Library Artifact Conservation
You thought they were safe up on the shelf. Temperature's right, not too
much humidity. One day you pull one of the books down. As you turn a page,
it cracks, leaving your leaf in two pieces. The next tome, leather bound,
turns to red dust as you reach for it. Frantically, you pull down book
after book to find networks of tiny tunnels, chapters eaten by mice, faded
photographs, and disintegrated bindings. Such things are happening in libraries
everywhere. Until very recently, books used paper treated with acid, resulting
in a gradual breakdown of the material. Mold, insects, and rodents can
have substantial - and frequently unnoticed - effect on the life span of
printed material. Estimates suggest that around 25% of Harvard's 12 million
books suffer severe paper embrittlement due to acidic paper, and many libraries
are taking steps to stanch the deterioration. The Preservation Department
at Stanford University Libraries has established a repository of information
on this subject. Learn how highly volatile diethyl zinc gas, Krylon, zinc
phosphide, carbon dioxide, orhto-phenylphenol, and chloronicotinyl can
be your friends.
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/
via: NETSURFER SCIENCE
More Signal, Less Noise Volume 01, Issue 08
Tuesday, September 08, 1998
NETSURFER DIGEST © 1998 Netsurfer Communications, Inc. All rights
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