engaging

characteristics of "peak performers," says Maxwell, "is

an infectious talent for moving into the future generating new

challenges

and living with the sense that there is more work to be done."

"Get out of what I call your environment box. As a pastor,"

says Maxwell, "I discovered very quickly was that I was in a

denomination

that had a nongrowth environment. Small thinkers. Suspicious of the

outside."

He quotes Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, known for

searching out better ways of doing things from other companies:

"We

never shut up about the great things that lie ahead for a company

whose people get up every morning and come to work knowing convinced

that there is a better way of doing everything they do and determined

to find out who knows that way and who they can learn it."

But growth demands a temporary surrender of security, he cautions.

For instance, Cal Ripken never missed a game for the Baltimore

Orioles,

despite any of his aches and pains, because he had conditioned himself

to "being comfortable being uncomfortable."

quotes Sidney Harris: "A winner knows how much he still has to

learn even when he is considered an expert by others and a loser wants

to be considered an expert by the others before he has learned enough

to know how little he knows."

get up to go up, or instead of leaving footprints in the sands of

time, you will leave butt prints in the sands of time. More elegantly,

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that for everything you gain, you lose

something.

who want to grow. "Winners run with winners; losers run with

losers; people who are going to accomplish something run with people

who are going to accomplish something. Look carefully, at the closest

associations in your life, for that is the direction in which you

are heading."

"If you really want to stop plateauing in your life," says

Maxwell, "you have to be more concerned with your personal growth

than with your personal success. The highest reward for our toil is

not what we get for it, but what we become by it. So many people

forget

that. Success does not bring growth, but growth does bring

success."

— Barbara Fox

Top Of Page
Keeping Important Documents Healthy

Keep that copier paper coming. The long-predicted

paperless

office is nowhere in sight. A lot of the paper in an office is

disposable

— as may or may not have been the case with the reams Andersen

auditors shredded while at work for Enron. Other paper, however, is

precious. Key contracts, vintage photos of the firm’s founders,

historical

documents, and tax back-up materials could fall into this category.

In a busy office, ensuring the security of this paper is often a

haphazard

affair.

Expert help is available. On Saturday, April 27, at 8:30 a.m.,

Steve

Dalton, director of field service at the Northeast Document

Conservation

Center, a Massachusetts-based non-profit, speaks on "A is for

Archives: Preserving Paper-Based Materials" at a meeting of Union

County Cultural & Heritage Affairs at Kean University Little Theater.

Cost: $15. Call 908-558-2550.

Those unable to attend will find a comprehensive, easy-to-follow plan

for preserving important paper at the Northeast Document Conservation

Center’s website, www.nedcc.org. Here are excerpts from the website’s

manual:

common material found in library, archives, and records collections.

Early paper made from materials such as linen and hemp was relatively

stable and durable.

Unfortunately, the quality of paper has steadily declined since the

late 18th century, primarily due to increased demand, which forced

greater mechanization and resulted in poorer quality paper. For

example,

between 1600 and 1800 changes were made in ways of beating the pulp,

resulting in a paper sheet with less strength. Also, bleaching

chemicals,

such as chlorine, were increasingly used to improve the brightness

of the page. Residual chemicals such as this could cause the paper

to become prematurely acidic.

Conservators generally consider the period from 1850 to the present

to be the era of "bad paper." This is primarily a result of

the increased use of alum-rosin sizing, and the use of plentiful

softwood

to make paper pulp. Most paper made with unpurified groundwood pulps

(e.g. newsprint) have a life expectancy of less than 50 years. Note

that fine quality materials also deteriorate over time, but are more

chemically stable and have a longer life expectancy if stored and

handled correctly.

of preservation can be a challenging process. Deterioration happens

slowly over a long period of time and is not immediately obvious,

especially if it is due to internal vice, which is caused by weakness

in the chemical or physical makeup of an object introduced during

the manufacture of paper, or environmental problems. But anyone who

has handled seldom-used books and been confronted with flakes of

yellowing

paper, knows that paper collections will not survive unless they

receive

special care.

Several strategies may be helpful in demonstrating the importance

of preservation to others. Documenting deterioration and showing

damaged

materials to others can be very effective; highlighting positive

evidence

when preservation actions are carried out may also have an impact.

If you are the person designated to take charge of preserving a

collection,

you must become informed about preservation issues and keep up with

recent developments in the field. You should try to share preservation

information with your colleagues in a non-threatening way — so

that they do not resent the "preservation police."

problems within an institution is to conduct a survey. The purpose

of a general needs assessment survey is to identify hazards to the

collection overall and to help preserve materials using preventive

maintenance strategies. For example, this type of survey examines

building conditions, storage and handling procedures, disaster

preparedness,

and policies that impact preservation.

of activity make up a preservation program. Even a small organization

— or a private collector — can undertake such a program.

Elements

include environmental control, providing a moderate and stable

temperature

and humidity, and controlling exposure to light; emergency

preparedness,

preventing and responding to damage from water, fire, or other

emergency

situation; security, protecting collections from theft and/or

vandalism;

storage and handling, using non-damaging storage enclosures and proper

storage furniture, cleaning storage areas, and using care when

handling;

reformatting, when reproducing deteriorating collections onto stable

media to preserve the informational content, handling should be

restricted.