>>> from an email I received this morning on a Geology librarians list>>>
…..”I learned another neat trick from our Preservation Librarian.
To get rid of the moldy/musty smell, you can use cat litter.
Fix a pan of cat litter (fresh — of course and keep away from your Library Cat — should you have one). Cat litter with baking soda may work better
Put your book suspended above the cat litter on some type of wire cage, dish rack or other contrivance that will allow you to spread the pages. Leave for a while, and change the pages that are spread out every so often. Do NOT put the book in the cat litter
The cat litter should soak up some/much/all of the smell. ” !!!!!
This seems like interesting advice from a ‘preservation librarian’…
I wonder why the cat litter is needed – wouldn’t baking soda on its own do the trick (and be cheaper)? (I suspect that cat litter probably contains baking soda anyway). In my opinion, baking soda is a miracle cleaner/deodoriser and is greatly overlooked in this age of commercial cleaning preparations. There are dozens of ideas for using it on the Web:
http://www.wisegeek.com/wha…
http://www.thelosthaven.co….
For those old enough to remember the TV series,I recall MacGyver used to use baking soda to great effect in some of the tight situations in which he found himself, including using baking soda and vinegar to make a smoke screen – not sure this is actually possible, but it made a good story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…
http://www.macgyveronline.c…
But I digress from the path of librarianship, so will close now.
Caroline Anderson.
I’m more worried about the fact that this is like treating the symptom rather than the cause. If it smells of mould there is a good chance an active mould hazard is present. Some of these organisims are dangerious to both humans and book stock. Opening it up like this and allowing air to flow through it might just end up spreading the spores. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.
Jeff Palmer
Also, what would be the effect of the actual fumes on the book itself? Might cause more harm than good, although admittedly I am not aware of any studies on the preservation qualities of kitty litter and/or baking soda.
Being personally very deeply concerned about the vital issue of book deodorizing, and of course always cognizant of health issues around potentially deadly mould spores, I have for some years now spent my evenings and long into the night experimenting in the garage trying to find a solution to these pressing problems. It has been a long, hard slog, unpaid, and without recognition or support, but I have done it out of a sense of duty to my colleagues and profession.
The result? I can confidently recommend spreading the affected tome on a rack, as described in the Kitty Litter method, but don’t waste your time pissing about, so to speak, with pet toileting products or wimpy kitchen ingredients left over from your weekend scone baking. Fill the tray below the book with 100% nitric acid. Don’t be fobbed off with the normal, kids chemistry set, 60% variety , you want the real deal: the pure, anhydrous 100%, white-fuming stuff.
That’s it, done, simple!
In only minutes the smell will be gone, a few more and I guarantee any lurking fungal spores, no matter how virulent, will have turned up their metaphorical toes and shuffled off this mortal coil with tiny mouldy death-rattles. The real joy of this method kicks in after about 5 minutes by which time the actual book itself should be well on the way to being consumed by the cleansing fumes. After a mere half an hour the whole book should have vaporized, the rack dissolved into the acid tray below, the tray itself also dissolved and the remaining acid puddle will have corroded its own neat drain hole through the floor and tidied itself away, providing vital nitrates to the soil below.
What could be neater? Jack
Jack,
Do you know if this method will also work for wine stains on the carpet & ballpoint pen stains in my shirt pocket (&/or vice-versa)?
Adam – P.S. Did you get your inspiration from watching the first series of Breaking Badly?
P.P.S. Your efforts are of course grealy appreciated.
Any thoughts out there on deodorizing of library staff? No current issues with my esteemed colleagues, but always good to have a recipe handy just in case…
Dave C.
Re deodorizing library staff: we have no reason to believe the same method will not work with them. Simply construct a human sized cage where the offending staff member can be suspended above a giant tray of kitty litter fuming with some acidic chemical. In no time at all you will find the problem is solved.
I think you’ll find that this method will merely replace one kind of body odour with another. For a complete solution the offending body may need to be lowered into the chemical and submerged within it for up to 48 hours.
Deborah
Na[C17H35CO2] might be easier
Yes and it would smell much much nicer. I like the ecostore liquid variety.
The question is which vessel to use – top loader or front loader? We don’t want there to be tooooo much brain damage, they are library staff after all.
I would use a simpler method. For shirt stains, body odours and musty books smells! The Answer is simple (Engineering Approach)
Nuke it! The microwave was invented for such fun as this and the benefits are tangible!
Books – catch on fire!
Shirts – catch on fire and burn kitchen down.
Body odour – after cutting up the body, they won’t mind in the least.
Cheers! Dave (the evil one)