Damaged Books Leave the Library All Washed Up

One of the major projects we undertook during our recent In-House Work Week was moving the Adult Fiction collection.  As we went through the books, we realized how many of them had warped pages, a telltale sign of water damage.  By the time we finished, hundreds of books were removed due to liquid damage alone.  Some of the books were starting to grow mold, so we actually are very fortunate that the situation was not as bad as it could have been.

Many people believe that if an item has dried out, or if an item only has a “little bit” (a page or two, or just the corners) of liquid damage that it is okay for the library to keep it.  Sadly, this is not the case.  A book can grow mold from even one page of damage, and it can grow mold after it looks like it has dried out.  I say “looks like” because often we cannot see where moisture is hiding, such as under the book jacket or in the spine.  Every item that has any kind of liquid damage must be removed for the good of the collection.  Mold will not stop at one book; it spreads quickly and thoroughly.  It has been known to devastate entire libraries in one weekend.

Many of the items removed were damaged years ago, before we realized how dangerous moisture damaged books can be.   However, the sad truth is that items are returned to us with new moisture damage on a daily basis; I see easily a dozen every day in my department alone.  We try to reorder as many of the damaged items as possible; however, if we reordered all of them, we would not have the money to buy new items.

Patrons have asked us, what can we do to help?  First of all, help us take care of your books.  Please do not eat or drink around library books.  Also, keep plastic bags with you in case you get caught in the rain with your books.  If anything happens to your books, please let us know about it when you turn them in.  This saves a great deal of staff time.  Additionally, if you check out an item and notice that it is damaged, please let us know.  We appreciate your help in keeping an eye on the materials. 

You can also help by considering donating materials to the library.  Several days after our fiction collection was decimated, we received many new books from several longtime donors.  It was the first time I felt optimistic about our collection after having to remove so many books.  I cannot tell you how much we appreciate every single donation we receive.  When you donate materials in excellent condition, you are helping us in one of two ways.  Either the item will be added to our collection or it will be sold by the Friends of Neill Public Library in their book sale, where 100% of the profits are for the library.   The library and the Friends accept financial donations as well, which you can specify are used for library collections.

Together, we can make sure the library’s materials are not “all washed up”.

by Cheryl Brinkley

Adult Services Librarian

Published in Moscow-Pullman Daily News April 10, 2010