive collaborative effort involving many departments across institutions. Definitely worth a watch if only for the wonderful music by our very own Art Collections Curator Neil Lebeter.
RASHID AL-DIN 1314 Library Exhibition Time Lapse Film from DIGITAL IMAGING UNIT FILM on Vimeo.
Malcolm Brown, Deputy Photographer.
Making new (3D) plans
Although we are very much focused on our ever-closer decant from St Cecilia’s Hall, it by no means takes all of our thinking time in relation to the St Cecilia’s Hall Redevelopment Project. Despite not even having closed the building yet, all staff are busy making plans for the displays that will go into the building once it re-opens.
This is, of course, one of the most enjoyable parts of our jobs.
What we are doing now will very much decide the “feel” of the new museum. There are all sorts of questions we need to consider – how many instruments are we wanting (how dense will the display be), how do we want to arrange the instruments to tell various stories, how do we keep the visitor interested from start to finish, and (we very much hope) still wanting to come back for return visits, how do we appeal to all types of visitor from professional musicians to those who have no detailed knowledge but want to see the old (and in some cases not quite-so-old) objects.
This is not a one-step process by any means – at present it is the layout of the galleries and showcases, this will be followed by designing stands so the instruments can be clearly and unobtrusively seen, backdrops, creating labels, text for guides, publications and so on.
What is it all actually like, and how does it happen in practice, are common questions. Here are a couple of “behind-the-scenes” photos of the team at work. In front of the computer is Iain Coates of our museum design team Studio SP, who has a programme which allows scaled images of each of the objects to be move into 3D showcase “space”, which is projected onto the screen for us all to see. The software also allows us to view showcases from various viewpoints in the gallery, and even have a complete walkthrough!
We are nearing the end of all of the open displays, after which our displayed objects will have all been selected (we have, of course, the possibility of tweaking a little as we progress). The chance for a whole-museum walkthrough is being increasingly anticipated.
New online resource for SPS: Peace Research Abstracts
The Library has recently subscribed to the online database Peace Research Abstracts. This is a comprehensive database for peace and conflict resolution research and is a particularly useful resource for those studying International Relations and Politics.
Peace Research Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to peace research, including conflict resolution, international affairs, peace psychology, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. Read More
‘Lotte’: Charlotte Auerbach (1899-1994)
Charlotte Auerbach, date and photographer unknown. (Coll-1266)
Recently I have been cataloguing the various papers we have concerning Charlotte Auerbach (known as ‘Lotte’ to her friends), who passed away 20 years ago this year. Mention has already been made on this blog about how Lotte arrived in Britain from Berlin in 1933, having been dismissed from her science teaching post under Hitler’s anti-Semitic legislation. She remained in the Institute of Animal Genetics for the rest of her life, receiving a Personal Chair from the University in 1967 and being made Professor Emeritus in 1969. Read More
A University Library as a Publisher – Workshop, Discussion and SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis Exercise
The Repository Fringe, an event which has become renowned for its informal, ‘un-conference’ approach and its friendly atmosphere, was held at the University of Edinburgh 30th & 31st July. This year’s event welcomed a record number of 150 attendees and saw over 20 speakers give their time to prepare and deliver innovative presentations and workshops covering various aspects of Open Access repository development and management.
On the second day, Angela Laurins and Dominic Tate led a workshop to explore the idea of Library as publisher. We looked at our experience of managing the University of Edinburgh’s Journal Hosting Service which uses the open-source OJS (Open Journals System) software to host journals on behalf of students and researchers.
Angela provided some background information to the service, highlighting the key milestones and challenges which have shaped the (free) service we offer at Edinburgh. She asked the audience if the Library has evolved, albeit unintentionally, yet, perhaps inevitably, from its role as distributor to become a publisher?
The Library;
- provides training and support
- provides default policy text eg take down policy
- commits to deal with any complaints regarding copyright infringement
- advises on copyright and licensing
- manages ISSN application
- has acquired a DOI prefix (registered with CrossRef as publisher) and manages DOI exports
- advises on & provides journal design
- advises on article layout
- advises on promotion and marketing
- helps analyse analytics
- digitises back issues (See Res Medica – the journal of the Royal Medical Society)
- registers journals with DOAJ
However, there are services which we don’t provide…… yet
The Library doesn’t:
- advise on peer review
- proof read or copyedit content
- check copyright
- intervene if (some) advice is not taken
- do any quality control of new journals or content
What do you think: are we a publisher or a distributor?
To help answer this question, Dominic put the Journal Hosting Service into the wider context of the University and its portfolio of Open Access services. He then presented the Library’s options to the workshop:
- Should we continue as we are?
- Should we start to charge for the service?
- Should we offer the service to other universities?
- Should we formalise our role as a publisher?
There is no question that we have the skills in the Library to provide the additional publisher-related services, the question we wanted to ask the workshop was, just because we can, does that mean we should? So next, it was over to the audience to break into groups and conduct a SWOT Analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats) on the concept of the University Library as a Publisher.
Participants responded enthusiastically to the task and generated a great deal of discussion in their groups. Here’s what we came up with:
Strengths
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Opportunities
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Weaknesses
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Threats
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The University brand was considered to be both a strength and a weakness and confusion with the University Press as a weakness and a threat although there is also opportunity there to share expertise and work together to fulfil the University’s OA aspirations. Scalability was an issue raised, as was the increased responsibility and liability of the Library if it were to formally adopt the role of publisher.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time. However, the SWOT analysis started the beginnings of a conversation that will continue both at the University of Edinburgh but also across other UK campuses as Libraries continue to expand their role in OA publishing.
At the end of the workshop we asked, ‘Based on the evidence, should University Libraries be publishers? The overwhelming majority voted ‘Yes’. Votes counted, the result was: Yes 14, No 2 and Undecided 1.
About the Repository Fringe
The Repository Fringe is an annual event held at the University of Edinburgh which brings together repository managers and developers from across the UK. The event is jointly organised by EDINA, the DCC and Library and University Collections. Repository Fringe 2014
About the University of Edinburgh’s Journal Hosting Service
The University of Edinburgh’s Journal Hosting Service uses the open-source software OJS (Open Journal Systems) to provide a platform for students and academic staff to publish Open Access Journals. Journal Hosting Service
Dominic Tate – Project Manager, LOCH & Angela Laurins, Library Learning Services Manager, University of Edinburgh
RDM Roadmap: Completion of Phase 1
The Research Data Management (RDM) Programme is well underway with planning and pilot activity (phase 0 of the RDM Roadmap), and initial roll-out of primary services (phase 1) completed. Services include:
- DMPonline – an online tool by the Digital Curation Centre that assists researchers to produce an effective data management plan (DMP) to cater for the whole lifecycle of a project
- Research Data Blog – set up by the RDM Action Group to communicate progress on the RDM programme.
- RDM Website – a One Stop Shop for all university RDM materials (FAQs, key messages, RDM planning guidance, service guides)
- Research Data MANTRA – an online course designed for researchers or others planning to manage digital data as part of the research process
- Edinburgh DataShare – the online digital repository of multi-disciplinary research datasets produced at the University of Edinburgh
- DataStore – a new central facility to store data actively used in current research activities. DataStore provides all researchers with a free at point of use allocation (currently 0.5TB). Researchers can assign up to 50% (0.25TB) of their free individual allocation to shared project spaces. Additional capacity can be purchased above this, with support for very large data (>1PB) hosting available.
Phase 2: (June 2014 – May 2015) will see continued rollout and maturation of services. Services in development include:
- the Data Asset Registry (DAR) – a catalogue of data assets produced by researchers working for the University of Edinburgh to aid discovery access and reuse
- the Data Vault – a secure, private and long-term ‘vault’ of data that is only accessible by the creator or their representative
We are currently gathering requirements to inform design of the DAR and Data Vault services. Upcoming Roadmap milestones will subsequently tackle requisite interoperation between existing and planned RDM services.
There are a number of different groups within the university and outside with whom we need to communicate our RDM programme. These include research active staff, support and administrative staff, university committees and groups (research policy group, library and IT committees, knowledge strategy committee) as well as external collaborators and stakeholders such as funding bodies etc. This is being done through a variety of communication activities including a range of training programmes on research data management (RDM) in the form of workshops, seminars and drop in sessions to help researchers with research data management issues along with formal and bespoke awareness raising sessions within schools for research and support staff. The clear message that we want to communicate is that the University is committed to and has invested in RDM services, training, and support, and that the University is supporting researchers, encouraging good research practice, and effecting culture change.
The RDM Services will be formally launched by the Principal on 26th August, 2014 along with an associated conference ‘Dealing with Data’ which offers researchers the opportunity to present on any aspect of the challenges and advances in working with data, particularly research data with novel methods of creating, using, storing, visualising or sharing data.
Stuart Macdonald
RDM Services Co-ordinator
Collections
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Projects
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Archival Provenance Research Project: Lishan’s Experience
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