[DCRM-L] Poison books

[Hobart, Elizabeth]

Dear all,

In addition to the advice shared here already, we also add a restriction note in the 506 field with a phrase such as: “Binding contains arsenic. Handle with nitrile gloves.” The 506 also prints on our Aeon call slips, so staff are alerted to the presence of poisonous substances before retrieving the item. We also house these items in phase boxes, printed with this information, as well.

Like many others, we’re still in the early phases of this work, so we’ve only tested a few items. We have many others that we’ve bagged set aside for future testing. We ran the entire arsenical book database (available through the link Samantha shared) against our catalog to identify potential titles to test and have added other items we’ve found in the stacks since. The bookmarks from the poison book project have also been extremely useful.

Elizabeth.

--
Elizabeth Hobart
Interim Head
Cataloging & Metadata Services
Penn State University
126C Paterno Library
140 Curtin Road
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 865-1756
she/her/hers

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Garlock, Samantha via DCRM-L
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2024 5:21 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Cc: Garlock, Samantha <sgarlock at udel.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Poison books

Hi Julie,

My colleagues here at the University of Delaware, and at the Winterthur Museum, put together some helpful resources about poison book bindings: https://sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/

Best,

Samantha
Arsenic Bookbindings | Poison Book Project<https://sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/arsenic-bookbindings/>
Emerald green bookcloth on an 1852 imprint, Tallis's The Crystal Palace. Courtesy, Winterthur Library, Printed Book and Periodical Collection To...
sites.udel.edu



Samantha Garlock

(Pronouns: she/her/hers)

Special Collections Cataloger

Cataloging & Metadata Department

University of Delaware
Morris Library


________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> on behalf of Julie Moore via DCRM-L <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2024 3:31 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Cc: Julie Moore <julie.renee.moore at gmail.com<mailto:julie.renee.moore at gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Poison books

Yikes! Are “poison books” a common occurrence in special collections?
How do you figure out which ones are poisonous candidates?

Julie Moore
Special Collections Catalog Librarian
Fresno State


Sent from my iPhone


On Aug 20, 2024, at 9:13 AM, Colleen Fedewa via DCRM-L <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>> wrote:

Hello,
Our preservation staff are working on "poison books" from Special Collections and wanted to know what type of note they should use locally about handling them carefully (when they add their preservation notes). Anyone have recommendations?

Thanks for your assistance,
Colleen

Colleen O. Fedewa, MLS
Acquisitions & Metadata Librarian
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH 44106
colleen.fedewa at case.edu<mailto:colleen.fedewa at case.edu>| (216)-368-3535<tel:(216)%20368-3535>
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