About Author: Kathleen Tandy

Posts by Kathleen Tandy

0

Moving out of 5th floor

By
Kathleen Tandy
– November 11, 2011Posted in: Flood Recovery, Storage environments
Room 5065 Typewriting

Our storage in the old typewriting room.

Have you ever wondered what was in room 5065 “staff office” with the classification of the word typewriting across the door? Well, today is your lucky day. The room use to be a work space where PhD candidates’ dissertations were typed. Furthermore, this was our storage space for the items being recovered from the flood.
empty shelf in storage room

Finally the shelf is empty!

More empty storage space

Another empty storage space completed.

These shelves were piled with storage containers carrying anything from books to objects from The African American Museum of Iowa, The National Czech & Slovak Museum, and The Johnson County Historical Society. While it could be overwhelming imagining this space full; we are ecstatic to confirm that nothing pertaining to our department dwells there. You can breathe again and take in some of these pictures showing the unhabituated space.

0

Linda Lundy’s Incredible Boxes

By
Kathleen Tandy
– October 1, 2011Posted in: Book & paper conservation, Main library, Materials, equipment and procedures

Linda Lundy, a conservation staff member, has just finished over 300 beautiful, small boxes for book storage use. These boxes were made to hold a variety of small books for the university’s main collection; anywhere from poems to storybooks, even spanish to english translation dictionaries. The boxes were measured and designed specifically for shelving within the Heinz road facility. They measured at about 5″ wide and 6″ in height. Some books were smaller in size than the box size, so fillers were made for these specific circumstances. They were each labeled with the title of the book and sent to marking to make the call numbers. Linda was able to make 22 boxes within a day; the project took around one month to complete.

Linda Lundy showing off her completed boxes.

Linda Lundy showing off her completed boxes.

0

Odor Reduction for Books in Storage

By
Kathleen Tandy
– September 7, 2011Posted in: Materials, equipment and procedures, National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, Storage environments

The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Libraries have a vast collection of books damaged in the flood. Most of their collection is currently in storage in Cedar Rapids awaiting treatment. We recently received a box of books that was pretty smelly. In order to help curb the smell we developed a new way to use an odor reducer that we have been using for some time in the lab.

sealing with a tacking iron

A Technician seals the tea bag with the tacking iron.

Gonzo Odor Eliminator

Large bag of Gonzo Odor Eliminator ready to be opened.

The Gonzo Odor Eliminator comes in large bags, too big to fit into boxes filled with books.  We decided to make smaller packages of the rocks to be able to place an odor eliminator into each box of books.  We ordered large heat-sealable tea bags and set to work.  Each package of Odor Eliminator was opened and poured into approximately 12 tea bags.  Each bag was then sealed with a tacking iron.  Once sealed the bags were placed into the boxes of books to help reduce the “flood smell” on the books.

Smaller odor reducing package

Gonzo Odor Eliminator in an open tea bag.

0

Good-bye Caitlin, Hello Kathleen

By
Kathleen Tandy
– July 15, 2011Posted in: African American Museum of Iowa, Flood Recovery, Johnson County Historical Society, National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
Kathleen Tandy working

New Flood Recovery Conservation Technician Tandy Working

Good-bye Caitlin, Hello Kathleen

Caitlin Moore, our Flood Recovery Conservation Technician, is moving on to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.  We are sad to see her go but are so thankful for all the work she has done for the past three years. Good Luck, Caitlin!

We welcome Kathleen Tandy to fill Caitlin’s position as the Flood Recovery Conservation Technician. Kathleen comes to us from the State Historical Society of Iowa where she was working on conserving Civil War Muster Rolls for the State of Iowa.  Welcome Kathleen!

Newer Entries »