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ConserveThis! Archive

Library Book + Dog + Tape = Bad Idea

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 […]

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ConserveThis! Archive Uncategorized

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 […]

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ConserveThis! Archive Uncategorized

I spotted this tiger-striped repair on one of our books in our special collections stacks. Looks like a “folk repair”, aka not something done by one of our conservation staff here at the library, but it’s hard to say for sure. The technique used is one we use all the time on books of all types […]

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ConserveThis! Archive Uncategorized

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpp12fPvkHA) This is an excellent video that shows the damage a ‘quick and easy’ amateur repair can cause to a book. I’ve seen multiple examples of both of these types of “quick fixes” on books in my library. Not only do they fail to actually repair the book in an effective and long-lasting way, they cause […]

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ConserveThis! Archive Uncategorized

Someone “fixed” this with some poorly placed pieces of double-sided tape. Sigh.

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ConserveThis! Archive Uncategorized

So you know how you can tape things to other things by making a little loop of Scotch tape? Turns out it’s not a very good way to repair books.