A Lovely day at the Bookdrop..

One never knows who might visit the library bookdrop....

...poor little guy.

Strange shapes.

This is an artist's book that belongs in our Special Collections here at the library.
Since the entire book consists of one long strip of paper rolled into a scroll
it could get lost very easily.
To keep it safe on the shelf, I made this box with a drawer that pulls out.
It has a little tab made from a piece of silk ribbon.

wow.

Little Library by Todd Pattison
Andover, Massachusetts

Found and altered early 19th-century leather binding with fore-edge clasps. The bookshelves of the altered binding hold seventy-two blank leather- and paper-covered books which open and range in height from 1” to 1.5”. Working full time leaves only so many hours to pursue my own bindings, and I find that I normally spend several months or more completing a single full leather volume. Working on this piece allowed me to bind the same number of books in one night that would otherwise take a year or more. This tends to generate creativity and experimentation and also makes bookbinding pretty fun! 7.5 x 4.75 x 1.5 inches, 19 x 12 x 4 centimeters. Created 2009.

Todd Pattison studied bookbinding with Fred Jordan in western New York state in the late 1970s and early 1980s and went on to study with Hugo Peller and Edwin Heim in Ascona, Switzerland. He is currently senior book conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center where he has worked for the past eighteen years.

From the Guild of Book Workers Marking Time Exhibition.

Some people just don't get it.

Denver Bibliophile’s Bedbugs Take a Bite Out of ILL

Denver Public Library has destroyed 31 books and fumigated four areas of its central library after a bedbug infestation caused, ironically, by a patron dedicated to preserving classic literature.

The contaminated books, which are rare works that were borrowed from DPL through interlibrary loan, had been checked out by Roger Goffeney, a retired poet and minister, who volunteers for the online collection Project Gutenberg. Goffeney checked out the books to compare DPL’s print editions to the digital versions to ensure that the works had been scanned accurately. “Not a one [of the loaned books] belonged to us,” DPL spokeswoman Celeste Jackson told American Libraries.

However, in early September library staff discovered bugs, their larvae, and droppings inside books returned by Goffeney. DPL banned him from the library and asked him to bag his outstanding books and return them outside the library building rather than through the book drop. However, he placed them in the book drop a week later, causing a reinfestation, ABC affiliate KMGH-TV reported September 24. “He flat-out refuses to cooperate and has recontaminated the facility,” DPL Manager of Security and Safety Tom Scott said in the September 22 Denver Post. “At this point, it’s an intentional act,” he asserted, noting that this was the first bedbug infestation he has encountered at DPL in his 34-year tenure there.

Goffeney declined to comment to American Libraries, other than saying he expected the library would sue him for the cost of the books and fumigation, and that he would hold off on making a statement until after his anticipated court appearance. However, he told local media that the bedbugs come from his downtown apartment in Cathedral Plaza, which is owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. “We’ve always had some kind of insect infestation, but it's never been to this degree,” Goffeney told KMGH.

DPL spokesperson Jackson told AL that the replacement cost for the books is estimated at $12,000 and the cost of fumigation at $6,000. She also said the library would likely seek remuneration from Goffeney through a collection agency, per the terms of its borrowers’ agreement. “I have no intention of paying a dime,” Goffeney told KMGH, adding that he’s considering filing a lawsuit to get his borrowing privileges restored.

—Gordon Flagg, American Libraries Online
Posted on September 30, 2009.

This is not really a cactus.

Here is a great New York Times article on the unique challenge of preserving the Blaschka collection of glass flowers at Harvard University. These were commissioned in the late 1800's to use as teaching aids for botany students. The collection features hand-blown glass replicas that look exactly like the real thing. Some of the 847 species in the collection are very rare or even extinct so it is important for these models to be preserved for future scholars.
I highly recommend a stop here if you are ever in the Boston area!
"The curators cringe at the thought of decades of schoolchildren's feet vibrating like jackhammers on the fragile models, truncating an iris leaf and shaking green chips off a shrubby trefoil."