Been there, done that!
At one school where I worked, the library's roof (I was at the top of a
three-story building), had some interior water damage and some water was
still there "somewhere." This caused some serious mold, mildew, and
humidity problems for the entire library beginning the summer of my
"second-year" at the school.
The books were molding and the humidity level was 100% in the library (yes,
it should have been raining). My solution...educate my administration and
pray for dry days! But seriously....
To save the books, I asked for a dehumidifier ( You might ask for two if you
have a large library--- check to see how much of the area can be
dehumidified with one. If you need two, get them.) I also asked for
ceiling fans (to get the air circulating). After these were installed, I
began checking which books were "most damaged" and separated them. If they
all needed "work," I continued with the clean-up which included Lysol spray
to control some of the growth. I also cleaned the shelves and the air
vents. (Well, the maintenance people cleaned the air vents.)
Because there were over 20,000 titles, I could not afford to "freeze" the
entire library (as I later learned from my library preservation classes--and
the Department of Libraries which I called for additional advice during that
summer), so I tried to eliminate the visible mold on those titles that were
most important or used regularly. I also made notes of which books should
be replaced immediately (and kept records of all of this to send to the
administration....I also brought books down to my superintendent's office
and left them on his desk--when he stepped out--- with a note on them that
said "this is what's growing on all the books in the library. I just wanted
to share it with you.")
He did come up to the library later and I gave him the tour. That's when he
gave me the money for the ceiling fans and dehumidifier.
To make the clean-up more "exciting" (wiping down the books, spraying them,
etc.), I had a "Moldy-Oldie Party" at the beginning of the school year and
invited the teachers, staff, janitors, etc., to take 30-minutes (or whatever
they could spare in their day), to step into the library to help "clean the
books"--- I played 1950's, 1960's and 1970's music in the background and I
offered snacks to those who finished cleaning and were headed back to their
classrooms (they took the cookies, cupcakes, brownies, and drinks back to
their rooms!) Almost everyone got involved and we all had fun with the
books and the music.
My superintendent was more impressed by the way I got the staff involved
with "saving the collection" than with the overall techniques of library
preservation. However, I did finally convince him that the air conditioner
needed to stay on during the summer (70 degrees or lower is best), and he
agreed to keep the humidifiers running when it was humid and keep the
ceiling fans circulating the air. In addition, he sent a maintenance worker
to the library to check the humidity levels each day so we knew whether to
change the levels on the dehumidifiers (Low, Medium, High,...or Sahara
Desert *g*)
I would often check during the summer to make sure that everything was okay.
To be perfectly honest, I did some serious cleaning of the books, shelves,
air vents, and walls throughout the next year(s). In addition, I isolated
the "better materials" and replaced those books that were too moldy for
"healthy use." (The historical materials that I wanted to preserve did get
"frozen" and then later, I placed them in some special covers and then
inside an acid-free box. This box was then placed in a large plastic
storage container. --- these materials were seldom used, but we didn't want
to lose them forever!)
If you need other ideas or help, let me know. This is a problem that I
fought for at least 8 years and I realize it's difficult to
overcome--especially when budgets are tight and it's humid, rainy, and warm!
~Shonda Brisco
Trinity Valley MS / US Librarian
Fort Worth, TX
sbrisco021@charter.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "cturtle atl" <cturtleatl@YAHOO.COM>
To: <LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 3:23 PM
Subject: Humidity and Mildew
> A major humidity and mildew problem has delevloped in
> my media center. The humidity problem has been going
> on for at least three months, over which time many of
> the book bindings have warped, and now there is mildew
> on a large number of the books. My school system has
> done nothing so far to solve the humidity problem, and
> the 2003-2004 school year begins in just four weeks.
> Have any of you had a similar situation? What did you
> do? Did you stick it out? (I'm looking into other
> schools/positions, but the openings are few at this
> late date.) Did you have to clean the books yourself?
> (I've had books mildew before, but never to this large
> extent.) Was your room treated in some way to kill the
> mildew and possible mold accumulation? Any experiences
> you can share would be helpful.
>
> =====
> j d campbell
> school library media specialist
> lee street elementary school
> clayton county public schools
> jonesboro, georgia
>
> cturtleatl@yahoo.com
>
> __________________________________
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