Ward off Mustiness and Mildew!

To prevent mildew and musty odors, wrap a few whole cloves in gauze or cheesecloth, and pin in the upper back corners of your bookshelves! (DO NOT allow the cloves to touch the books, they contain a powerful oil!)

Drying Books After A Flood

Dry books and papers slowly:

1. Place books on end with leaves separated.

2. When they are partially dry, pile and press books to keep pages from crumpling.

3. Alternate drying and pressing until books are thoroughly dry. This helps prevent mildew. Use a fan to hasten drying.

4. If books and papers are very damp, sprinkle cornstarch or talcum powder between the leaves to absorb moisture. Leave powder for several hours and then brush off.

5. When books are nearly dry, apply low heat with an electric iron. Separate the pages to prevent musty odors. This is a tedious process, which you may want to use only with valuable books.

6. When books are thoroughly dry, close them and use C-clamps to help them retain their shape.

Even if books and papers appear to have dried successfully, they may disintegrate rapidly because of materials in the flood water. Any important documents or paper should be photocopied as a precautionary measure.

This article was written by Anne Field, Extension
Specialist, Emeritus, with reference from the USDA
Disaster Handbook.

Preventing Mold on Books

Storing books in the correct ranges of temperature and humidity will prevent the growth of mold. However, mold spores are always present in the air and in the dust that settles on books; and, if the recommended conditions are not maintained, the danger of mold growth and damage to documents exists.

A relative humidity of 70% combined with high temperatures encourages the growth of mold or mildew, although some molds will grow at temperatures as low as 40- degrees Fahrenheit if the humidity is high.

Stagnant air conditions also favor mold or mildew attacks. Once started, mold is difficult to control and serious damage may occur before the condition is detected; prevention is far easier than correction.

The environment should be monitored on a regular basis to avoid the conditions favoring the growth of mold. In the initial stages, mold growth may be little more than a nuisance. The visible evidence can be brushed away, and the item can be stored under recommended conditions without further concern. In later stages, mold will digest the material upon which it grows, resulting in staining (foxing) and loss of strength of the material.

Protecting Cook Books

Cook Books tend to get dirty with use in the kitchen. One way to protect them is to use clear Con-Tact(R) "paper" as a book cover.

Plastic jackets are nice, but are loose enough for food particles to get underneath. The clear plastic adheres to the book cover so nothing can get under it. It´s clear so you can read the cover. It´s also easy to wipe clean with a damp cloth. Be sure you fold it neatly at the corners, to prevent loosening and peeling.

Although it is not normally a good idea to use adhesives on books, cookbooks are a special case.

Proper Boxing of Books

Never use wooden or ordinary cardboard boxes to store books … they are highly acidic, and the acid will migrate from the box to your books. Store them in acid-neutral boxes, available from conservation suppliers.

Keep Them Clean

Always read your books with clean hands. Best case: don´t eat while reading. Reality check: try not to eat greasy foods while reading!

Personal Book Management for PC Users

DV Book Manager 1.5

DV Book Manager is a shareware application that lets you manage your books easily and intuitively.
It is built to answer the needs of people who own a large amount of books and who need a computer´s help to manage them efficiently. It allows you to define a range of different fields relating to your books, and can then search or sort them. These fields include 8 keywords, a long summary, and links to files or Internet addresses. The field names can be personalized.
Shareware: $30.
Download

How to Dust Books

You should dust your books at least annually. Do each book individually by removing it from the shelf and holding it tightly closed. Brush the dust away from the top surface and edges with a soft brush, like a drafting brush or wide camel's hair brush. Wipe the covers with a soft, dry cloth.

Deodorizing a Musty Book - Tip 2

One-Drop Deodorant for Smelly Books

Look for a small bottle of liquid deodorant (maybe 6 inches high, including a drop dispensing lid) at the drugstore or grocery store. The pet food and car product aisles are good prospects. If the instructions say to place one drop of the deodorant on/in a glass container, you´ve found the correct product. (There are many brand names; most of the liquids I´ve seen are green.)

It is most effective to build a small chamber for the books by putting a cardboard box into a plastic trash bag. Then stand the books open, put one drop of the deodorant onto a glass dish in the corner of the box, and tie up the plastic bag. Check the books daily, at which time another drop of deodorant can be added. Mild smells are gone in a couple of days, and nasty problems can take a week to cure.

I´ve described this product to dozens of callers over the last 10 years, and no-one has called back for further help.

Removing Oily Stains

It is possible to remove most oily or greasy stains from book pages. You will need some paper towels, a dry cleaning pad (available at drafting supply stores and most stationers) and a soft-bristled brush.

First, place paper towels between the affected pages. Close the book and weight it with another book of similar size, then leave it alone for a few hours. Discard the paper towels and examine the pages.

If there are still some stains, take the dry-cleaning pad and twist and squeeze it (or even cut a corner) to sprinkle the powder inside onto the stain. Cover the stain as completely as possible and leave the book lying open for a few hours. Brush the powder away with a soft brush. For very stubborn stains, rub the powder in VERY gently with a gauze pad, and let sit overnight.

Residual powder can be removed with a small hand vac. Vacuum from gutter to edge.

Amazon.com´s Wish List

To build your personal library, participate in Amazon´s Wish List. Like a bridal registry, you must go to the web site and list the books you want. Add the e-mail addresses of people you think might want to buy them for you, and presto! Amazon.com e-mails your list for you.

Repair Materials to Avoid

TAPE
Adhesive-backed cellophane tapes such as "Scotch" and "Magic Mending" tape are not generally appropriate for repairs to books which have any value. Both will cause staining and are difficult to remove without damaging the paper. Gummed paper tapes are not recommended. as the tape itself is often acidic, causing discoloration of the paper.

GLUE & PASTE
Rubber cement, frequently used to repair damaged bindings, will also cause stains, and eventually will dry out and lose adhesion. Polyvinyl acetate glues such as "Elmer´s Glue" are impossible to remove without damaging the paper. These emulsions are also usually acidic, and will discolor and deteriorate paper over time.

The majority of commercially available pastes are acidic in nature, due to the addition of alum as a drying agent; these become brittle and discolored and will similarly damage the paper to which they are applied. Additionally, as most pastes are water-based, they can cause cockling of the paper, and even make certain inks and colors run or bleed.

Controlling the Environment

Environmental control is the most important factor in preservation. Store your valuable books in archival containers to stabilize them, and keep the containers in a place where there is good air circulation and the temperature and humidity remain stable. Avoid attics or basements unless you have extraordinary climate control installed.

High temperature and high humidity enable the acidic reactions which contribute to paper deterioration. Storing books at lower temperatures can significantly extend their lifespan; one authority states that the lifespan of paper materials is almost doubled at each 10-degree (F) reduction in temperature. A constant storage temperature of 68 degrees (F) is considered ideal, but the constancy is as important as the temperature. Wide fluctuations in temperature can be extremely damaging.

Humidity also must be controlled; humidity below 40% can cause paper to become dry and brittle, whereas more than 60% humidity can soften paper and increase acidic decay. 50% humidity is deemed acceptable by preservationists; again, it is as important to avoid variation as it is to avoid extremes.

Humidity levels in an enclosed storage area can be maintained with a small air conditioning unit, a dehumidifier and/or a humidifier. Inexpensive commercial humidity gauges are frequently inaccurate; use a wet-dry thermometer or sling psychrometer to control conditions.

Guide to Children´s Health

The Children´s Hospital Guide to Your Child´s Health and Development -- by Alan D. Woolf (Editor)

A very useful compendium of information on the health and development of children from birth to adolescence. It´s presented in a concise, authoritative format, with clear, simple illustrations.

Find it here: Children´s Health

Making Your Own Books

Want to get into book making, to create your own journals, or make personalized gift books for friends? Here are some excellent references for the creation of homemade books; just click the links below to find out more:

Making Journals by Hand : 20 Creative Projects for Keeping Your Thoughts

The Essential Guide to Making Handmade Books

Art of the Scrapbook:A Guide to Handbinding and Decorating Memory Books, Albums, and Art Journals

Hand-bound books make fantastic gifts. You´ll never have more fun impressing your friends!

Deodorizing a Musty Book - Tip 1

Sometimes you will buy an older book, and find it has a musty odor. I have seen a number of recommendations about putting the book in a bag with cat litter, activated charcoal or baking soda. This can work with books made of a fairly coarse paper, but not coated paper. Place the book into a paper bag with a container of baking soda (which seems to work best) and close the bag; leave it alone for about 2 weeks. According to one source, this works "about half the time."

Libraries sometimes place such books into a fume hood with a container holding Lysol-soaked cotton balls. After leaving the fume hood on 24 hours a day for a week, they report the odor is "greatly diminished."

Use Plastic Dust Jackets

If your book has a paper dust jacket, use a plastic dust jacket protector to protect it. They can be found at any bookstore, are easy to put on, and will increase the value of your books.

Painting Bookshelves

If you decide to paint your bookshelves, avoid using a latex paint. Books which sit for long on latex tend to stick to it. If you do use a latex, put down a non-acidic shelf paper before replacing the books on the shelves.