Book Handling and Storage
With proper care, handling, and storage, you can extend the life of your books and preserve them for years of enjoyment. When considering places to house your books, avoid attics, basements, and any other place where humidity and heat can fluctuate wildly. These locations can encourage mold growth, harbor unseen insects and pests, speed up the degradation of acidic paper, and encourage some adhesives used in books to fail. If you wouldn’t be comfortable living in a certain space, neither will your books! Avoid placing your books in bathrooms or kitchens where they will be exposed to increased humidity and water splashes, and avoid locations near radiators and vents where they will be subjected to rapid blasts of heat or cold.
Likewise, while we might like to live with the blinds open and bask in the glow of the afternoon sun, the covers of some books are easily damaged by regular exposure to sunlight and some types of artificial light.
Consider placing your books on shelves in hallways, bedrooms, and other areas where light exposure is minimal and temperature and humidity are controlled.
Store books on shelves off the ground in case of a leak. Avoid shelving books on their fore-edge with their spines facing up as this encourages text blocks to sag and pull away from their covers.
Average-sized books are best stored upright on shelves alongside similarly sized volumes. If a book is too large to be shelved vertically, place it on its side on a separate shelf with similarly sized books. Avoid placing a very tall tome next to a short book as the larger book will not be well supported and can distort and damage smaller books that it is next to and in some scenarios could possibly tip over. Similarly, fill shelves or use bookends to ensure that books are stored snugly upright rather than leaning, as leaning books are subject to distortion and damage.
Conversely, avoid packing bookshelves so tightly that force is required when removing them from the shelves, as this too can damage bindings.
When removing books from their shelves, gently grip the spine at the middle of the book (pushing neighboring books backwards slightly as necessary to allow a grip), instead of tugging at the top of the spine, known as the “headcap”, which is especially vulnerable to damage.
Do this:
Not this:
Headcap damage:
Handle books with clean dry hands, avoiding or being especially careful if eating or drinking while handling books. When reading, it is best to cradle books with the hand or support with other props, as many books are not designed to be opened all the way flat to 180° and can suffer stress and damage if forced to open to a wide angle. Avoid “dog-earing" i.e. fold the corners of pages to mark your spot, highlighting, or writing in books that you wish to preserve. Instead use bookmarks to temporarily hold your place and make sure to remove them when finished reading or doing research, especially when using a library book. Sticky notes, paper clips, or rubber bands can all result in damage: paperclips can rust and leave an indentation on the page; sticky notes can leave a residue; and rubber bands can cause tearing of the pages. Transport books safely by limiting the amount you carry by hand. Support them close to your body in order to avoid dropping the books, which can result in significant damage.
When needing to store books in boxes for a prolonged period of time, choose alkaline archival storage boxes as the acid from a common cardboard box creates an acidic micro-environment that promotes acid degradation. Additionally, books should either be packed vertically as they would be on a shelf, flat on their covers, or spine down. As when shelving books, avoid storing them on their fore-edges and avoid stacking flat books on top of vertically oriented books.
