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Subject: Mold on books Cleaning books

Mold on books Cleaning books

From: Laura Smith <lhksmith>
Date: Thursday, October 20, 1994
I have two fairly simple questions concerning preservation measures in
the stacks that I'm finding either no information or conflicting
information in the literature available to me.

1.  What is the appropriate way to dust books on the shelves? Should
    treated cloths (those that pick up dust rather than distribute it
    around) be used on books?  If not, what should be used?  Should the
    books be vacuumed?

2.  What fungicides are available on the market that remove mold but are
    not harmful to people?  While some of the literature I've read
    advocate  vacuuming moldy books (in addition to changing their
    environment), they also say that only trained conservators should
    use fungicides.  How can the average librarian remove mold from
    his/her books without having to vacuum (a measure I've found is not
    popular)?  Thanks for your help.

Laura Katz Smith
Manuscripts Curator
Special Collections Department
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Libraries

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:29
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 25, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-29-008
                                  ***
Received on Thursday, 20 October, 1994

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