Mould in the Gazetteers: Ranking Preservation and Security Risks on ₹60,000
A government degree college established in 1956 keeps a 'rare books' almirah holding 380 volumes, among them 41 titles from 1890-1935, several district gazetteers, and a complete run of an old literary journal. The room has two windows opened each morning, no air-conditioning, a ceiling fan, and a hygrometer reading 78 per cent relative humidity during the monsoon. The librarian has found white fungal patches on the spines of nine books and silverfish frass in the gazetteers. The almirah is a 1978 steel cupboard whose key is held by the head clerk. Two volumes were missing at the last stock-taking. There is no separate register for the rare collection; all 380 are entered in the general accession register among 22,000 volumes. The library has a photocopier, one door, no CCTV, one guard at the main gate, and ₹60,000 for preservation and security this year. A researcher has asked to borrow three gazetteers for a week.
1. Rank the risks and allocate the ₹60,000. Justify what you buy and, equally, what you refuse to buy.
Read the worked answer
Ranking by irreversibility and by spread: first mould and humidity, because the damage is irreversible and it is spreading to neighbouring volumes; second untraceable access and theft, shown by the two missing volumes and by the absent rare-book register; third insect damage, partly a symptom of the same damp; fourth fire, which is low-probability here but catastrophic.
Allocation:
- ₹20,000: a small dehumidifier for the room, run only during the monsoon, with a drain or tank emptied daily; plus a second hygrometer and silica gel in the cupboard, replaced or regenerated on a written schedule.
- ₹15,000: a lockable, glass-fronted cupboard or cabinet for the rare collection kept inside the library, with a key register and dual control - the librarian and the principal each sign for the key.
- ₹8,000-10,000: acid-free boxes, phase boxes, book supports and cotton tying tape for the 41 fragile titles; muslin covers for the gazetteers.
- ₹6,000: a simple standalone camera or a tripod and phone mount to copy the most fragile items, so originals need not be handled often.
- ₹5,000-8,000: one entry-door alarm or a single camera covering the door, if monitoring can be arranged; otherwise keep the money.
Refused: rebinding all 380 volumes - at ₹400-800 each that is far beyond the budget and destroys original binding evidence; cello tape, lamination, and oiling or 'polishing' of leather; and a full CCTV installation that nobody will watch. A camera with no one monitoring it and no recording retained is a prop.
2. How do you respond to the researcher's request to borrow three gazetteers, and what access rules would you write for the rare collection?
Read the worked answer
Refuse the loan, meet the need. The gazetteers are out of print and effectively irreplaceable; a loan is uninsurable and unenforceable, and the borrower has no way to make good a loss. But refusal without an alternative is a poor service.
Offer instead: supervised consultation in the reading room, one volume at a time, with the staff member present at the counter; the book on a support, no food or drink, pencil only; the request recorded in a register with name, institution, identity document number, date, volume and purpose. If the researcher needs a copy, scan or photograph the required pages - usually one chapter or under ten per cent - and give the copy rather than the original. If the copy is large, allow a phone camera on a stand under supervision. If after all this a volume is needed elsewhere, that is a matter for the library committee, not for a counter decision.
Written rules, approved by the committee: the rare collection is closed-access; a separate numbered list of the 380 items is created and cross-referenced to the general accession numbers; nothing leaves the room without an entry in the issue register signed by the librarian; keys are held under dual control with a key register; and the two missing volumes are reported in writing, with the stock-verification procedure followed and the write-off recorded, not quietly forgotten.
3. Give the monsoon housekeeping and monitoring routine, and the treatment for the nine mouldy volumes.
Read the worked answer
Monitoring, daily and weekly:
- Read and log temperature and relative humidity at the same time each day; target below 55-60 per cent RH. Above 65 per cent, run the dehumidifier and close the windows.
- Windows open only in dry weather and only for short airing; not during rain or when the outside air is damper than the room. Do not run the fan directly on the books, and never blow damp air across the shelves.
- Weekly: inspect the cupboard, look for frass, new white patches and musty smell; dust shelves with a vacuum on low suction and a soft brush; check that silica gel is still active and regenerate it.
- Books upright, not packed tight, pulled forward from the back of the shelf so air can move; nothing stored on top of the cupboard; no plastic bags, which trap moisture.
The nine mouldy volumes: isolate them at once from the rest - quarantine is the single most useful step. Move them to the driest space available, stand them open at the boards in moving air and let them dry slowly, never in direct sun and never over a heater, because heat warps boards and drives the moisture further into the text block. Once dry, brush the mould gently outdoors, wearing a mask and gloves, with a soft brush, and clean the shelf before returning anything. Do not use water, adhesive tape or home remedies, and do not return them to the closed cupboard until the humidity is controlled; box each in a phase box, label it, and refer the most valuable to a conservator or to the state archives for advice. Record every action - date, volume, treatment, person - in the preservation register, because the next librarian needs the history.