Tran Van Luu's entire library was damaged by a typhoon last year. All his "books were flooded in mud and seawater and some of them [were] damaged by moths."Luu, a farmer in Vietnam, concocted a potion of native medicinal herbs to help restore the damaged books.The process:Boil the herbs then use that water to wash the books.After washing. Embalm the books with medicinal herbs and let dry in sunlight.The result:Pages are cleaned and do not stick together.Books are "sweet-smelling" and mold-free.The potion Luu developed is also non-toxic and environmentally friendly."Luu’s method to preserve ancient book by medicinal herb won the...
The Black Hole at the Library of Congress
Jefferson Building Stacks, Deck 15A recent survey at the LOC found that over 10% of the collection has been misplaced and was unable to be retrieved when requested. Where these items are nobody knows.A little over 10% might not seem like a substantial attrition rate but when you consider that the Library of Congress holds more than 130 million items then things get a little scary.That's over 13 million items! For a little perspective the entire Seattle Public Library collection (including books, audio books, CDs, DVDs, books in large type, and magazines and newspapers) is 2 million items.Part of the...
FUEL That’s Good for the Planet
FUEL is the London design firm of Damon Murray & Stephen Sorrell.In 2005 they launched FUEL publishing and their latest title brings to print a selection of amazing images from the noteworthy blog BibliOdyssey. The book is titled BibliOdyssey: Amazing Archival Images From The Internet"BibliOdyssey’s mission has been to search the dustier corners of the internet and retrieve these materials for our enjoyment. Thanks to the efforts of this singular weblog, a myriad of long-forgotten imagery has now resurfaced. Each of these fascinating images is accompanied by a commentary from PK, author and curator of BibliOdyssey, and a link to...
The Book Gods of Contemporary Chinese Art
"Read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles" Liu Yi (1017-1086)Xu Bing. Book From the Sky1987-91Mixed media installation / Hand-printed books and scrolls printed from blocks inscribed with ''false'' characters.Huang Yong Ping The History of Chinese Painting and a Concise History of Modern Painting Washed in a Washing Machine for Two Minutes1987-1993 Chinese teabox, paper pulp, glassIn the art world there are few genres as hot as Contemporary Chinese Art and in Chinese Contemporary Art there are few objects as important as the book.The quote above from Liu Yi begins Wu Hung's introduction to the catalog of the seminal exhibition...
Libraries Resist Google. Is the Tide Turning?
“Scanning the great libraries is a wonderful idea, but if only one corporation controls access to this digital collection, we’ll have handed too much control to a private entity,” Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and the Open Content Alliance said.Amen.“There are two opposed pathways being mapped out...One is shaped by commercial concerns, the other by a commitment to openness, and which one will win is not clear.” Paul Duguid, an adjunct professor at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley.Vote For Openness!Book scanning stations at the Internet Archive.Quotes and image above from Katie Hafner's piece...