During the Fall Quarter 1998, the UC Santa Cruz Science Library presented an exhibit focusing on some of the techniques libraries use to protect and preserve their books. In particular, the exhibit examined a new process called deacidification. The entire article, The Paper Chase, by Will Dalrymple is available on the Preservation Directorate's website.
The problem: "A majority of books here--and in any library--were printed on acidic paper and are in danger of embrittlement," said Chandru J. Shahani, chief of the Library's Preservation Research and Testing Division. "Unless they are deacidified, most of these books will become too brittle to handle within the next 50 years."
Paradoxically, most threatened paper was made long after some of the oldest of the Library's collections. The oldest paper materials, usually made from cotton rag, register slightly acidic but degrade more slowly than wood-ground, pulp-based paper. Mills switched from rag to wood pulp in the early 19th century. Paper makers still use cotton today for high-quality stationery and U.S. currency. Acidic paper threatens to destroy many of the 17 million books in the Library of Congress .
Some possible solutions: A liquid-based mass deacidification technology called Bookkeeper may help the Library of Congress win its war against acid damage in its paper collections. The Bookkeeper process impregnates books with magnesium oxide particles that both neutralize the acid in paper and leave an alkaline buffer behind.
With the present Bookkeeper III equipment, Preservation Technology Inc. can deacidify a batch of 8 books in each of 4 treatment chambers in 2 hours. Active exposure to the treatment chemistry lasts only about 25 minutes. The Bookkeeper process works best with standard, bound volumes in good physical shape. The vast majority of LC collections fit these criteria. Extremely brittle, damaged or rare books must be treated by hand or reformatted. LC is saving thousands of books a month that will be preserved and made available to future generations of researchers who will continue ton rely on the Library of Congress as the responsible custodian of our cultural heritage.
