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This Machine Makes It Easy for Archivists and Librarians to Clean Thousands of Books (video)

Last week the Boston Public library tweeted a 14-second clip of their book cleaning machine in operation.

A bunch of sites shared that clip, but it doesn’t show nearly enough detail to satisfy me so instead I went and found a 5-minute video showing the same model book-cleaning machine in use.

Note the commercial shop vac:

The device in the video is a Depulveda. It is one of several book cleaning machines made by Oracle, an Italian company.

This is their biggest model, and they all essentially work the same; brushes knock the dust off of a book while fans suck it away.

Curiously enough, none of the machines have UV lights, which I found strange. One would think they would want to kill any mold or bacteria living on the books; perhaps the UV would damage the paper?

In any case, Library Journal has an article on book cleaning machines, if you are interested.

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Comments


Frank April 25, 2017 um 10:07 am

UV will damage white pages that will lead to the pages fading to yellow and become more brittle.

John April 25, 2017 um 10:42 am

Yep, pretty much analogous to the effect UV light has on human skin.

Nate Hoffelder April 25, 2017 um 2:26 pm

Yes, but the brushes are also going to cause damage – and so could the machinery.

I think UV lights – and the option to turn them off – would be a worthwhile addition.


OTR Links 04/26/2017 – doug — off the record April 26, 2017 um 1:31 am

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