Circulating collections care, Circulating collections care, Conservation, Housing, Preservation

We’re Going to Need a Bigger Box

After my recent dabbling in miniature book work, I felt it was only appropriate to switch things up and work on something large.

These two sizeable sets of East Asian books were exactly what I was looking for. Occasionally a set like this would be broken down into its individual books. However, since each set came with a unique cloth enclosure, they were cataloged as one whole item.

Therefore, I will treat each set as a single unit.

So, What is the Treatment?

I am glad that we are keeping the original enclosures, however it makes my job trickier. The current case doesn’t provide enough protection as it is. Even just a gentle push is enough to slide the books out of the enclosure, which could cause unwanted damage to the books in the set.

The best treatment option is to make each set a new box. That way the entire unit will be safer whenever it is transported or handled.

Normally this wouldn’t be anything new, but boxing something this tall is a first for me. The thickest books I’ve worked with were typically four or five inches thick as most. On the other hand, these two sets are a whopping nine and eleven inches tall.

Due to their size, a normal clamshell box is no longer an option. If I applied their dimensions to our usual clamshell design, the box would not fit on the sheets of E-Flute board that we have in the lab. The best solution to this problem is to make a telescoping box instead, which is made of two parts (an interior piece and a lid) instead of one.

How Do You Make Such a Large Box?

Even with this alternative design I had to make some adjustments. The book sets were large enough that they still didn’t quite fit on the boards. This meant I had to change how I transferred the design onto the board.

Who would’ve thought 30″x40″ was too small?

To make the majority of the box fit, I made all my measurements from the center line of the board edge. This method allows me to fit all the critical parts of the box on the board.

With all the important marks made I can now crease the board, make the necessary cuts, and assemble the interior piece of the box.

The lack of board is more apparent once the box is put together.

Luckily the solution is a simple one. All I need is a piece of scrap E-Flute (which we have plenty of) to fill the gap in the side wall.

 

Once that is complete, I made the lid of the box. I measured this piece the same way I did before in order to be as economical as possible with the board.

After that I just had to repeat the process for the second set of volumes.

Now these massive sets are ready to go! Too bad they’re still just as heavy though.

Exhibits

The Banana Book Returns!

Longtime readers will remember the banana book, one of the best worst things that has come to the lab over the last 20 years. It has made its return to the Preservation Exhibit Case in our new exhibit, “SOS–Save Our Stuff: How you can help preserve library collections.” The exhibit is viewable during regular library hours on Lower Level 1, outside the Verne and Tanya Roberts Conservation Lab (Perkins 023).

The banana book is just one of several uniquely damaged items on display. Want to see what happens when you use sticky notes? Or attempt DIY book repairs? Come on down!

Our new exhibit is up!

 

This little case of horrors is a companion exhibit to “The Library Uncovered: Behind the Scenes with Collections Services in the Jerry and Bruce Chappell Family Gallery. This exhibit pulls back the curtain to show the hidden work that it takes to get library materials ready for the shelf or online.  To see more blog posts about this exhibit, please visit one of these posts.

A Tiny Press Calls for a Tiny Book

The Library Uncovered: Behind the Scenes with Collections Services

A Different Kind of Exhibit

Exhibits

The Library Uncovered: Behind the Scenes with Collections Services

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As mentioned last week, staff in the Collections Services division have been creating a “behind the scenes” look at the work we do to get books to the shelf. The exhibit is now up! Come see a selection of the work we do to make sure the book you need is on the shelf when you need it.

The Library Uncovered: Behind the Scenes with Collections Services
Exhibit dates: December 19, 2022 – June 4, 2023
Location: The Jerry and Bruce Chappell Family Gallery
Opening reception: January 10, 2023, 3:00 pm EST (light refreshments served)

We captured a few in-process installation photos to pique your interest. The exhibit is open to the public during regular library hours.

Meg installing the wall graphics.

Archway graphics!

The animations are live!

Say hello to our little friend in the disaster case.

WHAT CAN YOU SEE IN THIS EXHIBIT? 

The cases in this exhibition highlight interesting items from the collection that represent some of the work we do:

  • Watch a slideshow to see how materials travel through Collections Services
  • Discover what languages are represented in our collections
  • See a map of where our resources come from

This exhibit is brought to you by Duke University Libraries Collections Services. The exhibit team includes:

  • Heather Baker, Metadata & Discovery Strategy
  • Sara Biondi, Monograph Acquisitions
  • Bethany Blankemeyer, Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions
  • Beth Doyle, Conservation Services
  • Jovana Ivezic, Conservation Services
  • Elena Feinstein, Collection Strategy & Development
  • Rich Murray, Resource Description
  • Jacquie Samples, Metadata & Discovery Strategy

The exhibit team wishes to thank:

  • Meg Brown, Exhibition Services
  • Michael Daul, Assessment and User Experience Strategy
  • Dracine Hodges, AUL for Collections Services
  • Janelle Hutchinson, Communications
  • Yoon Kim, Exhibition Services
  • Eric Monson, Center for Data and Visualization Sciences
  • Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications
Collaboration, Conservation, Events, Exhibits, Tools and Equipment, Uncategorized, What's In The Lab

A Tiny Press Calls for a Tiny Book

Over the past year, I’ve been working on an exhibit revolving around the work I do in Conservation Services and the Collection Services Division as a whole. As luck would have it, Beth has this wonderful miniature book press that fit perfectly into the display case I was in charge of designing.

But what is a book press without a book to press? With that in mind, I took this opportunity to make my first miniature book.

First, I made a tiny book block.

I left the paper longer than it needed to be so that I could weigh the pages down while I sewed it all together. Once that was done, I decided it would be nice to try and round the spine. This proved to be a bit difficult with the normal tools we use for rounding.

I felt I was more likely to just crush the entire spine with the hammer than actually round it. A Teflon folder made for a safer option for this tiny spine.

Next, I needed to trim the book block to a more appropriate size. I started to cut it with just a scalpel and a ruler, but as you can see that wasn’t really going well or looking particularly nice.

I decided instead to try to trim the book in a more traditional method. This meant placing the book block into a press and using a sharp, flat blade to cut across the pages evenly.

This was much more successful and I ended up with a nice and neat book block.

After that, I covered the spine with a Japanese tissue for strength. Then I added a textile spine lining as well as a paper lining for additional support.

Now I could make the covers, which ended up being the easiest part of this whole process.

The hardest part came next, which was casing the book block into the covers. Because the book is so tiny, it was difficult to make sure the book didn’t move out of place as I glued up the paper that would connect the book block to the covers.

I eventually managed to figure it out and put the book in a press to dry flat.

I have to say it looks a bit silly in the full-sized press.

But once it was dry, the book was done!

It certainly fits in much better with a press its own size.

You can check out this tiny press with its tiny book, along with the rest of the great displays my colleagues put together, in the exhibit The Library Uncovered: Behind the Scenes with Collection Services that is currently open to the public in the Jerry and Bruce Chappell Family Gallery in Perkins.

Quick Pic, What We Find In Books

Quick Pic: Matching Outfits

We just love this illustration of a Dacian warrior and his horse in armor from Thomas Hope’s Costumes of the Greeks and Romans (1962 edition).

Illustration of Dacian warrior riding a horse, both in chainmail armor

At first glance, though, it kind of looks like they were wearing matching crocheted outfits. I don’t know that such a thing has been done before, but based on the number of images I can find of crocheted chainmail and horses in sweaters, it seems entirely possible.

Crochet armor, horses in sweaters

Tools and Equipment

Quick Pic: New Press Day

Today we welcomed a new resident to the lab. Everyone, meet our new T. W. & C. B. Sheridan Co. standing press!

Pictured here absolutely dwarfing our W.O. Hickok press.

We will need to clean the new Sheridan up a little before we can put her to use, but in the meantime we’ve decided to call her  “Large Marge” in honor of the late Alice Nunn. Stay tuned for our forthcoming press glow-up!

Be sure and tell them. Large Marge sent you.

 

Statistics

FY2022: By The Numbers

It’s annual statistics time! We love a good stat.

One Stat That Stands Out

42% of overall productivity in FY2022 was disaster recovery, mostly attributed to mold removal.

FY 2022 Statistics

371 Book repairs
964 Pamphlet bindings
16 Treatments: Other (objects, textiles, etc.)
694 Flat Paper repairs (includes paper, parchment, and photos)
3,094 Protective enclosures
3,784 Disaster recovery
3 Exhibit mounts [these are primarily done in the Exhibits Department now]
44 Hours in support of Exhibits (meetings, treatment, installation, etc.)
123 Digital preparation repairs
8 Hours in support of Digital Projects (meetings, consultations, handling, etc.)

73% of production was for Special Collections
27% of production was for Circulating Collections

42.7% of work was Level 1 [less than 15 minutes to complete;  3,810 items]
54.5% of work was Level 2 [15 minutes – 2 hours to complete;  4,864 items]
2.7% of work was Level 3 [2 – 5 hours to complete;  240 items]
0.1% of work was Level 4 [more than 5 hours; 12 items]

Staffing: 5 full time conservation staff, 1 student assistant

We are still seeing the effects of the pandemic on our total production. But we are also seeing a bounce back from the last two years. We remain hopeful that FY2023 will be closer to “normal,” whatever that is these days.

Totals FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22
Level 1 9556 5422 1841 3810
Level 2 15725 1522 972 4864
Level 3 246 146 94 240
Level 4 19 31 10 12
total 25546 7121 2917 8926
Total Productivity 2003 to 2022

This year we surpassed the 280,800 mark for total production since the department began in 2002. Overall, enclosures are still the largest single type of work we do, holding steady at 44% of output.  Followed by disaster recovery at 20%, and pamphlet binding at 18%.

Other Things We Did This Year
  • We received a LYRASIS Catalyst Fund grant to digitize our legacy conservation treatment documentation. We are calling it the Conservation Documentation Archive (CDA). This includes both written and photographic documentation, reaching back to the earliest treatment records we have. You will be hearing much more about that in the coming year as we get these materials into our digital repository.
  • We had several internal conversations about the lack of diversity in our treatment terminology. We aim to be more cognizant of this going forward. We want to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of book history so that we can be more inclusive in describing the materials we work on.
  • We took a deeper dive into issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the conservation profession and our department this year through readings and discussions. These will be  ongoing conversations. We are focusing on ideas that can be put into action now, while also identifying stretch goals that may take more time and resources than what we have at the moment.
  • The Lilly Library renovation is back on track. We are in the middle of preparing the collections, and the art and artifacts for the move. Much more to come on this project.
Picture of empty bookshelf with sign that says conservation review
Here’s to FY2023!
What We Find In Books, What's In The Lab

Hidden Print Waste

A lot of different materials go into producing a book’s binding and for centuries bookbinders have used pieces of broken or discarded books to produce new ones. We often find scraps of manuscript or print, on either paper or parchment, used as spine linings, as endsheets, or even as full covers for bindings (see images from the collections of Princeton or Library of Congress here). We often describe this practice as waste (manuscript waste, printer’s waste, binding waste, etc.). Some important texts have only survived because they were reused in this way.

While some examples of binding waste (like covers or endleaves) are immediately obvious, others are only revealed by damage. This early 18th century printed book came in for rehousing recently and shows some of the fascinating things that can be hidden beneath the surface.

In areas where leather corners have come off or the sprinkled brown paper sides have lifted you can see some text peaking through. The book itself is printed in Latin, but the waste used in the binding is in German. This edition was printed in Munich, so it makes sense that a contemporary binding would also include waste in German.

In addition to the mechanical damage to the paper covering material along the board corners and edges, there is also some insect damage along the faces of both boards.

The insects have eaten away at the first several layers of binding material, revealing many layers of print – sometimes in different orientations. It seems our print waste was not just used as a board lining, but the boards themselves are composed of many layers of print laminated together.

I am usually not excited to encounter an insect-damaged book, but in this case the bugs have created a rather beautiful object – almost like a typographic topographical map – and have revealed useful information about its production.

Duke University Libraries Preservation