Usually, books and bricks are not associated items. When a book’s binding needs repair, however, nothing beats using a colorfully wrapped brick to hold the pages together as the glue dries.
When old, fragile books die, they are often difficult to replace, but there’s a department on campus dedicated to preventing the untimely death of books, saving the University money and ensuring historical books are preserved for future generations to view.
This month you don’t have to take a tour of the Knight Library’s Beach Lab to discover the tools and techniques library employees use to keep books in circulation.
On display now in the display cases near the reference center, in honor of National Preservation Month, are the different tasks the preservation department is responsible for. The display also details various things users do that damage books.
Ten years ago there was no such thing as a preservation department at the University library. Today the Knight Library preservation department is the leading resource for libraries all over the state to learn how to keep their collections alive.
Normandy Helmer, head of the preservation and binding department, said the University Library has many unique collections.
With these collections — such as all Oregon newspaper microfilm since 1953, and the rare books and manuscripts housed in Special Collections — comes an interminable list of repair and preservation workdone to keep the items around for library users to enjoy and learn from.
“We’re really the only ones in the state doing this level of work,” Helmer said. At other libraries “preservation is often an extra job.”
Preservation employees evaluate each damaged book to decide what needs to be done for it. If the book is moldy or has evidence of insect damage, it will often be put in a freezer for up to six months to kill bacteria and vermin eggs.
Books and food don’t mix, either. Helmer said the biggest contribution to book preservation that library users could make is to avoid handling books after eating or drinking. Even grease on hands, when transferred to books, can attract biblioclastic bugs, such as silverfish, beetles and book lice.
Some books are damaged deliberately because of sex- or drug-related content. Helmer said an article on psychedelic mushrooms had to be replaced five times before librarians finally gave up and left it out of the volume. Now patrons who wish to view the article must check it out at the front desk.
Careless book handling also lands books in the main floor doctor’s office, located on the west side of the library. Helmer said the simple task of grabbing a book from the middle of the spine instead of the top can save it an appointment with spine surgery.
Photocopying is also taxing, particularly on older books. Commercial binderies now use a more flexible glue and acid-free paper so books last longer.

New books also receive the attention of preservationists. Paperback books are reinforced with a plastic covering that is sewn to the book by hand. Roberson said it is a lot of work to maintain a collection of 2 million books so proactive preservation techniques save work down the line.
“People don’t realize how much work goes on behind the scenes,” Roberson said.
Whatever the reason for the damage or loss, books are expensive to replace. The true cost of replacing a book is more than the retail value of the book. Helmer said an average $40 of staff time goes into each book, searching for a replacement and ordering it, before the price of the book is even factored in.
“It is a lot cheaper to repair than to replace,” Helmer said.
A basic guideline to not becoming part of the problem is to “think of it as someone’s personal creation,” Helmer said.
Amanda Garcia a senior visual design major, has been working in preservation for almost three years. She now has the responsibility of caring for and protecting many of the rare books and manuscripts in Special Collections.
Garcia spends her work days making boxes, portfolios and other encapsulations for fragile materials, such as Ken Kesey’s handwritten manuscripts of novels or journals written by pioneers on the Oregon Trail.
All books housed in Special Collections are in temperature and humidity controlled environments. Helmer said each degree the temperature goes up, about ten years is subtracted from the life of the book.
Garcia said she enjoys working with books because she is interested in “preserving the book as an art form in the technological, electric world we live in.”
All of the 60 graduating seniors who work for the library received a personalized blank book handmade by Sandy Tilcock, head of the Knight Library Fine Printing Press.
Tilcock is a well-known bibliopegist who makes and prints each book by hand. Each time she completes a project, which are all done on a one-time-only basis and therefore rare, the Knight Library’s collection keeps a copy.
Garcia’s job is to preserve rare and fragile books such as the ones Tilcock makes, and Helmer said she believes the task of preservation surpasses economic practicality.
“I believe libraries are repositories of human knowledge,” Helmer said. “We have a moral obligation to preserve them for people to come.”