The embrittled folios often had to be guarded with a lightweight Japanese paper because they retained little flexibility at the original point of fold, and breakage could occur with repeated opening of the materials. When a fold had already broken because of extreme degradation of the paper, a very wide Japanese paper guard was used to absorb all stress and flex when the item was opened. This step changed the dimensions of the original item slightly but was necessary to insure safe handling during the scanning process. From a digital perspective, encapsulated items can cause scanning problems, creating a halo effect in digital images. From a researcher's perspective, Mylar can reflect the glare from overhead lights, making reading difficult.
Encapsulation also places an intrusive barrier between the researcher and the item.
In some cases, only the covers of the pamphlets were encapsulated in polyester film. Tears and losses were repaired using Japanese papers and wheat starch paste as well as heat-set tissue, toned with acrylics or pastels to blend with the original materials. Any materials left vulnerable after treatment received new housing using polyester sleeves or wrappers of buffered card stock. Most pages were scanned as bitonal TIFF images using a Bookeye overhead scanner. Pages with illustrations and significant handwriting were scanned as 8-bit grayscale TIFFs.