University Libraries

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

One particular map from the “History of the Expedition under the Command of Captain Lewis and Clark, 1814″ was a particular challenge. It presented a great opportunity to treat a very important map that was in much need of repair. The map, depicting Lewis and Clark’s route and the first map of the journey to be published, was in poor condition, with past mends of heavy paper, which caused stretching and stress to the paper. The map had also been backed, or adhered to linen in order to give the heavily used map more support, but it had been glued with an adhesive that was thick and degrading, causing yellowing and staining of the paper. The proposal was to remove the map from the book, remove the old lining and adhesive by aqueous means, wash, and then reline the map

onto a Korean hanji paper. The washing treatment would hopefully brighten the map overall, but also prolong the life of the paper by removing the old adhesive. The new lining would provide a stable, flexible support.

The old linen came away easily, but Giselle and Bill were in for much more work when it came to removing the adhesive. In many cases this simply floats away in the bath, but this adhesive was thick and viscous. It required a very gentle scrapping to even move it off the surface, done with soft bamboo spatulas, designed by NY area binder and conservator Jeff Peachy. Once the map is wet, it’s best to finish this process all in one day. Thankfully we started first thing in the morning!

After the adhesive removal was complete, the map was washed and relined onto hanji paper. This is a Korean paper, made in a similar way to Japanese washi, and made to meet conservation standards. The team enjoyed utilizing the sparkling new, oversize table, specifically designed for large flat work.

The Hardin Library will be closed on Monday, May 27 for the Memorial Day holiday.

The library will be open shorter hours the weekend before the holiday.

Saturday, May 25 – 10am-2pm

Sunday, May 26 – Noon-4pm

For information about the history of Memorial Day, see http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Memorial-Day.shtml

 

Hardin student employee Brad Havel graduated this month with a B.B.A. in Market Research.
Brad is moving to New York City in August to pursue a career in his field.

 

Thursday, May 23, 2013
Submitted by Pamela Olson

Bernie Vinanzi, a veteran papermaker who trained at Twinrocker Handmade Paper and now teaches papermaking at the University of Maine at Machias, taught a workshop with a focus on paper history, fiber selection, and sheet formation. Workshop participants designed their own watermarks and made a wide range of textweight, Western-style paper from cotton, abaca, and hemp fibers.

Pamela Olson is a Graduate Student at UICB and Conservation Assistant for the University of Iowa Libraries Preservation & Conservation Department and attended Vinzani’s class. Images in this post are from the PBI Facebook page.

A print copy of the DSM-5 is now available in the Hardin Permanent Reserve collection, under call number RC 455.2 .C4 D54 2013.  It may be checked out for two hours at a time.

We have had several questions about whether we will be adding the electronic version of the DSM-5.  The quick answer is yes, we will!  The longer answer is that we have to wait for it to actually be available.  We get the electronic version of the DSM through the American Psychiatric Association’s Psychiatry Online platform.  They have informed us that the DSM-5 will be added sometime this summer.

If you have questions about how we acquire new resources, please contact Janna Lawrence at janna-lawrence@uiowa.edu or 319-335-9870.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Submitted by Kathleen Tandy

For my second session class at PBI, I took An Introduction to Islamic Binding with Yasmeen Kahn from the Library of Congress. She explained that in the Islamic tradition calligraphy is the most important aspect of book. The binding is secondary, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful. She began the class by showing us pictures of wonderfully ornate bindings and then immediately told us we weren’t going to make those bindings. What we ended up making was even better, we based some of our designs on more everyday books. The main takeaway from the class was that there isn’t really a right or wrong when it comes to these types of bindings. The Islamic world spans such a large area that there isn’t a consistent style from place to place. Each place influences the other and styles were influenced by the times.

To begin with everyone in the class made a hard cover binding with an envelope flap. We painted end papers for the books and either pasted them up and burnished them or shellacked them to create a high sheen.

For our second item we could go as crazy as we wanted to. Some students made soft cover bindings and some of us made lacquer plaquettes. I made a plaquette loosely based on a Turkish binding. To create the plaquette I edged the board in leather and then added shellacked paper. I drew an almond shaped design in the middle and shellacked the paper again. I then added gold paint and shellacked again.

To end the class Yasmeen had us all paint our fingernails gold. This is a rare moment for my fingernails to be painted as nail polish can rub off onto items in the lab, but as Yasmeen said “In Islamic Binding there can never be too much gold!”

Name: Jen Eilers

Hometown: Cedar Rapids, IA

Undergraduate Education: Bethel University, St. Paul, MN, BA English Literature and Writing, ’05

Graduate Education: University of Iowa, MA Library and Information Science, ’13.

Future Plans: I will begin working at Iowa City Public Library at the reference desk and teaching some basic tech classes this summer.

Why I’m Working at Hardin:  To tie my schoolwork into a practical framework and practice and hone my reference librarian skills.

Favorite Part of Working at Hardin: Being challenged to find and use resources (especially databases) that I had never encountered until coming to Hardin.

Fun Facts:  I am a published poet and make a mean lemon bar. I love to hike the National Parks and miss doing all my mountain hiking now that I’m living in Iowa again.

I’m Currently Reading: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and Soulless by Gail Carriger

Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Submitted by Kathleen Tandy

In my first week session course at PBI, I took a leather paring class with Jeff Altepeter from the North Bennett Street School. The tricks I learned in his course were well worth the price of admissions. I feel so much more comfortable on the Sharf-fix paring machine and am more confident about my knife skills as well. To begin, we worked at paring leather as thin as we could to work on covering plaquettes. We also worked on paring leather thin enough to become onlay pieces. We learned how to use the ascona tool to create thin lines on our plaquettes which we would then lay in a very thin strip of leather.

The best trick that I learned all week was how to make stuck on endbands. This is something that I have done in the past and something that we occasionally do in the lab, but the process is usually a messy and gluey one. With Jeff’s trick it is simple and painless.

To begin you take a piece of book board and make a notch on either side. Then you take a piece of thread or cord and stretch it across the board and catch it in the notches. Next glue or paste up your endband material, in this case leather, and slip it under the cord. Fold the endband material over the cord and press into place with your fingers or a bone folder. Then leave to dry. It is as simple as that!