HIT: How to clean dusty books

[Rena Deutsch <renadeutsch@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>]

To file away for the beginning of the school year, when your library is
dusty, and you and/or your student monitors are energetic (or your
volunteers are)...

Here are the suggestions I got on how to clean really dusty books.  Thanks
to everyone who sent suggestions.



Pledge Grab it Dust cloths or Swiffer (expensive, but work)
Someone also mentioned  "Miracle cloths" from a company called Solutions
1-800-342-9988. “ They attract dust like a magnet instead of shoving it
somewhere else.” Pricy – $29.50 for a package of seven, but they are really
wonderful.
...................

Take book off shelf
Blow dust into wastebasket
Lightly dust with duster
Dust shelf before reshelving
(very labor intensive)

..................

Vacuum tops of each book
Use soft upholstery brush attachment with canister vacuum cleaner

.........
Use treated cloth
a. treated with furniture polish from years of polishing furniture
b. lemony cloth that have a kind of electrostatic effect on dust

.........
Use paintbrush  to get dust off books

...........

Suggestions re: vacuum cleaners

1. the kind that uses water to filter the dust would be the best bet....More
noise and slower than a dustbuster, but probably the best.

2. Make sure to get the bags with super filtration so that you don't throw
the dirt back into the air.

..............
A creative idea: Get the washable filters from hardware store.
Cut to fit the air outlet and filter the air before it circulates
through the library...Wash the filter weekly.

( If only we could get to the air outlets!!!-- our air outlets are about
20ft off the ground, and I'm sure haven't been cleaned since the building
opened in 1931!)

Rena Deutsch, Librarian
High School for the Humanities
New York, NY
renadeutsch@worldnet.att.net

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