Books Gone Bad
Mold in Library Collections
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Step 6: Inspect Suspicious Marks

If You Find Mold
If at any stage of examining a book you find active mold growth, your examination can stop: the book will need to be discarded. If you instead find marks that are questionable, examine those marks more closely and determine whether it is mold before proceeding to the next step. Moldy books should be discarded carefully. The only exception we have exercised with this policy is when the dust jacket is moldy, but the mold has not spread to the book itself. Then you can discard the dust jacket, clean the outside of the book with rubbing alcohol, and keep the book.

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Books Gone Bad - Mold in Library Collections was a project sponsored by Maine College of Art, in partnership with the Joanne Waxman Library. Funding for this project came from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation. The Project Lead and Artist for this project was Diane J. Wren. All contents Copyright © 2011 by Diane J. Wren. All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Diane J. Wren.