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Thursday, December 06, 2001

By Pamela Gaynor, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Preservation Technologies plans to add staff as it takes on its largest contract to date, a five-year agreement with the Library of Congress.

The Cranberry-based company late last month received a $17 million contract to chemically treat 1 million books for the library and as many as 7 million loose documents to prevent deterioration of the paper on which they're printed.

That contract, a planned expansion in Europe and pursuit of business with other major research libraries will spur some hiring, said James Burd, Preservation Technologies' president and chief operating officer.

The Library of Congress contract alone, which begins with treatment of 150,000 books in the first year and ramps up to 350,000 volumes in the fifth year, will probably result in about 25 additions to the company's 41-member staff.

"We're on a sharp growth curve," Burd said.

As a beachhead for expansion in the United Kingdom and Europe, Preservation Technologies last week acquired Archimascon, a company in Holland that it had previously licensed its proprietary processes for preserving books.

Because Preservation Technologies is privately held, Burd declined to disclose its total annual revenue.

But he said the company, founded a decade ago by some former Koppers Co. executives, has probably penetrated only about 10 percent of the domestic market for library book and document preservation and has hardly scratched the market in Europe.

While institutional clients make up the bulk of Preservation Technologies' business, the company also is making inroads in retail markets, he said.

It launched its first retail product two years ago, a spray can for individuals interested in preserving documents and making scrapbooks.

That product, soon to appear in the Martha Stewart retail catalog, is mainly sold through crafts stores, such as Michael's Arts & Crafts, and catalogs, such as Exposures.

A second retail product, which prevents discoloration of newsprint and other papers, will be launched next year, Burd said.