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Re: book cleaning tips



Howdy, Bridgette-

For starters, take a look at my conservation website, specifically
http://www.lib.az.us/archives/g-dust.htm
for choosing a dust cloth. I wouldn't use any type of spray or oily product
on the books, because the residues can cause a lot of problems down the
road. Oiling leather bindings with one of several recipes used to be pretty
much standard procedure, but many, if not most, institutions decided that
it did very little, if any, good. People also tended to get carried away (a
little's good, a lot's better syndrome) and ended up doing a lot of damage.

In regards to the flaking leather, red rot and other types of maladies,
you're probably better off leaving things alone. Consolidating leather can
get tricky and it's only cosmetic.

As far as the actual dusting is concerned, start on the top shelf and work
down, so you don't send dust down on the things you've already cleaned
below. You need to keep the books closed somewhat tightly at all times, so
dust does not fall among the text leaves. Start at one end of a shelf,
remove a book by the spine, and hold it spine up while dusting (in order)
the textblock at head, tail and the foredge and finally the binding itself.
A third arm (not necessarily belonging to the duster) comes in handy,
because the remaining books on the shelf will want to lean over, and you
need to keep them closed and upright until you remove them. A padded brick
works well as a bookend. After the shelf is clear, use the same type of
dustcloth on it. Then down to the next shelf.

Since these books are not ever handled except for cleaning, I'm not sure
there are that many benefits to inserting some type of barrier between
them. If you discover during the cleaning process that one binding is
damaging its neighbors, I'd suggest a barrier of polyester film or even a
piece of an acid-free file folder cut to size.

Michael (came to work in shirtsleeves this morning) McColgin
Conservation Officer
Arizona State Archives









At 12:47 PM 12/27/00 -0500, you wrote:
With the passing of the holidays, January draws nearer. For us at Stan Hywet
Hall & Gardens, that means our annual cleaning! In preparation for this, I'd
like to ask for tips on how to handle cleaning books that are on display.
Many of these books are leather bound, very dry, and have flaking spines &
covers. Due to circumstances beyond our control, they have not been cleaned
in about 2 years, so the dust has been accumulating. I guess other things to
note would be that one person is cleaning the books and this is only one
part of cleaning the 60-some-odd rooms in the Manor House (the kind where
you get out the Q-tips to clean the woodwork details on the walls). I guess
tips I'm looking for now are along the lines of:

-what is the best dusting material to use? lambswool, cotton cloth, ...
-dry dusting best? or is there some safe substance to use?
-when putting the books back on the shelf, should we put some type of buffer
between the books (a piece of acid-free tissue or paper) to keep them from
rubbing against each other? These books are only removed during yearly
cleaning.

any and all other tips you might have from this type of experience!

Thanks so much for your help!

Bridgette

Bridgette A. Kelly, Special Collections Manager
Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens
714 N. Portage Path
Akron, OH  44303
ph: 330-315-3232   fax: 330-836-2680
BKelly@stanhywet.org   www.stanhywet.org

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