Equipment for Drying Wet Books

Series Summary

Books don't like water. One soaking results in a permanent scowl in the pages of the offended volume, a series of protest wrinkles which you may not ever be able to get rid of. The bibliophile is hardly pleased with this scenario, those snobbish elite who would rather have a tooth pulled than see one of their early editions degrade into less than perfect shape. But sometimes things just happen, and one of those sometimes could be a flood that grabs hold of your precious book collection. Instead of collapsing in the face of this calamity, do what you can to save your books.

In this series of free book care videos, our resident bibliophile will give you tips on how to dry books. She begins with the equipment you need, then takes you step-by-step through the drying process, demonstrating how paper towels and a blow dryer can help mitigate water damage. Need to know which books are most likely to be damaged in a flood? How to get the proper airflow over damp pages? Watch this series and your books will thank you.

Video Transcript

"In order to dry books there are a few materials that you're going to need. First you're going to need a pair of rubber gloves, rubber or latex something to protect your hands in case of the material that wet your book is not good for your skin. If it's toxic if it's dirty, you want to be able to protect your hands. Next you're going to need some various materials for absorbing the water. Paper towels are a great one particularly if the water is dirtier, you want to have something that is disposable. You also need some towels microfiber cloth something to absorb water that you want to have the book on top of depending on the type of book that you have you might also need some wax paper. This is just for some very specific type of books so you may or may not need it depending on your circumstances. You also need book ends probably just a pair these are useful for a couple of different reasons most important to hold your book up while it's being dried. Also once you get to the very final step you need to have something to weigh your book down with. So a nice heavy book end is good for that then last but not least you're going to need some type of fan or a air purifier. You want something which is going to keep the air moving around your book but not something that is not going to create a strong wind. Cause that can be damaging to the paper an air purifier is great if your also worried about mold."