Some scenes from the move of our archives and special collections: empty shelves contrasted with full book trays on their way to offsite storage. My library will be undergoing a massive renovation early this coming year, and I am the one managing the logistics involved in moving our collections to offsite storage and other points […]
Apparently our first university archivist/historian was a big fan of lamination. This just one of a couple hundred volumes containing some of our earliest university records and history that were meticulously laminated. I cannot accurately describe how aghast I must have looked while examining these. My coworker showed them to me today for the first […]
Even in Myanmar, there are minions. But at least these minions are aware of library preservation issues.
I can’t make this stuff up, it practically writes itself… in the margins of this book. Seriously, stop writing in library books!
Archival National Geographic
Me IRL (Image from “The Children’s Book on How to Use Books and Libraries” by Moot and Baisden, 1937.)
1936. Book Repairs at the Urbana Free Library Works Progress Administration Photographic File. Pictures from the Urbana Daily Courier, Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library. [x]
This was a book that was damaged by a dog, and “fixed” with packing tape by a patron. And this is also why the staff at the library will often stress that patrons should not attempt their own repairs of library books. The “repair” often does more damage than helps, and won’t actually save you from […]
Back in 1977, one of our library staff literally stapled some replacement pages into this book. It got the job done, but the results are not that ideal, as it makes it hard to read those pages and could tear the original pages they are stapled to. But this was way before my library had […]
Stop. Leaving. Sticky notes. In. Library. Books!