A Tragedy About to Happen

WARREN J. HAAS

A FEW years ago I opened a volume of the Library Quarterly

/'\ that had been published in the early 1930's to read an
A )\ article reporting the results of some research into the
causes of paper deterioration. The page I turned to was discolored
and a cautious fold at a corner confirmed that the paper was
brittle and had lost all of its folding strength. The research results
being reported were obviously addressed to a very real problem.

The problem is not unique to the library where I was working
at the time. In fact, most of the largest and oldest research collec¬
tions in the country find themselves face-to-face with a situation
that, if unchecked, threatens their very future. The books in their
collections—not hundreds or even thousands of books but literally
hundreds of thousands of books—are slowly disintegrating.

AVhile there are a number of factors that contribute to the de¬
terioration of book paper, the most important seems to be a chemi¬
cal process which is as complex in its nature as its results are
certain.

In large part, modern methods of making paper are at fault.
About 100 years ago, alum-rosin sizing began to be generally used
in the paper-making process. Sulfuric acid is a natural side product
of this combination of chemicals, and it is this acid residue that
causes paper to become weak and brittle. Most books published
during the last 100 years are printed on such paper, and in a sense
they carry the seeds of their own destruction between their
covers.

A further problem stems from the extensive use of groundwood
pulp, in which the fibers are short and produce an inherently weak
paper that is subject to deterioration with age and exposure to
light, as well as with any extensive use.

The environmental conditions under which books are stored