MORE ON WEARING COTTON GLOVES

Anne Bentley writes:

John Kleeberg writes:

In general we do not use or provide white gloves for use with collection items. Clean dry hands, free from creams and lotions, are preferable in the majority of circumstances. Wearing cotton gloves when handling books, manuscripts or fragile paper items reduces manual dexterity and the sense of touch, increasing the tendency to 'grab' at items. The cotton fibres may lift or dislodge pigments and inks from the surface of pages and the textile can snag on page edges making them difficult to turn. All these factors increase the risk of damage to collection items.

To read the complete article, see: The use of white cotton gloves for handling collection items (www.bl.uk/aboutus/stratpolprog/ccare/introduction/preservation/
usingcollections/whitegloves.pdf)

Awkward mobility. Loss of feeling. Impaired sensations. These are not descriptions of a trip to the dentist, but rather a visit to the reading rooms of many special collections where the experience of handling valuable rare books and documents is synonymous with donning white cotton gloves. This paper examines the effect of this well-meaning effort to protect our irreplaceable holdings from soiling in light of the potential for damage introduced by handicapping the handler. Routine hand washing is recommended as a more effective means of preventing the spread of dirt while improving the user's haptic response to and tactile appreciation of the collections.

To read the complete article, see: Misperceptions about White Gloves (archive.ifla.org/VI/4/news/ipnn37.pdf)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 29, 2012: On Wearing Cotton Gloves (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n18a16.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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