If you ever need some scotch tape or masking tape in my conservation lab, this is where you’ll find it. Double-sided tape (used for all sorts of conservation housings) is in the “Tape Tape” drawer.
When you can immediately diagnose a book’s “special pain” without even having to open it first. Somebody was overly “helpful” with the hinge tape application on this poor baby. Over time it dries, and becomes stiff, which restricts the “drape” of the paper, and causes it to crack along the edges of the hardened tape. Hence, why you […]
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 […]
How not to fix a book, example #47.
“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.
sonofahurricane: npr: conservethis: Roses are red, Violets are blue, If you put tape on your books, I’ll never EVER love you. As a book-lover I support this valentine. -Mabinty can someone explain to me why we hate tape on books? Like book tape (when my mom could spare it) has saved a couple of my […]
This is a page out of my library’s Conservation Manual, circa 1979. I literally gasped when I read the first bullet point about mending pages with Scotch Magic tape. This sure explains why so many of the books sent to the lab have just been absolutely COVERED with book tape. Taping our general collections book […]
One should always beware of tape, for it is evil and not to be applied to books.
Even very old original cameras are not immune to being “fixed” with tape! Poor camera! Just say NO to putting tape on cultural heritage and artifacts and books!!
Someone “repaired” this book with a tape that strongly resembles a mummy’s wrappings. The book is titled “Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt”. What synergy! Also, if you do this, you’ll get cursed by a conservator, which is a LOT worse than a mummy’s curse.