ALA Physical Quality of Materials

[Nancy Schrock <nschrock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A reminder of a particularly interesting topic at the Physical Quality of
Materials Discussion Group at ALA, meeting on Saturday at 2:00 in the
Madison Building, Library of Congress:

Ernst Becker of ZFB, Zentrum fur Bucherhaltung, will be giving a
presentation describing the new center in Leipzig with its mass system of
paper splitting, washing, and aqueous deacidification.  I was fortunate to
visit there last April and it was fascinating to see this cost effective way
of making degraded and brittle paper usable. ZFB has also developed a new
machine for board slotting, which is a technique we have found highly
effective in saving original leather boards at Harvard (I'll bring samples
of our work).ZFB is also doing mass deacidification.

This is a rare opportunity to learn first hand about new advances in
European book conservation.



Nancy Schrock
Chief Collections Conservator
Harvard College Library
Widener Library - Room D25
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone:  617-495-8871
Fax:      617- 495-0403
E-mail:  nschrock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx