Mounting photographs in bound material

There is a problem at my institution with the current [methods of
attaching photographs in paper copies of graduate theses. Because
there is no guideline or requirement for attaching photos, students
are using glue sticks which, no matter how well applied, dry up and
release within a year. We then need to spend a lot of time re-gluing
the photos to the 25% cotton acid-free paper with PVA.  I have
called several institutions to ask what methods they use to attach
photos to thesis but none sounded ideal.  I am listing some
suggestions already received and reasons why they did not seem
practical.

    1.  PVA attachment - because the students attach their own
        photos, they are unlikely to be happy to use this. PVA and a
        brush is "messy" and costly compared to the glue sticks they
        have been using, it oozes out the sides if applied too
        enthusiastically, and if the paper is not weighted
        immediately after application of even a tiny amount it warps
        the photo and cockles the back of the page.

    2.  Archival photo corners - we need a permanent attachment,
        photos would fall out or be taken

    3.  #415 double-sided tape -this was my idea (easy to use,
        neutral ph, stable backing) but others felt that the
        adhesive would migrate over time or bleed through.

    4.  Dry mount tissue, including 3M 568 repositionable - again,
        very costly and I tested the adhesive and it is definitely
        acidic, which seems to be universal with the dry-mount
        tissues.

    5.  Color scanning or photocopy of photos right onto the page -
        a good idea but may lose fine detail needed for
        understanding the content of some photos.

    6.  Placing photos in a separate portfolio with mylar sleeves
        and coding them to their appropriate location in the body of
        the thesis.  This seemed the best of the ideas but requires
        an additional volume which may be harder to microfilm and
        would require extra processing, cataloguing, and
        shelf-space.

I would really appreciate any comments or suggestions to any of the
above ideas or if anyone knows of a really permanent glue stick,
(not UHU, Avery, or Pritt) please respond soon. Thanks,

Sharlane Gubkin
Preservation Department
Case Western Reserve University
University Library
11055 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7151
216-368-3465

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:10
                  Distributed: Tuesday, July 14, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-10-015
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