Connecting to Collections Care

Hi All, 

We have a few old books which have what appears to be inactive mold on them. Over the summer we had some challenges managing the humidity in our storage space and a few more books started showing signs of mold. To be on the safe side and as a temporary fix we have bagged all the 'sick' books to keep the mold from spreading (either the old inactive becoming active or the new active contaminating other books). 

So my question is:

What do we do as a long term solution for cleaning/treating the inactive mold and how do we go about treating the active mold? I know the books cant and shouldn't stay bagged forever!

Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated as we have limited resources (no conservators in the area)! 

Thank you from Selkirk, Canada!

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Katrina Eeles
Selkirk
Canada
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I'm going to leave the question of how to remove the mold residue from the books to the experts, but just remind everyone that mold spores exist everywhere (i.e., in the air) and only need the correct environment to bloom.    Bagging the affected books will prevent humans from being exposed to potentially harmful mold, but will not keep the mold from growing elsewhere.    To paraphrase the X Files (and show my age) "the mold spores are out there".

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Janice Klein
EightSixSIx Consulting
Tempe
United States
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I second Janice Klein in that mold spores are everywhere and only need the correct environment to bloom. As a library conservator and museum curator I have often struggled with keeping mold at bay from books and objects. HVAC systems frequently don't control humidity well. What is most important is that you strive to keep temperatures at 68 Fahrenheit or below. Secondarily keeping air moving throughout collection storage spaces can help to keep pockets of warm humid air from affecting objects, especially down long storage aisles where there is no air flow. In both library stacks and museum storage archives I keep temps at 68F and large fans moving air at all times during seasons of high humidity.

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Erin Vigneau-Dimick
Executive Curator, SIUE University Museum
Edwardsville IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-15-2025 10:55
From: Janice Klein
Subject: Moldy Books!

I'm going to leave the question of how to remove the mold residue from the books to the experts, but just remind everyone that mold spores exist everywhere (i.e., in the air) and only need the correct environment to bloom.    Bagging the affected books will prevent humans from being exposed to potentially harmful mold, but will not keep the mold from growing elsewhere.    To paraphrase the X Files (and show my age) "the mold spores are out there".

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Janice Klein
EightSixSIx Consulting
Tempe
United States
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Hi Katrina, 

It seems like you've isolated the books, which is great! Your next step would be to ensure that the mold is inactive and safely remove it to the extent possible. I really like videos, so I will link to three videos here that I really like on the subject. 

1. is Collection Care Basics: Mold! This is a really great overview
2. is Vacuuming Moldy Books & Paper this has some great demonstrations 

If you have more questions, or want to talk specifics, I would be happy to chat with you by phone or email! 

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C2CC Monitor
Madeline Cooper
Associate Preventive Conservator
Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
Philadelphia PA
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Hi Katrina,

For an excellent resource on addressing your moldy books, please see the NEDCC's Emergency Management leaflet on the emergency salvage of mold on books and paper:

https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/3.-emergency-management/3.8-emergency-salvage-of-moldy-books-and-paper

Best,

Tara

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Tara Hornung
Conservator
Santa Fe
United States
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Hi Katrina, 

NEDCC has an excellent page for mold treatment - both identifying active versus inactive mold, PPE (extremely important!) for mold remediation, and methods: NEDCC Salvage of Moldy Books and Paper

We use a dedicated HEPA vacuum in a fume hood when dealing with mold, along with Tyvek sleeves, disposable aprons, gloves, and N95 masks. PPE is bagged and the bag tied shut before disposing. All vacuuming tools including the fume hood are cleaned with isopropanol after and allowed to air dry.

Janice is also correct that mold spores are everywhere and just waiting for optimal conditions to grow. Improving air circulation and reducing RH will help prevent mold growth in the future. 

I hope that helps, good luck!

Best,

Liz

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Elizabeth Peirce
C2C Care Monitor 2/3-2/16/2025
Conservator (Objects)
Library of Congress
Washington DC
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Thank you everyone for your responses! This gives us a great place to start when treating the books and preventing issues in the future. Much appreciated!

Katrina

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Katrina Eeles
Selkirk
Canada
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