What kind of book damage do you think is the worst?
Title
What kind of book damage do you think is the worst?
Creator
Katherine Owens, Megan Lepak, Brian Nesselrode, Lillian Hayward, Jack Daniels, Juliann Ramos, Jolene DuBray, Wyatt Parks
Date
April 14, 2021, April 16, 2021, April 19, 2021, April 20, 2021, April 23, 2021, April 27, 2021, May 10, 2021
Description
Fun video of each participant talking about which type of damage they consider to be the worst. (Spoiler alert: two are not covered in this exhibit.)
[Click the colored square at the top of the screen for the video.]
[Click the colored square at the top of the screen for the video.]
Rights
Property of Special Collections, Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL
For more information, please contact Special Collections Librarian, Katherine Owens, using the contact information in the footer of this page.
For more information, please contact Special Collections Librarian, Katherine Owens, using the contact information in the footer of this page.
Language
English
Format
MP4
Relation
The following books included in this digital exhibit are shown in this video:
The Yearling
World-Famous Women
The Great Exemplar
And in our Beautiful Books digital exhibit:
The Yearling
World-Famous Women
The Lady of Aroostook
The Great Exemplar
The Yearling
World-Famous Women
The Great Exemplar
And in our Beautiful Books digital exhibit:
The Yearling
World-Famous Women
The Lady of Aroostook
The Great Exemplar
Duration
8 minutes 31 seconds
Producer
Katherine Owens, Wyatt Parks
Director
Katherine Owens, Megan Lepak
Transcription
[Click the colored square at the top of the screen for the video.]
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens, Special Collections Librarian, and this is the final video in the Home Preservation Series. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback the last few months as we worked to create these videos. We are gratified you found them helpful and hope that everyone who watches them in the future will also find them informative. Our Library Director, Archivist, Teaching & Learning Librarian, my Work-Study and Intern Students, the two Proctor Library Work-Study Students, and myself have had a lot of fun putting these together and trying to think of ways to make a very serious topic educational, but lighthearted.
Whenever I tell someone my job title I know they have visions of wonderful old and rare books, but sadly many books do not survive thru the age[s] intact, making them unsightly and less wanted.
At the end of our event in 2019, many students left saying they were going to treat their books better. We hope this digital exhibit will have a wider impact helping people understand ways to keep their collections safe.
During the Renaissance, books were a status symbol available only to the wealthy. Now books are so common we are all guilty of complacency at one time or another, leading to accidents, the consequences to which we do not always consider.
This video will feature a short clip of each of us talking about which type of damage we find most distressing. I think you’ll be delighted by the variety of our opinions for which type damage should qualify as the most heart-breaking!
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and I am here today with Megan Lepak. Today Megan is going to tell you which type of damage grosses her out the most.
Megan Lepak: I used to think that foxing was an interesting sign of age, something that just happens to books and paper artifacts over time. But after learning the real cause of this damage, I now find foxing far less fun, and a lot more gross.
I spend a lot of time with books, between academic research and my work here…so I understand how one can get “relaxed” around their books and make a mistake. But please, be careful not to sneeze in your books, folks, because eventually the evidence shows.
Yuck!
Megan Lepak: Hello, this is Megan Lepak and I am here today with our Director Brian Nesselrode. Today Mr. Nesselrode is going tell you about the type of damage that most grosses him out. This damage is one not covered by our event and this digital exhibit.
Brian Nesselrode: Oh, excuse me.
Ah! Damage that most grosses me out is cigarette smoke.
Bah!
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and I am here today with Lillian Hayward. Today Lilly is going to tell us about which type of damage upsets her the most.
Lillian Hayward: Thanks Miss Owens. Um. The type of damage that upsets me the most is when books are separated from their spines, like this. Um, this is either a sign of a book being really well loved or really well hated. But this sort of damage is the type that upsets me the most.
Megan Lepak: Hello, this is Megan Lepak and I am here today with Teaching & Learning Librarian, Dr. Jack Daniels. Today Dr. Daniels is going to tell you which type of damage grosses him out the most.
Jack Daniels: Megan, I’m glad you asked. I’m looking at this book here, The Lady of the Aroostook, by W.D. Howells. Open this up and there’s writing on pages right there. Look at that. This, I can’t tell you how much I really detest – really detest when people write in books, like this. And then even in this book here, come look at this, written in 1745, people are writing in the margins right there too. You know, writing in books really bunches my bloomers.
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and I am here today with Juliann Ramos. Today Juliann is going to tell you which type of damage grosses her out the most.
Juliann Ramos: I consider The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life to be the most disgusting book in Special Collections. It’s appearance and deterioration are undesirable at the best times, and the aftermath of the unfortunate moused feast has only left this book to be absolutely nauseating. This is most unfortunate, as this book does feature really pretty illustrations. Nevertheless, the meshed and chewed bits on the cover make me nauseated and every glance sends a shiver down my spine. To me, this book seems diseased and haunted, and if allowed, I would never touch, look, or even think of this book again.
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and today I am here with my colleague, Jolene DuBray. Today Jolene is going to talk about the damage that most annoys her. This damage is one not covered by our event and this digital exhibit.
Jolene DuBray: Hi there. Today I am going to talk about fasteners on paper. So, sometimes fasteners are really good in the short term, but if you are storing them for a long time, bad things can happen. For instance, this blueprint was, ah, held together by a rubberband for a long time, and the rubberbands over time disintegrate and melt and it leaves residue on the paper and it is really hard to get off, so if you are storing things in an attic do not leave your rubberbands. It is very annoying.
Another thing - staples. Staples are made of metal, and metal rusts, so if you leave them for a long time on your documents they eventually are going to oxidize, and rust; leaving ugly, unsightly rust marks on your paper.
Finally, the last thing I'm going to talk about today are paperclips. We've removed the paperclip, but you can tell for the rest of this document's life, it was paperclipped, because it was also made of metal and rust, just like staples. So be careful with your fasteners and do not leave them on your paper for long-term storage.
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and today I’m here with Wyatt Parks. Wyatt is going to talk about what damage grosses him out the most.
Wyatt Parks: For me food waste, ah food particles are the most annoying, because I hate the feeling of opening a book and there being crumbs or food waste all over the pages.
Eegh. It's so gross.
Megan Lepak: Hello, this is Megan Lepak and I am here today with Miss Owens. Today Miss Owens is going to tell you which type of damage grosses her out the most.
Katherine Owens: Part of the job of the Special Collections Librarian is handling all manner of materials that other people might not be comfortable with; um, such as, moldy books, insect infested books, water damaged books, books that look nasty due to many problems, um, or red rotting books.
Whenever I come to the Director or our Collection Development Librarian holding a book as far away from my person as possible by two fingers, they automatically know it just needs to be thrown away immediately. No questions asked. The problem is, whenever a book qualifies as a candidate for addition to Special Collections, condition isn’t really taken into consideration. However, if I could have my preference, I would not accept any book with cockroach damage!
Ooouuuu.
Ha-Ohhhhhoooooo!
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens, Special Collections Librarian, and this is the final video in the Home Preservation Series. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback the last few months as we worked to create these videos. We are gratified you found them helpful and hope that everyone who watches them in the future will also find them informative. Our Library Director, Archivist, Teaching & Learning Librarian, my Work-Study and Intern Students, the two Proctor Library Work-Study Students, and myself have had a lot of fun putting these together and trying to think of ways to make a very serious topic educational, but lighthearted.
Whenever I tell someone my job title I know they have visions of wonderful old and rare books, but sadly many books do not survive thru the age[s] intact, making them unsightly and less wanted.
At the end of our event in 2019, many students left saying they were going to treat their books better. We hope this digital exhibit will have a wider impact helping people understand ways to keep their collections safe.
During the Renaissance, books were a status symbol available only to the wealthy. Now books are so common we are all guilty of complacency at one time or another, leading to accidents, the consequences to which we do not always consider.
This video will feature a short clip of each of us talking about which type of damage we find most distressing. I think you’ll be delighted by the variety of our opinions for which type damage should qualify as the most heart-breaking!
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and I am here today with Megan Lepak. Today Megan is going to tell you which type of damage grosses her out the most.
Megan Lepak: I used to think that foxing was an interesting sign of age, something that just happens to books and paper artifacts over time. But after learning the real cause of this damage, I now find foxing far less fun, and a lot more gross.
I spend a lot of time with books, between academic research and my work here…so I understand how one can get “relaxed” around their books and make a mistake. But please, be careful not to sneeze in your books, folks, because eventually the evidence shows.
Yuck!
Megan Lepak: Hello, this is Megan Lepak and I am here today with our Director Brian Nesselrode. Today Mr. Nesselrode is going tell you about the type of damage that most grosses him out. This damage is one not covered by our event and this digital exhibit.
Brian Nesselrode: Oh, excuse me.
Ah! Damage that most grosses me out is cigarette smoke.
Bah!
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and I am here today with Lillian Hayward. Today Lilly is going to tell us about which type of damage upsets her the most.
Lillian Hayward: Thanks Miss Owens. Um. The type of damage that upsets me the most is when books are separated from their spines, like this. Um, this is either a sign of a book being really well loved or really well hated. But this sort of damage is the type that upsets me the most.
Megan Lepak: Hello, this is Megan Lepak and I am here today with Teaching & Learning Librarian, Dr. Jack Daniels. Today Dr. Daniels is going to tell you which type of damage grosses him out the most.
Jack Daniels: Megan, I’m glad you asked. I’m looking at this book here, The Lady of the Aroostook, by W.D. Howells. Open this up and there’s writing on pages right there. Look at that. This, I can’t tell you how much I really detest – really detest when people write in books, like this. And then even in this book here, come look at this, written in 1745, people are writing in the margins right there too. You know, writing in books really bunches my bloomers.
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and I am here today with Juliann Ramos. Today Juliann is going to tell you which type of damage grosses her out the most.
Juliann Ramos: I consider The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life to be the most disgusting book in Special Collections. It’s appearance and deterioration are undesirable at the best times, and the aftermath of the unfortunate moused feast has only left this book to be absolutely nauseating. This is most unfortunate, as this book does feature really pretty illustrations. Nevertheless, the meshed and chewed bits on the cover make me nauseated and every glance sends a shiver down my spine. To me, this book seems diseased and haunted, and if allowed, I would never touch, look, or even think of this book again.
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and today I am here with my colleague, Jolene DuBray. Today Jolene is going to talk about the damage that most annoys her. This damage is one not covered by our event and this digital exhibit.
Jolene DuBray: Hi there. Today I am going to talk about fasteners on paper. So, sometimes fasteners are really good in the short term, but if you are storing them for a long time, bad things can happen. For instance, this blueprint was, ah, held together by a rubberband for a long time, and the rubberbands over time disintegrate and melt and it leaves residue on the paper and it is really hard to get off, so if you are storing things in an attic do not leave your rubberbands. It is very annoying.
Another thing - staples. Staples are made of metal, and metal rusts, so if you leave them for a long time on your documents they eventually are going to oxidize, and rust; leaving ugly, unsightly rust marks on your paper.
Finally, the last thing I'm going to talk about today are paperclips. We've removed the paperclip, but you can tell for the rest of this document's life, it was paperclipped, because it was also made of metal and rust, just like staples. So be careful with your fasteners and do not leave them on your paper for long-term storage.
Katherine Owens: Hello, this is Miss Owens and today I’m here with Wyatt Parks. Wyatt is going to talk about what damage grosses him out the most.
Wyatt Parks: For me food waste, ah food particles are the most annoying, because I hate the feeling of opening a book and there being crumbs or food waste all over the pages.
Eegh. It's so gross.
Megan Lepak: Hello, this is Megan Lepak and I am here today with Miss Owens. Today Miss Owens is going to tell you which type of damage grosses her out the most.
Katherine Owens: Part of the job of the Special Collections Librarian is handling all manner of materials that other people might not be comfortable with; um, such as, moldy books, insect infested books, water damaged books, books that look nasty due to many problems, um, or red rotting books.
Whenever I come to the Director or our Collection Development Librarian holding a book as far away from my person as possible by two fingers, they automatically know it just needs to be thrown away immediately. No questions asked. The problem is, whenever a book qualifies as a candidate for addition to Special Collections, condition isn’t really taken into consideration. However, if I could have my preference, I would not accept any book with cockroach damage!
Ooouuuu.
Ha-Ohhhhhoooooo!
Collection
Citation
Katherine Owens, Megan Lepak, Brian Nesselrode, Lillian Hayward, Jack Daniels, Juliann Ramos, Jolene DuBray, Wyatt Parks, “What kind of book damage do you think is the worst?,” Damaged Books, accessed May 13, 2024, https://damagedbooks.omeka.net/items/show/118.