The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-12
LIBRARY HOSPITALS.
QUIET CORNER WHERE NAMED AND ICED

Books Are Doctored-Deitcate Opera-
 tions Are Often Necessary For In-
 jured Volumes and Much Ingenuity
 Is Required at TImes-Hoyv Book Sur
 geons Work.
 Ill every up-to-date public library there is a quiet corner used as book hospital, where worn, aged and maim- ed volumes are sent for trea tment and often surgical operations. The women and children of the Iibrary-that is, the novels and juVeniles-are found in the
 hospital the most frequently, and often
 they are beyond cure. But the skillful
 library worker has all sorts of devices for making broken down books appear fresh and new again. and often a re- markable cure is effected.
 If a book were cast aside the minute
 it's back was broken or were not given
 proper treatment when leaf became loose. the library would soon find itself doubling expenses for duplicates of old
 volumes and with little money for new
 works Careful treatment, on the oth- CT hand, will add years to the life of
 book and will materially lessen the eX- penses of a public library.
 This hospital is fitted up in very simple manner. There are shelves upon which the invalid books are placed un- til treatment can be given them. Then
 there are other shelves where they are placed to convalesce and sometimes to
 regain consciousness after a serious surgical operation. There are operating tables and neat little boxes in which
 there are rolls of black percale and yards of white percale, sheets of par
 affin paper. long strips of thin but fine quality paper. narrow rolls of gummed paper. bundles of grass cloth, balls of string, sandpaper, coarse thread and white null.
 In snug little compartments is the medicine, consisting of glue and paste, The surgical instruments in little case consist of a pair of forceps, a small wooden paddle, a thin wooden board and papers of needles. Then there is an instrument of torture-a heavy press which is genrally applied at the close of an operation.
 There are all sorts of complaints among the books and the most preva- lent is the broken back. This comes from the book assuming an unhealth- ful position, such as leaning up laZily against other books, resting on its front edges or lying fiat on it's side A vigor- ous use of paste and glue often cures this complaint, but in some cases a del icate operation is resorted to.
 | Then the cover is stripped entirely off the back and the title is carefully
 cut out. Next the paper back of the
 book is peeled off. A piece of grass
 cloth is then applied and firmly glued into it's place The old cover. with the exception of the title. is pasted on again. and then the book is tied up with strings and left on the shelf to 1 recover a little. When strong enough.
 black percale back is carefully fitted 1 pasted on the outside.
 1 Small fingers iniure the complexion
 of the books greatly and sandpaper is used great deal on juvenile fiction l nvalids. The edges of the book are
 rubbed with this rough paper. taking
 off the dirt and the yellow appearance. 1 Rough edges of leaves are frequent
 also in this branch of literature. These leaves are carefully trimmed off, and i a thin strip of nice quality paper is 1 pasted on to make a clean, regular
 edge
 "Butting" is a msthod of operating i hot ic hxro
 This consists in placing with the wood
 en paddle a thin line of glue on the
 edges of a torn leaf and then pressing
 them tightly together. It has been
 demonstrated thoroughly that this but
 ting holds the torn leaf just as firmly as and is much more satisfactory than 1 the old method of pasting gummed
 transparent paper over the torn places. 1 The loose leaves are a frequent
 source of annoyance to the book doc tors. The remedy for these bother
 some leaves is huge of nercale or ! paper. which holds the urruly page in place after the heavy press has been
 brought to bear on the book. Tn souch cases the thin board is always used to 1 slip into the volume. so that it will
 keep it's shape properly.
 1 The operation which requires the most skill is the sewing of the sigma { ture of division of book back into place. The nedle and coarse thread are pushed in and out of the holes in the signature and the binding, and
 when it becomes awkward to use the l fingers the slender forceps are used to draw tkn needle in and out.
 1 It is part of the work of every public i library employee to take a hand in the | hospital department, and ingenuity supplies means to remedy every com plaint that is contured up by even the l most erratir book The book doctor ! trusts wholly to her own wit and skill full fingers to effect cure, and there
 are few cases that are hopeless. s.-New York Mail and Express.