Smoke odour removal

Many of you would have heard, read about, or seen on tv, the extensive
bush fires that are affecting New South Wales--including the Sydney
area. As you would expect, the fires are producing very large clouds of
smoke. Over a million hectares of bushland forest has been destroyed.

The State Library has received several telephone calls from the public
asking for information on how to reduce--or remove--the smoke odour from
their books and other paper items.

Our Counter Disaster Manual (Sydney: State Library of NSW,
1992, p.87) gives us some ideas:

    *   aerate in fastest moving airflow you can find;

    *   "dry-clean" with granulated eraser (scum-x, draft-clean or
        equivalent);

    *   place in a refrigerator; or

    *   put in a bag with "kitty litter" or "Karpet" or "odour-eaters"
        for sneakers etc.

Does anyone have ideas on the best advice to give our callers or these
suggestions?

Alan Howell
Preservation Manager
State Library of New South Wales
Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
02 230-1679
Fax: 02 232-4816

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:50
                Distributed: Wednesday, January 12, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-7-50-015
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