Insects and books

David A Harmeyer <dharmey [at] eis__calstate__edu> writes

>Do you have any idea as to how I would prevent these insects from
>damaging our hard bound books?  I thought of varnishing them."

Varnishing books to control insect damage is not a good idea.  I have
seen many cases where insects went straight through the varnish to get
at the food.  It is also not acceptable within todays preservation
ethics. You have to control the infestation itself by closing all means
of access for the insects, then eradicating the infestation.  The
cheapest and safest way would be to empty and clean the room(s) and then
treat infested books using nitrogen or argon as anoxia.

Frank D. Preusser
Frank Preusser & Associates, Inc.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:67
                  Distributed: Friday, March 25, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-7-67-006
                                  ***