Here @ ZSR
I spent a delightful weekend in Asheville making books at a workshop in west Asheville called Bookworks. The books I made were made with no glue, hence the title “Non-adhesive Bookbinding.” The instructor was Steve Pittelkow, a native of Minneapolis and an internationally know paper-marbler and teacher. Bookworks is a world class facility with a... Continue reading “Bookbinding in Asheville” ›
As a librarian, my job is to preserve library materials: books, paper items such as posters or hand printed broadsides, and any other paper materials the library has acquired. It’s rewarding. I take a very old and brittle book, carefully mend the broken joints and torn pages, and restore it to usability. This is good... Continue reading “Our Digital Life” ›
We all use things to mark pages in our books: receipts, slips of paper, brochures, tickets, paper clips, and Post-it Notes. Post-it Notes have an adhesive on them which transfers to the surface it is applied to. This adhesive residue, in turn picks up dirt or other foreign particles and cause them to stick to... Continue reading “This really annoys me!” ›
It’s the end of the semester and exams are upon us. During this time of the academic year, students begin to return the books they’ve held onto. Many of these books are damaged: waterlogged, dog-chewed, ripped, with broken joints and ripped spines they are generally hurting. Much of the focus for Preservation must now be... Continue reading “End of Semester Repairs Really Stack Up!” ›
Before After Cleaning Continue reading “Before and After Mold Cleaning” ›
A small group of books were recently found in Rare Books with mold on them. We surveyed the area and found everything that looked even remotely moldy. I cleaned them with alcohol and let them air dry. My theory is these books grew mold because they were in a glass covered book case with no... Continue reading “Moldy Books” ›
Give Hugh his due. Once again, artisan/craftsman Hugh Brown has done work that demonstrates thinking outside the box. Special Collections is removing everything from the Rare workroom. This move meant demolishing a perfectly good shelving unit because it was too large to get out of the space. Hugh Brown to the rescue. He executed a... Continue reading “Shelving Unit Transported to Preservation” ›
Recently, I was asked to repair and recover a small box used for transporting communion materials. I assume this would be used for taking communion to an ill person who couldn’t travel. I removed all the hardware, and recovered the box with book cloth. I then, replaced the handles and latch. It seems to be... Continue reading “Is this Preservation?” ›
I recently received a map which was sewn into a 1537 book entitled: Novus Orbis Regio. This map was torn into two pieces after a small accident in Rare Books. Looking at this map, I decided to remove it from the book to perform the repair. First, I flattened the map, smoothing out dog ears... Continue reading “Map Repairs” ›
A group of nine books appeared in my office this week. Across the top of these books is a sloppy puddle of dried Cookies and Cream ice cream. You can see the outline of an upturned container in the dried ice cream. So this seems to be either an intentional thing or negligence on the... Continue reading “Ice Cream Incident” ›