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The purchase of a biosafety cabinet as part of a larger preservation and disaster preparedness plan for humanities collections including the Puerto Rican Collection of over 40,000 books, periodicals, maps, photographs, letters, and other artifacts related to the history of Puerto Rico and of the university; the Josefina and Manuel Álvarez Nazario Collection of over 5,000 books of Puerto-Rican and Spanish literature and the couple’s ephemera connected with literary criticism; and a Rare Books Collection. Hurricane Maria (2017) caused a failure of the library’s HVAC system and a mold outbreak in the collection. A biosafety cabinet is a precaution for safely and economically housing collections in the event of future natural disasters.

Dating back to late 17th Century, the Puerto Rican and the Alvarez Nazario Collections withheld extraordinary resources, e.g. rare books, maps, documents, photographs, manuscripts, art works, pertaining to the history, culture and literary evolution of Puerto Rico, Ibero-America, and Spain. These collections support the understanding of the complex heritage background of our Island through first accountant of events and primary sources not available anywhere else. The UPRM Library will create the foundation for a preservation program and disaster preparedness plan. Proposed activities include the renovation of a space within the library for cleaning and rehousing collections; acquisition of a Biosafety Cabinet to treat infested resources in an economical sustainable manner; training of library, archives, and museum personnel in the proper use of the equipment; development of preservation manual, and establishment of collections monitoring and cleaning program.