Flattening wrinkles, repairing spines and reinforcing loose covers become enjoyable tasks as you familiarize yourself with tools such as bone folders, bamboo brushes and bull dog clamps. Soon you will begin to notice all kinds of imperfections in your library and those of your friends. Never angle a book on a shelf, for example, warns Eldridge, as the stress may deform the spine and joints.
Bookbinders can also make inexpensive slipcases and protective clamshell boxes.
Acid-free storage boxes and polyester book covers are easily obtainable. At the higher end of the conservation profession, you enter a labyrinthine realm of book preservatives, deacidifiers and chemical analysis of paper. It opens a new world, not just of conservation, but of book collecting, too. If there's one childhood ordeal that Americans of all ages can relate to, it's the search for those elusive needles needed to inflate basketballs. Fortunately, new technology ensures that future generations will be spared the search altogether.