Collection Cleaned: Boston Public Library Reopens Rare Department After Mold Outbreak

From The Boston Globe:

It took a crew of 20 roughly 7½ hours a day over 10 weeks, but the mold is gone.
The Boston Public Library’s Rare Books Department reopened Tuesday after an intense cleaning to eradicate fuzzy white spores that speckled a medieval manuscript and other irreplaceable artifacts.
The mold was discovered on a reference book by a staff member in September. The collection includes 500,000 books and 1 million manuscripts, none of which sustained significant damage.
“Every book in the collection was cleaned,” said Laura Irmscher, the library’s chief of collections strategy. “It was comprehensive.”
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The cleaning has already cost roughly $325,000, Irmscher said, and the library still plans to install new carpet. Officials also replaced upholstered seats with wooden chairs.

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See Also: Report: “Boston Public Library Assessing Rare Book Section After Mold Outbreak” (September 19, 2015)

Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries