Identifying damage to book

This is not the first time I have noticed what appears to be some
sort of chemical burn on the books in our collection.  This time I
took some pictures to see if I can get anymore information on this
phenomenon.  Because the pictures are large I posted them on the
web. They can be found at:

 <URL:http://nbl.rutgers.edu/nbl_collection_services/images/book1.jpg>
 <URL:http://nbl.rutgers.edu/nbl_collection_services/images/book2.jpg>
 <URL:http://nbl.rutgers.edu/nbl_collection_services/images/book3.jpg>
 <URL:http://nbl.rutgers.edu/nbl_collection_services/images/book4.jpg>

Some of the things I would like to know are:

    *   What causes this type of damage?
    *   Will the burns spread to other materials or even to areas of
        this book that do not appear to be affected?  Will cutting
        off the affected area and rebinding "solve" the problem?
    *   Does this item pose a risk to staff or users handling it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Ian Bogus
Rutgers University Libraries


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:25
                Distributed: Thursday, November 10, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-25-021
                                  ***