Removing oil from books

I am posting this query for Susan Newkirk, Conservator at the Providence
Atheneum in RI.  She does not have e-mail access, so please reply through
me.  She is trying to help a library patron whose personal collection of
several thousand books was covered by a thin film of volatilized home
heating oil when their tank cracked and the oil poured out (and
seeped through) a concrete floor into subfloor soil.  The question is how
to remove the oil film and odor from the books.  I've suggested, with
reservations about likely effectiveness, latex sponges.  Susan thought an
absorbent dry poultice (? cat litter) might work.  Ozone or other
de-odorizing treatments are unlikely to work if the oil's not
removed.  Does anyone have any pertinent experience or good ideas?

Karen Motylewski
Northeast Document Conservation Center

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 6:52
                  Distributed: Sunday, March 28, 1993
                        Message Id: cdl-6-52-005
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