[DCRM-L] Poison books

Tue Mar 11 12:02:23 MDT 2025

We keep the special collections book in place, bagged so that the barcode/call number flag is readable through the bag. Our flags are loosely laid in strips of paper about 3 cm ‘taller’ than the text block. The extra bit sticking out at the top carries the call number and barcode.

We also put an Access advisory note (MARC 506) in the catalog (e.g., “Possible arsenic green binding. Store in zip-top plastic bag. Handle with nitrile gloves. Wash hands afterward.”) See https://catalog.folger.edu/record/1134157  for an example with a note.

Erin

_______________________________
Erin Blake, PhD | she/her | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library | Washington, DC 20003 | eblake at folger.edu<mailto:eblake at folger.edu>
[Folger Shakespeare Library logo]

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Julie Moore via DCRM-L
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2025 12:58 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Cc: Julie Moore <julie.renee.moore at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Poison books

Thank you in advance for your great ideas. We now have a Fresno State Toxic Book Project underway.
We are now in the process of identifying the books.

I was just wondering if anyone who has gone all the way through this process could share with me what you did with the books that were originally in Special Collections (as opposed to books that were in the Stacks and were brought up to Special Collections to get them off of the open stacks.) We are thinking about just keeping the Special Collections books in place (but of course in a bag and marked.)

I am interested in seeing what you did with the bag. Did you put a call number label on the outside of the bag? In Special Collections, we use archival flags for our barcodes and labels. The flag is laid into the book, normally.  I am trying to decide if we should chuck the flag and put a new barcode on the outside of the bag ... or if we should leave the flag (but maybe place it behind the book so that we can read the barcode through the plastic bag.

What have others done regarding the end processing on these?

Thanks in advance!

Julie Moore
Fresno State

On Thu, Feb 6, 2025 at 5:39 PM Martha McTear <mmctear at uw.edu<mailto:mmctear at uw.edu>> wrote:
Hi Julie,

Personally, I would love to see these notes added to OCLC. Not everyone is aware of the Poison Books Project or the possible health considerations of handling rare materials. If the research has been done, I see no reason not to share it in the records.

I think you're just about on the money with your 563 notes. I would suggest adding a $5 with your institution code if you haven't already considered that. As it's sometimes possible that a text was published with different color bindings, I would also probably say "may contain" unless I was positive all copies were arsenical.

563 \\ $$a Binding may contain arsenic. Found in the Arsenical Books Database at the University of Delaware. $$u https://sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/arsenical-books-database/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/arsenical-books-database/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hoFnEkwgK9xGkPnouEa1W0AqBfk1ylFjaSTLALj0fnd0Axp9ccQCkWdL6-_mWL21j78TKnlClFSEfJOSCg$> $$5 [marc org code]

563 \\ $$a Binding may contain arsenic. Tested by Fresno State Environmental Health & Safety (or something like this), 2025. $$5 [marc org code]

I'd love to hear other ideas on this since I haven't come across this in my travels through the OCLC database.

Martha McTear (she/her)

Special Collections Cataloging Librarian

University of Washington Libraries

206-543-1828

mmctear at uw.edu<mailto:mmctear at uw.edu>

[cid:image001.png at 01DB928D.B2B2FC00]

________________________________
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: Thursday, February 6, 2025 4:48 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

Hi again!

Well, it appears that I am now in the middle of a toxic books project! (I am learning more about toxic books than I had ever imagined!)

I have pondered the many suggestions for special notes. I was thinking about perhaps adding these notes. Do they seem OK to you?

In particular, I am wondering about the books that we find that are in the Arsenical Books Database ... or that we test that end up being positive. I was thinking that it would be good to put the note into the OCLC WorldCat record, if we are sure ... that might save other catalogers some time and trouble, if we pointed this out in the OCLC WorldCat record. (Or do you think it's better to leave it in a 590 local note - which is not shared with OCLC or the rest of our own 23-campus consortium?)

For books that we know are in the arsenical database, I recommend this note (in the MARC record – in the OCLC WorldCat record, so others can benefit from this information)

563 \\ $$a Binding contains arsenic. Found in the Arsenical Books Database at the University of Delaware. $$u https://sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/arsenical-books-database/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/arsenical-books-database/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hoFnEkwgK9xGkPnouEa1W0AqBfk1ylFjaSTLALj0fnd0Axp9ccQCkWdL6-_mWL21j78TKnlClFSEfJOSCg$>

For books that we suspect of arsenic because the color matches the Poison Book Project bookmark, I recommend adding a general local note:

590 \\ Binding may contain arsenic.

For books that have actually been tested by EHS (EHS is our local Environmental Health & Safety):

OCLC WorldCat record: 563 \\ $$a Binding contains arsenic.

Also, add a staff-only note in the item record with details of the testing results.

Example testing positive: “Green binding tested by EHS with XRF, 2025: contains copper acetoarsenite. Follow Toxic Book procedures.”

Example testing negative: “Green binding tested by EHS with XRF, 2025: does not contain arsenic.

Thank you for your thoughts!

All the Best,

Julie Moore

Fresno State

On Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 1:14 PM Johnson-DeBaufre, Eric <eric.johnsondebaufre at trincoll.edu<mailto:eric.johnsondebaufre at trincoll.edu>> wrote:

Hi Julie!

I think that since chromium has been found to bind to bookcloth more readily--and therefore for the friability and offset potential to be significantly lower than in emerald green bookcloth—there hasn’t been as much of a sense of urgency to create a database of those books. But even if the risks from those chromium yellow books is lower, it is still worth educating people about the need to practice good habits when using those materials (i.e. washing hands immediately after).

My concern is that there are potentially significant numbers of arsenical emerald green books in open-stacks in many of our libraries, since early to late 19th century books are often not deemed rare enough to move them to closed-stack special collections. As people who are aware of these dangers, we should be working with our colleagues in charge of circulating collections to arrange audits of open-stacks collections for books that might contain arsenic.

And on that happy note I want to wish you all a good arsenic-free weekend! ☺

Eric

Eric Johnson-DeBaufre, PhD, MLIS

Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian, Watkinson Library

Trinity College

300 Summit Street

Hartford, CT 06106

860-297-4219

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
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2024 3:06 PM
To: Garlock, Samantha <sgarlock at udel.edu<mailto:sgarlock at udel.edu>>
Cc: Julie Moore <julie.renee.moore at gmail.com<mailto:julie.renee.moore at gmail.com>>; DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Poison books

Caution: This message originated from outside of the Trinity organization. Please exercise caution with any links and attachments.

Samantha,

Thank you so much for this amazing resource. We have already compared our collection to the arsenic list, and we found a few of those titles in our own collection.

Do you (or does anyone) know if there is a similar list of the Lead or Chromium books?

We're playing catch-up here.

All the best,

Julie Moore

Fresno State

On Tue, Aug 20, 2024 at 2:20 PM Garlock, Samantha <sgarlock at udel.edu<mailto:sgarlock at udel.edu>> wrote:

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/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hoFnEkwgK9xGkPnouEa1W0AqBfk1ylFjaSTLALj0fnd0Axp9ccQCkWdL6-_mWL21j78TKnlClFQ0_2mWZg$>

Best,

Samantha

Arsenic Bookbindings | Poison Book Project<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/arsenic-bookbindings/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hoFnEkwgK9xGkPnouEa1W0AqBfk1ylFjaSTLALj0fnd0Axp9ccQCkWdL6-_mWL21j78TKnlClFTR2tGSSA$>

Emerald green bookcloth on an 1852 imprint, Tallis's The Crystal Palace. Courtesy, Winterthur Library, Printed Book and Periodical Collection To...

sites.udel.edu<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/sites.udel.edu/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hoFnEkwgK9xGkPnouEa1W0AqBfk1ylFjaSTLALj0fnd0Axp9ccQCkWdL6-_mWL21j78TKnlClFRxVQMdYA$>

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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Julie Renee Moore
Special Collections Catalog Librarian
Fresno State
julie.renee.moore at gmail.com<mailto:julie.renee.moore at gmail.com>
559-278-5813

“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”

... James Matthew Barrie

--
Julie Renee Moore
Special Collections Catalog Librarian
Fresno State
julie.renee.moore at gmail.com<mailto:julie.renee.moore at gmail.com>
559-278-5813
“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
... James Matthew Barrie

--
Julie Renee Moore
Special Collections Catalog Librarian
Fresno State
julie.renee.moore at gmail.com<mailto:julie.renee.moore at gmail.com>
559-278-5813
“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
... James Matthew Barrie
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