Reeking Chinese books

["Normandy Helmer" <nhelmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We received a shipment of volumes from China, about 600 total. They came in
canvas bags, and the smell was so strong that it filled the room and gave
the unpacker a headache for two days. It is a very musty, sneeze-making
smell, and they are amply spotted with brown dots on the textblock and white
stuff on the covers.

We have moved them to an isolated room and shrouded them in plastic. We had
a local fungologist look at them, and he pronounced them highly allergenic
but not pathological. Then he did a culture and found "nothing alive" which
leads him to suggest they have been fumigated.

These are relatively recent imprints, and we assume that they came like this
from the publisher's warehouse. So returns, in addition to being a
significant nuisance, are unlikely to yield clean copies. These are not
available in any other format.

Can anyone tell me how we should proceed? Should we try to identify the
fumigant? Should we destroy them? Can we make them harmless to humans in
some way? We've never had such a large quantity on our hands before.

PLEASE COPY <roberson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> ON YOUR RESPONSES. I WILL BE OUT
OF TOWN FOR TWO WEEKS AND UNABLE TO FORWARD ANYTHING.

Thanks very much for your collective wisdom!

Normandy

Normandy Helmer
Head, Preservation & Binding Dept.
Director, Oregon Newspaper Project
UO Library System?Preservation
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
541-346-1864 ? fax 541-346-3485
nhelmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx