Drying frozen books

Micki Ryan wrote

>My plea is: what do
>I do now, since they are not drying?  No one is complaining, so I
>suppose they could stay in another year if that is the advice.  But,
>is this supposed to happen? How long does it take?

I have had 3 books in our frost-free freezer in our staff lounge for
over a year.  They are slow to dry, but they are drying.  I would
recommend un-wrapping them from the freezer paper and spread them
out as much as possible to allow for better air circulation.  We had
a large number of books in the freezer, and I would check on them
now and then by carefully trying to open them and seeing if they
were loosening up.  (The last 3 were frozen solid as a brick, but
are finally starting to loosen up.)  I took them out one or two at a
time, let them thaw, and then put paper towels between the covers
and every ten or so pages.  I changed the towels every couple of
hours.  Sometimes the ones I took out of the freezer I felt were dry
enough to stand in front of a gently blowing fan to finish drying
them. My advice is to leave them in the freezer as long as possible.
I don't know how long it will take, but you are right, they do get
soggy when you thaw them out, and putting paper toweling in them
does distort the spines. So the longer you can let them dry in the
freezer the better.

Sue Dunlap
Preservation/Preparation Manager
College of Wooster Libraries
College of Wooster
Wooster OH 44691-2364
330-263-2107
Fax: 330-263-2253

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:35
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 14, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-35-004
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