Lagniappe: The Afterlife of Books

Repair, Rebinding, and the Ethics of Library Preservation

Abstract

For much of my professional life, I have worked with books at the point where their usefulness and vulnerability meet. As a librarian, I want books to be found, handled, read, taught from, and used; as a book conservator, I also know how easily well-intentioned repair can erase evidence of use, manufacture, ownership, or care. A torn page, a detached board, a broken joint, a failed adhesive binding, a stain, an inscription, or a warped cover may all appear to be damage. Sometimes damage is simply damage, but sometimes it is evidence. This is the complicated afterlife of books in libraries. Their care does not end once they are acquired, cataloged, and shelved, because they continue to have institutional lives shaped by use, repair, neglect, preservation, and the decisions we make about their future.