RE: Roaches in books

["Taverner,E" <E.Taverner@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Angie

Have you considered freezing the books?  This would be preferable to heating
them up, which would accelerate acid degradation, damage the adhesives, etc.

Emma Taverner

British Library of Political and Economic Science.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Angie Piercy [SMTP:afp048t@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent:	03 November 1998 22:33
> To:	consdist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; padg@xxxxxxx
> Subject:	Roaches in books
> 
> 	A patron returned several books to us infested with baby roaches & 1
> dead
> adult.  We have the books all in a box together and I have been looking
> for
> a way to be rid of the pests without damaging the books.  Besides sealing
> them in and waiting for them to die (which could leave some stains on the
> books), any ideas?  This has not affected the rest of the collection or
> the
> library as a whole, but these are out-of-print art books that we would
> rather not lose.  I read that heating items to 55 degrees C (131 F) would
> quickly kill the pests, but what would this do to the books?  I have
> searched the internet and ConDist archives, etc.  Any related experiences
> or ideas would be helpful.  Thank you.
> 
> 	Angie Piercy
> 	Head of Preservation Unit
> 	Southwest Missouri State University