Because of the careful handling that materials receive at the Ransom Center by staff and patrons, such minimal repairs are usually sufficient. Books can have a variety of problems, and even though each treatment is tailored to a specific volume, there are four basic types of treatments. Unique housings or boxes are constructed to protect books in storage. Refurbishing and minor repairs such as repairing tears in the text paper or on the binding and reattaching loose or detached bindings are performed. Boards are reattached with Japanese paper hinges, with tackets, or by rebacking using material similar to that of the original binding.
Books are also partially and completely rebound.
If the paper of the textblock is acidic or the sewing of a book is broken, conservators wash, deacidify, and alkalinize the text paper, and resew the book. When a book is rebound, sometimes the original cover is reused and in other cases a new cover is made for the book. Current interests in the Book Conservation Lab focus on the protection of social and structural history of 19th-century photograph albums through the development of durable, less invasive treatment techniques.