PRESERVATION


What i -a Brittle Book?
Defining a brittle book isn't easy because there are various levels of
embrittlement. A brittle book is often thought to be one that crumbles in
your hands or as you turn its pages. Most of us have seen the picture of the
Preservation Officer from the Library of Congress, with opened book in
hand, blowing the pages away. Such b:;o:s are certainly brittle, though
it might be more appropriate to speak of them as dust. When a
Preservation person says that a book is "britLe," he often means that its
pages are very weak. L
The American National Standard (ANSI) foi determining when a book
is brittle is so elaborate and destructive that it'lsn't used by libraries or
archives. It requires actually cutting the book and subjecting the book to
highly mechanical scientific tests. Instead, libia.ic:, and archives have
attempted to simulate the test very simply. At meetings of Preservation
Officers, you will hear this test referred to as "the double fold test."
This test is also somewhat destructive, so it should never be performed on
a rare or valuable book. Instead, "the flex test" can be used to gauge
brittleness of rare and valuable books.
Here is how it is done: Attempt to roll the outside edge of any page,
other than the title page, towards the center of the book, forming a
cylinder or tube. If you try this with a new sheet of notebook paper, you
will see how easily this can be done. A sheet of brittle book paper,
however, will resist and show signs of strain. Be careful though, if a
page is brittle and you don't stop when you feel resistance or notice strain,
the page could break in two.
The double fold test is more scientific. To perform this test, take an
outside comer of any page, other than the title page; bend it down
toward you, and press the fold between your fingers. The comer should be
small, so not much will be lost if the corner breaks away. Now, unfold the
corner and bend it down in the opposite direction, i.e., away from you,
and press the fold again. Straighten out the corer and pull gently. A
gentle tug is enough. You have now performed one "double fold."
The librarians at the University fo California, Berkeley, however, say
the test should be done up to seven times. Columbia University uses "6";
and Stanford uses "5." As you can see there isn't much agreement. The
University of Florida has used five double folds as its standard since the
Physical Condition Survey a year and a half ago. That survey showed
that nine percent, or roughly 225,000 titles of our collections vere brittle,
and over 80% of these books failed at or below three double folds.
Books that have double fold test measures of four or below are
generally too brittle to be bound. Those with a measure of one or below
may put acidic dust in the air when they are used and crumble; and this
dust settles upon other books only to speed their decay. The Preservation
Office is currently working out policy and procedure for dealing with
brittle books. "Brittle Book Consult Library Preservation Office" is the
message which appears on books checked out to the Office's Brittle
Books Program.

If you find a brittle book-
Brittle books should be brought to the attention of the Circulation Unit.
Circulation will route the book to the Brittle Books Program, which will
then seek to withdraw, replace microfilm or preservation photocopy the
book. Some books, depending on their test measure, may eventually be
flagged as "brittle books" and be returned to the stacks until we can deal
with them. Though the Libraries cannot deal with 225,000 brittle titles
overnight, it is best that we start identifying these titles now in order to
plan and speed their preservation.

Caution-- :l"
If you perform the double fold test on a brittle book, ivrite the double
fold measure on a slip of paper and insert it into the book. This will
prevent others from doing the test over, saving time and another corner of
the book.


continued on next page :FI




Avoid doing any tests to the title page. Loss of title page
information can make a cataloger's or researcher's life miserable.
Futhermore, damage to a title page often means a decrease in the price of
any book..
SThe tests mentioned above should never be performed on glossy pages,
photographs, cardboard, or non-paper materials; and never risk loss of
any text.
If a book is found to be brittle but you return it to the shelf, notify the
Preservation Office (405 Library East). Tell us its title, complete call
number, and double fold measure.
.If a brittle book must circulate, explain to the patron that the book is
brittle and requires special care.

Tidbits
Most brittle books were printed only after 1850, but not all. Most
books printed in the last 25 years are not brittle yet, some may never
become brittle. a Yellowing of pages generally indicates that a book is
acidic and becoming brittle. The darker this yellowing, the more brittle
the page may be. ; Most brittle books are published in India, Latin
America, and pre-World War II Europe, including Russia. m In the
United States, brittle books published between 1850 and 1925 have white
pages. These pages were bleached to look white. The bleaching makes
the pages brittle.m
-Erich Kesse





WHAT IS A BRITTLE BOOK?


Defining a brittle book isn't easy because there are various levels of
embrittlement. A brittle book is often thought to be one which crumbles in your
hands or as you turn its pages. Most of us have seen the picture of the
Preservation Officer from the Library of Congress, with opened book in hand,
blowing the pages away. Such books are certainly brittle, though it might be
more appropriate to speak of them as dust. When a Preservation person says that
a book is "brittle", he often means that its pages are very weak.
The American National Standard (ANSI) for determining when a book is
brittle is so elaborate and destructive that it isn't used by libraries or
archives. It requires that you actually cut up the book and subject the book
papers to highly mechanical scientific tests. Instead, libraries and archives
have attempted to simulate the test very simply. At meetings of Preservation
Officers, you will hear this test referred to as "the double fold test". This
test is also somewhat destructive, so it should never be performed on a rare or
valuable book. Instead, "the flex test" can be used to gauge brittleness of
rare and valuable books. If you suspect that a book may be rare or valuable,
even if it comes from the general stacks, use the flex test. It would be a good
guess to say that limited editions and books printed before 1820 deserve special
treatment.
The flex or role test only allows you to make a good guess of how brittle a
book is. Here is how it is done: Attempt to roll the outside edge of any page,
other than the title page, towards the center of the book, forming a cylinder or
tube. If you try this with a new sheet of notebook paper, you will see how
easily this can be done. A sheet of brittle book paper, however, will resist
and show signs of strain. Be careful though, if a page is brittle and you don'i
stop when you feel resistance or notice strain, the page could break in two.
The double fold test is more scientific. To perform this test, take ain
outside corner of any page, other than the title page; bend it down toward you,
and press the fold between your fingers. The corner should be small, so not.
much will be lost if the corner breaks away. Now, unfold the corner and bend it
down in the opposite direction, i.e., away from you, and press the fold again.
Straighten out the corner and pull gently. A gentle tug is enough. You have
now performed one "double fold".
The librarians at Yale University say that a book is brittle if the corner
cracks off or snaps away before you have finished three double folds. The
librarians at the University of California, Berkeley, however, say the test
should be done up to seven times. Columbia University uses "6"; and Stanford
uses "5". As you can see there isn't much agreement. The University of Florida
has used five double folds as its standard since the Physical Condition Survey a
year and a half ago. That survey showed that nine per cent, or roughly 225,000
titles of our collections were "brittle". A recent survey of the uncataloged
backlog showed that nine per cent were "brittle", and over 80% of these books
failed at or below three double folds.





Books which have double fold test measures of four or below are generally
too brittle to be bound. Those with a measure of three or below will not
withstand many more uses. Those with a measure of one or below may put acidic
dust in the air when they are used and crumble; and this dust settles upon other
books only to speed their decay. The Preservation Office is currently working
out policy and procedure for dealing with brittle books. "Brittle book --
Consult library Preservation Office" is the message which appears on books
checked out to the Office's Brittle Books Program.

What should you do if you find a brittle book?
Brittle books should be brought to the attention of the Circulation
Department. The Circulation Department will route the book to the Brittle Books
Program, which will then seek withdraw or replacement, microfilm or preservation
photocopy of the book. Some books, depending on their test measure, may
eventually be flagged as a "brittle book" and returned to the stacks until we
can deal with them. Though the Libraries can not deal with 225,000 brittle
titles over night, it is best that we start identifying these titles now in
order to plan and speed their preservation.


A Few Cautions.
If you perform the double fold test on a brittle book, write the double
fold measure on a slip of paper and insert it into the book. This will prevent
others from doing the test over, saving time and another corner of the book.
Avoid doing any tests to the title page. Loss of title page information
can make a cataloger's or researcher's life miserable. Further, damage to a
title page often means a decrease in the price of any book.
The tests mentioned above should never be performed on glossy pages,
photographs, card board, or non-paper materials; and never risk loss of any
text.
If a book is found to be brittle bgtyou return it to the shelf, notify the
Preservation Office (405 Library East). Tell us its title, complete call
number, and double fold measure.
If a brittle book must circulate, explain to the patron that the book is
brittle and requires special care.

How to guess that a book may be brittle before testing.
Most brittle books were printed only after 1850, but not all.
Most books printed in the last 25 years are not brittle yet, some may never
become brittle..
Yellowing ages generally indicates that a book is acidic and becoming
brittle. The darker this yellowing, the more brittle the page may he.
Most brittle books are published in India, Latin America, and pre-World War II
Europe, including Russia.
In the United States, brittle books published between 1850 and 1925 have
white pages. These pages were bleached to look white. The bleaching makes the
pages brittle.