BPG Help Wanted: Reformatting

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This project was completed in September 2018. Thank you to all of our volunteers!

Welcome

Welcome and thank you for your interest in this project! The first step is to get in touch with the BPG Wiki Coordinators, Katherine Kelly and Denise Stockman by emailing bookandpapergroup.wiki@gmail.com. You will also want to register as a wiki editor (step 1: watch the AIC wiki training video on YouTube). The first 39 minutes of this video contain the most important information.

Once that is done, you can choose a chapter to reformat. You do not need to be an expert in the technique to reformat the chapter. The current list of pages is:

Media Problems (PCC)	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Support Problems (PCC)	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Visual Examination (PCC)	Claimed: Sharon Fickeissen	DONE!!
Mold	Claimed: Katherine Kelly	DONE!!
Surface Cleaning	Claimed: Sharon Fickeissen	DONE!!
Washing (PCC)	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Sizing & Resizing	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Parchment (PCC)	Claimed: Rebecca Smyrl	DONE!!
Bleaching (PCC)	Claimed: Denise Stockman	DONE!!
Alkalization and Neutralization	Claimed: Katherine Kelly	DONE!!
Humidification (PCC)	Claimed: Michelle Hamill and Jill Iacchei	DONE!!
Consolidation/Fixing/Facing	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Backing Removal	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Mending (PCC)	Claimed: Clare Manias	DONE!!
Lining	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Inpainting (PCC)	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!
Matting and Framing	Claimed: Jennifer Evers	DONE!!

Reformatting Steps

The BPG Template for New Page page will offer good guidance. You can also refer to pages that have already been formatted, such as Spot Tests and Fiber Identification.

The reformatting steps are:

Remove “NOTOC” and let the table of contents generator do the work. Anything with a header will automatically show up in the table of contents. Remove any hand-made table of contents.

Add a sentence at the top regarding the subject of the page. Often, the "Purpose" section can be used.

Headers

Add headers to whatever depth feels appropriate - this will differ by chapter

• All top level headers “==Abcd==” get a horizontal rule.
• When adding headers, remove other outline prefixes (So, “==13.2. Title==” becomes “==Title==”)
• Once you’ve stopped adding ===’s for headers, convert the rest of the outline structure to bullets, indents, paragraphs, etc. Do not keep numbers/initial letters/etc., unless they really make sense in that place (i.e. a numbered sequence of steps). Avoid the use of underlining.

Minor Reorganization and Renaming

These are optional, but you may feel free to:

• Change the wording of headers to make the table of contents make more sense. For example, "Treatment Variations" can usually be renamed to something more specific.
• Combine topics that were formerly listed twice - once under Materials and Equipment and again under Treatment Variations. If you do this, make certain that references/internal links to old headers are updated. You can scroll down to the bottom to what links here to see which pages may be affected.
• Correct typos and misspellings.

Internal Links

This is the most time consuming part of the process, but also the most important. We are here to help if you have questions. Our goal is to remove all of the numbered outline structure, and replace it with links to the appropriate sections of BPG Wiki chapters.

• Update internal links within your chapter that point to places in your chapter. E.g. If you are reformatting the Mold chapter, "see 12.4.8" becomes an internal link to the "Mold Removal From Photographic Materials" section. Some internal links may go to places low enough in the outline that they do not have wiki headers. In this case, just refer to the name of the heading. If you want to provide an internal link, make the link point to the nearest available header above the point you want.
• Update internal links within the chapter that point to other wiki pages. E.g. "See 17. Washing: local aqueous cleaning" becomes "See Washing: local aqueous cleaning". If all you have is an outline number or page number, you may need to refer to a print version of the Paper Conservation Catalog. Each PCC chapter has a link to a pdf of the print version in the "History of This Chapter" section. The Paper Conservation Wiki homepage will also retain the numbered list of all the chapters, for the time being.
• Update internal links throughout the wiki that point back to your chapter. So, if you reformat chapter 3: Media Problems, you would search out and replace all references to Chapter 3 or sections like "3.4.2.B.1".

External Links

These mostly occur in the Bibliography, but you may find them in the main text. Please check any external links and fix them if necessary:

• correct: "see also Conservation & Art Materials Encyclopedia Online"
• incorrect: "see also Conservation & Art Materials Encyclopedia Online http://cameo.mfa.org"

Bibliography

If you have time and are willing, we would also love to have the Bibliographies reformatted. If you do, please follow the Reference and Bibliography Protocols. You can also get in touch with Alex Bero and Laura McCann from the BPG Wiki Bibliographies team for guidance. Some of the Bibliographies are hopelessly out-of-date, though, and it is not worth your time to reformat citations that should just be deleted.

Some other easy ways to improve existing bibliographies:

• Add links to online articles or resources. Some model citations:

Harris, Kenneth E. and Susan E. Schur. October 2006. "A Brief History of Preservation and Conservation at the Library of Congress". Available on the Library of Congress, Preservation Directorate website. Accessed June 23, 2017.

Reissland, Birgit and Frank Ligterink. 2011. The Iron Gall Ink Website.

Albro, Sylvia, Julie l. Biggs, Claire Dekle, Mary Elizabeth Haude, Cyntia Karnes, and Yasmeen Khan. 2008. "Developing Guidelines for Iron-Gall Ink Treatment at the Library of Congress. The Book and Paper Group Annual 27.

• If you find citations in the text that are not already linked to the bibliography at the end of the chapter, add the link.
  

Correcting Errors and Making Improvements to the Chapters

Updating and improving the chapters is the next step AFTER reformatting. We feel it is better to complete the re-formatting first, before tackling an update. If the error is a typo or other small changes mentioned above, go ahead and correct it as part of reformatting. For more substantial corrections, please save those until after reformatting is complete. This will make it easier for future users to see these edits as improvements and growth in the chapter.

No doubt, you will identify places where your chapter can be improved. As you notice them, please collect these ideas on the Discussion (or Talk) page. As soon as the reformatting is complete, you are welcome to make the following additions:

• The addition of photographs is always welcome. Please make sure there are no copyright issues.
• The addition of updated Bibliographic references is always welcome. See Reference and Bibliography Protocols.

If you are interested in making more substantive changes, we should discuss together the scope of the revisions and talk about the process. In keeping with the original PCC model, this should be a team effort. We would like to form some teams to update pages once the reformatting is complete, and we would be delighted to have your help in this way. There was a discussion of how to approach the identification of outdated techniques at the 2017 Wiki Session at AIC Annual, with good suggestions from the audience.