Presentation about disaster planning and book preservation

1. Save Our Books
Damaged Books: A SOB Story

2. Introduction
The SOB Story Begins…
•
• HELP! Each year Averett’s Library
loses between 50 and 100 books many
to avoidable damage.

3. Types of Damages:
• Cut or Torn Pages
• Spine Damage/Loose Binding
• Water Damage
• Mold & Mildew
• Climate
• Insect Damage

4. • 50 to 100 books may not seem like a lot when
you compare that number to all of the books we
have in our library. However, many of the
books we lose to this damage are NOT
REPLACEABLE.
• You, as an Averett Library patron, can help us
Save Our Books. Damage to the book’s
appearance (cosmetic) and damage to the
book’s content (integrity) can be avoided. Let’s
look at some types of damage and what you can
do to help Save Our Books!

5. Cut or torn pages
Have you ever been reading
and just when you get to the
good part, you find the next
page is missing? Or
someone has cut a
paragraph or picture out of
the book? This can be quite
an annoyance at home, but
imagine it happening in the
library! Cut or torn pages
cannot always be replaced,
and when they can, the
repair work takes a lot of
time.

6. What You Can Do
• 1. If you find a loose or missing page, let the librarian know
right away.
• 2. Use a bookmark rather than “dog ear” the pages. This
makes it less likely for the pages to tear at the top. (Note:
Post-it notes are not a good bookmark. The glue is toxic to
book pages.)
• 3. Rather than cutting pages or pictures, find a copy machine
or just write down the information you need from the text.
• 4. If you accidentally rip a page DO NOT repair it with Scotch
tape. We appreciate your concern for damaged books, but
over time the glue on the tape turns yellow and stains the book
and can actually break brittle paper. Did you know
conservators in private practice charge $7.00 per INCH to
remove tape from books?! Please bring books with torn pages
to the attention of the library staff, who will see the book gets
appropriate, expert repair.

7. Spine damage&
loose binding
Some of the books in the
Averett Library collection
are old. With age, the
original binding (how the
book stays together) can fall
apart. Maybe you found a
book on the shelf and the
pages sag when you pick it
up, or the spine is pulled up
and torn on an end or side.

8. What You Can Do
• 1. Let a librarian know
immediately. If caught soon
enough, this book may be
saved!
• 2. Store books in an upright
position. Placing a book on
its opening edge can cause
the binding to come loose!
3. When you pull a book off
of the shelf, try and pull from
the center of the book.
Pulling on the upper edge
can tear that part of the
spine.

9. Water damage
Ever see a book swell to
three times it’s original size?
Maybe you have opened a
book and found that the
pages are wavy or the print
is smeared. This is what
happens when a book has
water damage. Maybe it
was rained on, something
spilled on it, there was a
leak in the roof, or someone
thought it would make a
neat base for a sail boat. In
any case, water damage is
usually something we can’t
fix.

10. What You Can Do
• 1. Bring the book to the
librarian immediately. It
needs to be removed from
our collection before more
damage occurs to it or to
other books on the shelf.
• 2. If the book becomes wet
while it is on loan to you,
don’t panic and please let a
librarian know what
happened. We will save the
book if we can.
Unfortunately, if we cannot,
you will be charged for the
replacement of the book.
• So, let us know, and maybe
you can help us save a
book!
• 3. Place your drink on a
coaster or a paper towel.
This will keep the moisture
off of the book.
• 4. Watch where you keep
your book. Sometimes,
without thinking, books are
placed in the kitchen or
bathroom near potential
sources of water damage.

11. Mold & Mildew
From time to time, we find
books that have black dots
or white powder and a funny
smell. You may think that
ink or something else was
spilled on this book, but
beware. Mold and mildew
grow and spread to other
books! They are a great
danger to any collection.
Mold and mildew happen
because a book was damp
or there was too much
humidity in the room. Only
one thing can be done at
this point.

12. What You Can Do
Bring the book
IMMEDIATELY to the
librarian. The item must be
removed before the mold
and/or mildew spreads to
other books on the shelf.
This book is a danger to our
entire collection. We will not
be able to save this one, but
you will have helped to save
many others by letting us
know!

13. Climate
Wonder why libraries are so
cold? Books need cool, dry
air to stay in good condition.
This is even more true for
non-print resources like
CD’s or movies. If the air is
dry and hot, books can dry
out causing the pages to
become brittle or the cover
to fall apart. In damp or
humid conditions damage to
the binding, onset of
mold/mildew, and other
damages can occur. Non-
print resources can lose
data, warp, or melt!

14. What You Can Do
• 1. Don’t leave a book, CD,
or movie outside or in a car
for a long period of time. In
damp conditions, the cover
of a paperback or hardback
can warp, and extreme heat
can melt non-print
resources or soften the glue
in a book and cause a cover
to fall off!
• 2. Bring a sweater with you
when you enter the library.
We do wish we could keep it
warmer, but the books need
the cool, dry air.

15. Insects
• Why do people in libraries
get so excited if a person
brings a soda or a snack
into the library? Studying is
hungry work, after all.
What’s the big deal?
• The problem is that crumbs
and spills can attract insects
and vermin. Many of these
beasts eat paper and glue,
as well as cookie crumbs.
Liquid damage may lead to
mold, leave stains, or may
attract insects.

16. What You Can Do
1. Please enjoy food outside
of the library to help us
take care of our
collections.
2. Please use spill-proof
cups in the library. Leave
to-go cups and cans
outside.

17. Stains
Once coffee or coke or food
has been spilled onto a
book, it will never be
removed. Stains can cause
permanent damage.
Furthermore, not only are
the pages grossly
discolored, but also the
stains can lead to mold or
cause the pages to stick
together. The best way to
prevent staining is to avoid
eating and drinking around
library material.

18. Highlighting/
Writing
Highlighting or writing notes
into the text causes
permanent damage. This
book cannot be repaired.
Patrons should never treat
library books as if they own
them. These books are in
the library to benefit
everyone and should be
treated as such.

19. Pet Bites
While people rarely “feed”
library materials to their
pets, they do often
unknowingly make them
easily accessible. Dog
owners might tuck their
shows in the closets to
protect them from Fluffy, but
they do not always think to
protect library books in a
similar way. Keep library
material out of harms way.

20. Picture

21. Your tuition
dollars at work
Every dollar spent on
repair and replacement
of damaged books
takes money away
from the budget
available for buying
new library resources.

22.
Reference books and
textbooks, which are often
highly illustrated, are even
more expensive than other
books. Juvenile books are
many times more expensive
to replace than they are to
buy originally.
It costs $325.00 for a reprint
of a book to be ordered from
Reprint Services Corp.
Many books more than a
few years old are out of
print, and so must be gotten
through a reprint service if
available. They may be
irreplaceable altogether.

23. Stop book damage!
Help us save our
books!
With your help, the
Averett Library can
stop most book
damages from
becoming “unfixable.”
So take a couple of
moments when looking
at our collections and
think of ways you can
help us to save our
books!

24. Remember:
• 1. Always report damage to
a librarian. It can make a
difference.
• 2. Never use bacon as a
bookmark.
• 3. Bathtub reading is a risky
venture.
• 4. Dog ears are cute, but
not in books.
• 5. In a fight between a book
and a puppy, the puppy
always wins.
• 6. Books are a unique
treasure, but that doesn’t
mean you have to bury
them.

25. Damaged books
Display
Please come by
the library and
view our display
“Save Our Books…
Damaged Books:
A SOB Story.”