Thursday, August 28, 2008 We’re very lucky to have Facilities Management for our area stationed in the Main Library. When we need to discuss something we can go down to the basement and talk directly to the staff. When Mike Lee discovered he had some wet files, we were happy to be able to offerContinue reading “Overlooked Files”
Category Archives: Book & paper conservation
Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible Continued
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 Once Gary had the maps re-attached, it was time to put the cover back on. The original cover was too damaged to save it. So Gary took the outside of the cover off the inner boards and trimmed the fabric cover. He made a new black cover and then glued theContinue reading “Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible Continued”
Book Boxes for Peru
Friday, August 22, 2008 The University of Iowa Conservation Department, in continued collaboration with INLIBRE and the Preservation of Historical Libraries of Arequipa Project (Peru), is donating clam shell protective boxes for 35 books of La Recoleta library collection. University of Iowa participants in the Project will be delivering the boxes April ’09 on theirContinue reading “Book Boxes for Peru”
Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible Continued
Thursday, August 21, 2008 The text block of the Bible needed very little repair work. However, the maps needed to be mended and then re-attached to the Bible. It’s very delicate work, especially since the Bible pages are very thin. Here Gary Frost is mending tears and then guarding the pages so they can beContinue reading “Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible Continued”
Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 In June Amanda called about her Grandma’s Bible that had been found under the rubble after the May 25th EF5 tornado in Parkersburg. I advised her to wrap it in wax paper and stick it in the freezer until she could bring it down to us for examination and possible conservation work.Continue reading “Amanda’s Grandma’s Bible”
Getting Grosser
Thursday, August 14, 2008 These are some of the last boxes of records we had to go through. They had dried out which made it much harder to separate them. Many of the records had also warped since there was so much space in the boxes they expanded. The boxes we had been working onContinue reading “Getting Grosser”
Mold on 78s
Friday, August 6, 2008 When we washed all of the records, we didn’t only have to worry about the flood goo but also the mold that thrives in damp, warm conditions. The mold can be very harmful if it is inhaled. Because of this, we have to wear respirators and latex gloves at all times toContinue reading “Mold on 78s”
Cooked Books
Thursday, July 17, 2008 (continued) This time everything went off as planned and we were in the building shortly after 7PM! The first thing we noticed was how incredibly hot and dry it was – 98.2 degrees with R/H 30%! The air tubes are shut down but they have achieved good air flow with fans. Kristin andContinue reading “Cooked Books”
False Alarm
Thursday, July 17, 2008 The Cedar Rapids Gazette announced the posting of Susan Hansen’s “How to Repair Flood Damaged Books” at http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080717/NEWS/325405342 She did a great job! The name is a little misleading as the video is about cleaning and drying out books not repairing. Oh, well. Beth and I went over to the OakdaleContinue reading “False Alarm”
Flattening LP Covers
Thursday, July 10, 2008 These LP covers were saturated with flood water. Many of them were printed on coated paper which means we couldn’t clean them until they were dry because the water would wash away the image. We used drying racks and a stack dryer which is pictured below. They were hung up until theyContinue reading “Flattening LP Covers”