Writer’s Choice

Turn your back on them for just a second — or a few decades — and those books start to go bad, right there on the shelf.

There are such factors as rot, disintegration, bookworms (really!) and literally “going to pieces” due to age.

Of course, books also can have a little help in their deterioration, as in “abuse” and “neglect.”

This bothers Gay Strandemo immensely. On the verge of earning her master’s degree in library and information studies, she has developed an acute appreciation of the proper care of library books.

“Some research volumes are irreplaceable, or prohibitively expensive to replace,” she says. “Although this exhibit deals mainly with negligence and abuse to books, a look at the microimaging lab work reminds us that we need to save information for future generations — it may not survive in any other fashion.”

The exhibit Strandemo refers to is her own: “Preservation: When Good Books Go Bad.” Presented as a crime scene, the display focuses on the problem of damaged library materials and the remedial work of preservationists. The exhibition is the result of an independent study course she is taking this semester.

Strandemo has harbored her interest in libraries and display work for quite awhile. “I have worked in libraries or volunteered in them since I was an undergraduate,” she says. “I work part time in a public library and have just done a display for Banned Books Week.”

Three exhibit cases in the university’s Memorial Library make up the display. It will remain on view until Friday, Oct. 13, and is free and open to the public.