A variant of the condition survey is the action survey. What actions are needed to replace, protect, or treat the items examined? For example, the action survey, instead of reporting that an item has brittle paper, will identify the item as a candidate for reformatting. Cornell University's Department of Preservation and Collection Maintenance has developed an action survey system based on a model used successfully for many years. This is available for downloading at http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/.

This type of action survey is usually conducted at the shelf using a laptop computer. Although the system can be used for sample surveys, it is most valuable for comprehensive surveys, in which every item in a designated area is examined, and items in need of some form of preservation action are entered in the data base along with the call number, date of publication, and size. The data provides precise cost information and can sort items by action type. The costs are derived from time estimates for each action category converted into salary, equipment, and supply costs.