Volume 23, Number 7
1999

Letters

To the Editor:

I feel it is necessary to add a comment regarding the abstract "Using Lasers to Clean Parchment and Paper" [cited in v.23 #6, p. 88; a report of the October 1998 special issue of Restauro on laser cleaning of artifacts]. This was an early paper published by the German team from the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Berlin. On the basis of their research, a European research project was formed, in which I have been participating since late 1998: EUREKA 1681, Laser Cleaning of Paper and Parchment

(http://www3.eureka.be/Home/projectdb/PrjFormFrame.asp?pr_id=1681)

We soon discovered that the excimer laser described in the Restauro paper is not suitable for paper conservation, as the UV wavelength (308 nm) degrades the cellulose and paper substrate. While these results have been presented at several conferences, the papers are still in print. Nevertheless, the abstracts are available at our LACLEPA page at the URL http://www.infosrvr.nuk.uni-lj.si/jana/EUREKA/LACLEPA.html.

Jana Kolar
Head, Conservation and Preservation Dept .
National and University Library, Slovenia

[Note - The hyphen is part of the address in that last website. -Ed.]