Wednesday, February 8, 2012 We had a small pipe leak and were lucky that it happened in the day. We covered the books with plastic and were able to shut the water off quickly. Jessica Rogers and Cassandra Elton wiped the shelves, including the lip, starting from the top and working to the bottom. IfContinue reading “Dealing With A Small Pipe Leak”
Category Archives: Book & paper conservation
An Ailing Herbal Comes to Conservation Lab
This book first came to the attention of Martin Rare Book Librarian Donna Hirst when a patron requested to see some of the herbals in the collection. The poor book had been overlooked, though at one time it appears to have seen a lot if use. Or maybe just a lot of neglect. Donna HirstContinue reading “An Ailing Herbal Comes to Conservation Lab”
Mini Ornaments Upon a Holiday Tree
This time of year is full of spirit and creativity. We like to indulge ourselves with fun, small projects like the Conservation Holiday Ornaments. All these ornaments were made within our department by Jody Beenk, Lucy David, Dan Essig, Bill Voss, Susan Hanson, Bu Wilson, Cynthia Mosier and other conservation workers. We have mastered miniatureContinue reading “Mini Ornaments Upon a Holiday Tree”
Linda Lundy’s Incredible Boxes
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 theContinue reading “Linda Lundy’s Incredible Boxes”
Your Aunt’s Dinner Party
Thursday, May 26, 2011 What would you do if your aunt called you two days before her dinner party and informed you that due to a fire in her kitchen she wanted you to host her party at your house? OceanTeacher Academy students used this scenario to practice their disaster planning skills. We all haveContinue reading “Your Aunt’s Dinner Party”
Flattening A Book
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Salvaging damaged books can be very time consuming, especially if they don’t dry flat. Today Caitlin Moore demonstrated how to flatten a book. First you lightly mist a page, using a mister that sprays a very fine mist, interleave with a blank piece of paper every few pages, put a boardContinue reading “Flattening A Book”
Preparing for Disasters
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 An important part of preparing for disasters is to practice and experiment before a disaster. An excellent drill is to get books wet in clean tap water and then air dry them. Get a broad range of books wet and see what happens as they dry. A couple of the booksContinue reading “Preparing for Disasters”
OceanTeacher Academy Disaster Response Session 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011 I am, once again, teaching a Disaster Planning and Recovery course at the OceanTeacher Academy in Ostend, Belgium. Today we learned about air drying books which can be very tedious and time consuming. Each book needs to have plain paper inserted between the covers and every few pages to wick upContinue reading “OceanTeacher Academy Disaster Response Session 2011”
Sometimes Duct Tape Is Not The Answer
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Susan Hansen has seen and fixed a lot of books in her tenure in Book Repair, but every once in a while one stands out. Recently, a 1958 copy of “The Silver Spoon Mystery” by Dorothy Sterling came to Susan, and she knew she could make it more stable, as wellContinue reading “Sometimes Duct Tape Is Not The Answer”
Spitler Donates to Bookbinding Model Collection
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Priscilla Spitler has donated three workshop sample bindings to the University of Iowa Libraries Bookbinding Model Collection. These models present Priscilla’s superior skills of artistry and craft and provide instructional models equivalent to other workshop sets by Bill Anthony and Robert Espinosa also in the collection. The first model demonstrates aContinue reading “Spitler Donates to Bookbinding Model Collection”