Volume 1, Number 5
Dec 1988

News

Authors And Publishers Form Advocacy Group

In October, the New York Public Library announced the establishment of Authors and Publishers for Preservation of the Printed Word. This group, co-chaired by Barbara Goldsmith and Vartan Gregorian, will solicit commitments from authors and publishers to have their first printings on alkaline permanent paper. There will be a ceremony to honor those making this commitment at the New York Public Library on March 7, 1989.

Center For Paper Permanency Established

The New York Public Library also announced in October the formation of the NYPL Center for Paper Permanency. Its functions will be to:

• serve as a clearinghouse for information about ongoing efforts by various organizations involved in advocating permanent paper
• provide information on alkaline paper
• perpetuate and extend the effort initiated by the Authors and Publishers for Preservation of the Printed Word.

William G. Raggio will staff the office, which is at 160 Fifth Ave., Suite 604, New York, NY 10010 (212/727-1642 & 1643).

Coated Vs. Uncoated Printing And Writing Papers

A table using figures compiled by Champion International Corp. was published in the October Pulp and Paper, from which the essence is extracted below. The figures are for 1987 production, in thousands of tons.

Archivists Endorse Permanent Paper

The Society of American Archivists, at its September meeting in Atlanta, passed a long resolution that not only recommended the use of permanent paper for publication, but instructed its Council to "develop strategies to encourage the use of permanent paper by all government agencies and other records-creating organizations for the production of such records." The last part of the resolution reads,

RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be distributed to the appropriate government and private organizations, in order to affirm the Society's commitment to the production of long-lasting paper records to document our national heritage.

The Society of American Archivists' address is: 600 S. Federal, #504, Chicago, IL 60605 (312/922-0140). The Society would probably not take it amiss if readers were to submit their own ideas of strategies to encourage government and other agencies to use permanent paper. Letters can be addressed to Donn Neal, Director.

Monitoring Production Of Acid Free Books

• One product of the Curtin/Harger/Yasue study of new books received at Columbia University Libraries is a list of publishers of the books included in the study, indicating how many acidic and how many alkaline books in the study were published by each, and how many had a note about use of alkaline paper or conformity to permanence standards. There are two lists, actually: one for university presses and one for other presses, apparently all domestic. Publishers who want to find out how they are doing can call the Abbey Publications office (801/373-1598) or write to Elaine Harger, Preservation Office, 110 Butler Library, Columbia University, New York City, 10027.
  The study is reported on p. 30 of the October issue of this Newsletter.
• Randy Butler is doing a survey of book papers in the library of Brigham Young University. His address is 1106 E. 600 North, Orem, UT 84057.
• The Provo Public Library is doing a year-long survey of the pH of incoming books. In the first two months of this study, 60% showed a pH over 6.7, and another 26% were over pH 6.0.
• The Editor surreptitiously tests best-sellers in a certain store in town. The first time, 8 out of 10 were clearly alkaline; the second time, several months later, 9 out of 10 were.

Cooperative Research

A multi-client study announced in the October Pulp & Paper concerned high-filler papermaking (25%), " of it dealt with alkaline papermaking. Hugh Bryson of Weir Paper Products Ltd. (Scotland) was part of the study team; Weir converted to alkaline in 1968 and Mr. Bryson consults internationally on alkaline papermaking. The work involved both acid and alkaline papermaking and had a large number of variables. It was carried out at Western Michigan University's pilot plant, except for the printing, which was done at RIT.

The study was done by Falmouth Associates, 170 U.S. Rte 1, Falmouth, ME 04105. Clients financed the study by putting half the money down beforehand and the rest when the final report came out. The study was expected to end in December 1988. For people who did not get in on the ground floor, the final report costs $10,750, which is about $1,500 more than for those who did. The money goes, of course, not for the paper and ink in the report, but for the research that it records. A free prospectus is available from the company.

A paper company that uses much higher filler levels than those demonstrated in this study is American-Israeli Paper Mills, Ltd. (Industrial Zone, Box 142, Hedera, Israel). They are reportedly using calcium carbonate at the 40% level.

AAUP Supports Permanent Paper

A recent survey of the full membership of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) confirms strong commitment to the use of permanent paper. The survey was made in the summer of 1988 jointly by the AAUP Task Force on University Press-Library Relations and the Association of Research Libraries' Office of management Services (ARL/OM). Ninety-six percent of the responding 85 AAUP publishers indicated they use permanent or alkaline paper in the manufacture of at least some of their publications. Nearly 60% use permanent paper in all books; 14% use it in all books except paperbacks, and 7% use it for first printings. for a list of findings, responding presses and their paper suppliers, send $15 to SPEC, ARL/OMS, 1527 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Request the Permanent Paper Survey.

In connection with this, 85% of the 95 books from university presses that were tested in the Curtis/Harger/Yasue study at Columbia University were alkaline. Only four books of the 95 published by AAUP members in the last three years were on acidic paper.

Testing Labs

Out of nine or ten labs approached in September to see if they could do testing for permanence and durability, replies have been received from three. Albany International Research Co. in Mansfield, Massachusetts, can do tests for three specs (fold, tear and tensile), but cannot do cold extraction pH, aging at anything but 100% RH and 100°C, carbonate content or presence of groundwood.

L. J. Broutman & Associates, in Chicago, has very high prices ($200 for hot extraction; they could not find the cold extraction method) and could not do fold, tear or groundwood.

Weyerhaeuser Analytical & Testing can do all the required tests, and gave prices for all but the last two, accelerated aging and tensile breaking strength. They say: "To adequately accomplish the first five tests you listed, we need approximately twelve 8 /12" x 11" sheets. (This assumes testing both machine direction and cross machine direction for fold and tear.) The prices for these tests (based on lots of five samples) are as follows:

Please let us know how we can best offer our services to your readership." The letter is signed by Dr. Torn Friberg, Manager, Analytical and Testing Services, Weyerhaeuser Paper Co., Technical Center, WTC 1B15, Tacoma, WA 98477 (206/924-6204).

First Weyerhaeuser Mill To Convert Will Be Longview

Pfizer Inc. will build a precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) plant at Weyerhaeuser Paper Co.'s 360-ton/day uncoated free-sheet paper mill in Longview, Wash. Previous PCC plants have cost around $10 million, according to Pfizer spokesman Tony Biesada. Additional alkaline conversions are expected to be announced in e near future, he said.

The plant is already in construction at the R-W Papers Div. and is scheduled to be online in the first quarter of 1989, said Randy Harrison, Pfizer's manager of market development. As with eight previously announced PCC plants, Pfizer will own and operate the Longview project and sell PCC to Weyco.

Alkaline papermaking is rapidly catching on in the coated and coated fine papers industry, Harrison said (Pulp & Paper Week, May 23, p. 4). Alkaline paper capacity was around 4.1 million at the end of 1987. By the end of 1988 capacity will be about 5.4 million or 5.5 million tons, rising to a minimum of 8.8 million tons, or 48% of installed capacity, by the end of 1990, Harrison said. [Reprinted with permission from Pulp & Paper Week, Oct. 3, 1988, p. 2 . I