RE: Moldy library books

[Guest guest]

Jeff,

An

interesting question. Thinking

back, I’ve found moldy books several times. In most cases, the mold has grown on or near areas where

glue would be, i.e. the bindings and the first interior pages. From my observations, I have two theories:

The

glue provides some nutrient that highly refined paper does not, and

There

probably isn’t enough room, oxygen, or RH for substantial mold growth on

the pages of a closed book.

In one case, the mold had grown at the top of the inside cover but

went no deeper despite the moisture-mangled interior pages; in this case,

the observed mold was Aureobasidium,

which I don’t think can survive on pure(ish) cellulose.

I suspect

that the musty odor associated with old books in basements is the result of

small amounts of growth in the binding and the page edges. After all, it doesn’t take macroscopic

amounts of mold growth to produce an odor… Hope this rambling series of educated suppositions has

helped you in some way.

A. Walsh MS, CIE

-----Original Message-----

This is the first time I have sampled the inside of a moldy book.

For those of you who have done such sampling, is this generally true of

moldy books (packed tightly closed on a shelf), that the bindings can be

very affected but the pages are not? This seems to make sense since the

interior would not be subjected to the same RH fluctuations as the

bindings, which face the room air.

May

May Indoor Air Investigations LLC

Cambridge, MA

[Guest guest]

Jeff,

Same for me. I've sampled and directly examined pages in many books with

moldy edges and covers. Most of the time the interior pages do not have

mold growth on them. Sometimes it extends in a bit from the edges. I got

nothing but guesses concerning the dynamic.

Terry

Moldy library books

List members:

I volunteered to check out a storage room in the damp basement of a

library. The librarians are concerned about some moldy (bound) antique

newspapers. The books were never actually wet from flooding, just

subjected to high RH. There is Aspergillus on the bindings, so I took

two tape samples (very delicately!) from the borders of two interior

pages. The cellulose fibers came off very readily, but I did not

observe any hyphae or spores.

This is the first time I have sampled the inside of a moldy book.

For those of you who have done such sampling, is this generally true of

moldy books (packed tightly closed on a shelf), that the bindings can be

very affected but the pages are not? This seems to make sense since the

interior would not be subjected to the same RH fluctuations as the

bindings, which face the room air.

May

May Indoor Air Investigations LLC

Cambridge, MA

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