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Preservation
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Technical Services |
CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS
1. Good housekeeping in a library building is important. Accumulated dust and dirt can stain books and speed up deterioration. Talk with housekeeping staff if there are problems in your area. Spilled food and drink disfigures materials and encourages insect and rodent infestations. Policies limiting or banning food and drink in libraries help to minimize this problem. Remember that staff act as role models for the library users.
2. Handle books with clean hands. Fingerprints are often indelible. If you are handling dirty books, wash hands often or wear gloves.
SHELVING TIPS
1. Do not shelve library materials on or close to heating and cooling vents. The extreme changes in temperature can cause damage.
2. Try to avoid shelving books in areas exposed to direct sunlight or fluorescent light. Ultra-violet rays present in these two forms of light can accelerate the chemical deterioration of paper and fade cloth covers. Where possible, keep blinds, shades, and drapes closed; turn off unnecessary lights.
3. Make sure that books in your work area and in the stacks are shelved upright or are lying flat. Leaning books warp and fall apart quickly.
4. Books too tall to shelve upright should be shelved SPINE DOWN, not on the fore edges. Fore edge shelving stresses the hinges of books and eventually pulls the book apart. Really big books should be laid flat on a wide shelf.
5. One recommended way to remove a book from a shelf is to place an index finger firmly on the head of the textblock and to tip it out. An even better way is to push the neighboring books back slightly and grasp the book firmly in the middle to remove it from the shelf. Yanking a book off a shelf by the headcap can easily tear the spine.