The highly-regarded Book and Paper Conservation Studio at Dundee University is to shut in the summer.
The studio, based at the university’s main library, was originally threatened with closure a year ago and only won a reprieve after some staff agreed to take big pay cuts.
However, management say it is now “no longer operationally viable” due to a downturn in demand for its services. The plan is for the studio to wind down its commercial activities, with only two part-time staff being retained to look after the university’s own books and artefacts.
Although small, the studio has won a national reputation for the quality of its work and its loss is a blow to Scotland’s cultural heritage.
It was founded in 1985, the brainchild of the late university archivist Joan Auld.
She had extensive first-hand knowledge of the wealth of historically significant documentary and pictorial material held around Scotland that was in need of specialist care. Her idea was to set up a professional service where anyone could access conservation expertise.
The purpose-built studio received substantial funding from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council to help meet its capital costs.
In addition to repairing damaged books and papers, the studio’s staff also provided training and advice to other conservationists and archivists. Its clients included museums, libraries, churches and private collectors.
One of its major projects was work to conserve hundreds of 18th century letters sent to Swedish naturalist Carl Linneaus, who developed the Latin naming system for plants and animals still in use worldwide.
It has also lent its expertise to institutions including The McManus gallery and museum in Dundee and Glasgow School of Art, which needed help in preserving drawings by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
A university spokesman said, “Over the last two years there has been a substantial decline in the commercial activity within the conservation sphere and units that specialise in the highest quality of work, such as the book and paper conservation studio at Dundee, have found their operations challenging to sustain.
“Staffing and income levels for the conservation studio have now fallen substantially and the studio is no longer operationally viable.
“The studio is entering a period of wind-down, completing existing and committed work but it is no longer seeking new contracts.
“The studio will close for external work on June 1 and will cease operations by July 31. The two staff remaining will be redeployed within the library and learning centre to meet growing demands for digital resources.
“The capacities of these conservators to work on rare books and other university artefacts will be retained, and a small studio will be retained to support this work.”