Ah, Spring Break! Time to………….teach workshops! I had the pleasure of teaching two book repair workshops in collaboration with the State Library of North Carolina (NCDNCR)

On Monday, March 9th, I taught a workshop at the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield in Smithfield, NC. The attendees were from public libraries in the surrounding Counties- Wake, Johnston, Granville, and Wayne. In the morning session, I begin instruction with the most simple repair: tipping-in a loose page. Following this, we learned to use heat-set tissue for paper repair, how to tear and use Japanese tissue for spine reinforcement, and finally, we learned to do a spine replacement.

On Tuesday, March 10th, I taught another workshop at the Sherrills Ford/Terrell Public Library in Catawba County near Mooresville, NC. This newer library was located on the shore of Lake Norman in a rapidly developing area. The attendees came from public libraries in Catawba, Iredell and Wilkes Counties. In addition to the skills mentioned above, I also taught an afternoon session in each workshop. In the afternoon session, we covered paperback repair, repairing the damaged corners of books, and end sheet replacement. Throughout these workshops, I mention important details about preservation best practices, the kinds and quality of materials and tools, as well as, how to make repairs on a tight budget.
Each individual takes home a small repair kit with a bone folder, PVA adhesive, a knife, heat-set tissue and Japanese tissue. This helps reinforce the things they learned in the workshop.

These workshops are a pleasure to teach. They give the attendees the opportunity to learn a few simple skills that can immediately be used in their home institution