Stop. Leaving. Sticky notes. In. Library. Books!
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Tag: libraries
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Today I’m working on a treatment that is basically the rare book equivalent of cleaning under the couch cushions. This 2-volume herbal was used by a previous owner as a plant press, and many leaves, flowers and other assorted plant parts were discovered in-between its pages by our special collections librarian. The plants had already […]
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“Please fix this bad fix” is a surprisingly large percentage of my job. This book was sent to me because someone had replaced one of the pages with a photocopy (actually TWO photocopies glued together to make a two-sided copy) by taping it to the adjacent original pages in the book. Sigh.
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Currently on my bench is this book about a 1875 voyage to the Arctic. This particular passage reminded me of when I lived in Chicago, and simultaneously made me glad I now live in a MUCH warmer place! Also I absolutely love how the title looks like it has little icicles dripping down from the […]
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Today in the conservation lab…I’m evaluating books from our circulating collection, to determine if we should have them withdrawn or order replacements. These are books that, for some reason, cannot be easily or efficiently repaired. Many of them are brittle, but others are missing many of their pages due to vandalism, or cannot be rebound […]
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Opening an uncut book, with a paper knife. Whoever had checked this out before it was sent to the lab must not have read very much of it because half of the textblock was uncut, and thus unreadable! (Source: http://bookbindingdictionary.com/)
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Today’s work: a brace of matching re-backs on a biography of architect Daniel H. Burnham.
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This book just arrived in the lab with this sad (yet hilarious) note attached. The note reads “Sad Bergey’s :(”, and the book is “Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology”. It is VERY sad indeed, as not only is the binding failing but students have marked it up with highlighting and pencil underlining almost to the point of […]
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The conservation lab door has been decked out for the holidays! I used a discarded map from our map collection to make this giant paper snowflake. It was really easy, and you can find the instructions here.
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Disbinding a damaged book, so that I can resew it and then rebind it. It’s strangely therapeutic and relaxing to take a book apart, I’ve found. Putting it back together is the more stressful part for me.