The basic duties of libraries and archives include the provision of universal access to original materials and the preservation and transfer of these materials to future generations. Acting with this awareness, the IRCICA Library and Archive Department has implemented preventive protection measures and shown great meticulosity in the preservation of the resources contained in the collections. It has attended to the need to ensure the regulation and constant control of storage humidity, temperature and lighting conditions in the areas where this valuable treasury of information is placed, and taken steps in this regard. In addition, extreme care is taken throughout the processes from the selection of materials such as labels, inks and pens to be used to the preparation of the boxes, shelves and cabinets of storage, and effective protection is obtained by means of external services or collaborative arrangements. In this context, a cooperation protocol has been signed for the restoration of some materials from the private collections by the Turkish Manuscripts Institution (YEK) Book Hospital (https://www.ircica.org/tr/faaliyetler/isbirligi/turkiye-yazma-eserler-kurumu-ile-isbirligi)

Digitalization of materials in the collections constitutes an important aspect of the preventive protection methods implemented. With the digitization works it carries out, IRCICA Library and Archive Department preserves the physical structures and contents of its private collections and makes them available worldwide via open access along with the related metadata information.