NLM logo
Skip Section Navigation

About Us: Conservation

Using Photoshop to evaluate faded ink.
Treating damaged artwork.
Placing a book in a mount for display.

Caring for the Collection

Help in a Disaster

Emergency Preparedness and Response

How to Safely Stabilize, Salvage, and Recover Collections in a Water Emergency

The Conservation Laboratory at NLM preserves and protects collection materials so they remain accessible for research, exhibition, and future generations.

Conservation staff assess, stabilize, and treat a wide range of materials, while creating protective housing and storage solutions for rare and fragile items. They work closely with other NLM staff to prepare collection materials for safe handling during photography and digitization. In the event of a collection emergency, conservation staff provide expert salvage and recovery to help restore and protect affected materials.

Explore NLM’s Collection and Preservation Policy to learn more about our commitment to maintaining and preserving biomedical literature.

Three women examine books on a table.

NLM and the Jewish Museum of Maryland staff review books going on loan.

Institutional Loans for Exhibition

Information for Curators and Registrars

The National Library of Medicine loans items from its collection for display in public exhibitions to qualifying institutions on a case-by-case basis. If you represent an organization that is interested in arranging a loan, please contact NLM Support Center.

Open All
  • Exhibition Requirements

    Borrowing institutions are required to meet museum exhibition best practices and standards to protect collections from unnecessary damage during transportation and exhibition. All items will be reviewed by an NLM conservator prior to loan. Requirements will include specifications for the exhibition environment, monitoring, security, display, and transportation. Please contact NLM Support Center for details.

    Close Close All Open All
  • Recent Loans

    Loans have been arranged to:

    • The J. Paul Getty Museum for its exhibition Lumen: The Art and Science of Light. Read more...
    • New York University Institute for the Study of the Ancient World for its exhibition Romance and Reason: Islamic Transformations of the Classical Past. Read more...
    • National Building Museum for its exhibition Architecture of an Asylum: St Elizabeths 1852-2017. Read more...
    • Jewish Museum of Maryland for its exhibition Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews & Medicine in America. Read more...
    • The Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution for its exhibition Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Read more...
    • The Grolier Club of New York for its exhibition Extraordinary Women in Science & Medicine: Four Centuries of Achievement. Read more...
    • The Metropolitan Museum of Art for The Cloisters’ exhibition Search for the Unicorn: An Exhibition in Honor of The Cloisters’ 75th Anniversary. Read more...
    • Yeshiva University Museum for its exhibition Trail of the Magic Bullet: The Jewish Encounter with Modern Medicine, 1860–1960.
    • U.S. Department of State for a long-term loan to Blair House, also known as the President's Guest House. Read more...
    • Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks for a long-term loan to the Hill-Physick House for the Medical Museum illustrating the life and work of Edmund Physick (1727–1804). Read more...
    Close Close All Open All
  • About NLM

    The National Library of Medicine is a part of the National Institutes of Health, one of America’s national libraries, the world’s largest biomedical library, and home to a world-renowned collection of historical material related to human health and disease: from archives to monographs, films to ephemera. The Library celebrates its collection through its award-winning Exhibition Program, which develops and presents exhibitions and multidisciplinary educational tools that make the National Library of Medicine’s collection available to audiences around the world.

    Close Close All Open All

Conservation News on Our Blog

Last Reviewed: May 6, 2026