Some conservation problems of higher degree theses in Victorian University Libraries

Nirmolini V. Flora

Abstract
Victorian universities provide guidelines for submitting higher degree theses. Though specifications for several important parameters are included, such as thesis length and the size of margins, specifications for archival copies do not appear. A large percentage of a sample of higher degree theses in university libraries reveals high acidity in paper and deterioration in various other parameters. If universities provided specifications for the quality of paper and other archival parameters the availability and usefulness of these for future scholars, and the preservation of an important part of a university's intellectual history, would be assured.