Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2000)
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald Artists bind books in a variety a ways; here the pressed text technique is shown. We bring the storage unit to you. You pack it, we pick it up and store it. csr We’ll deliver it when you’re ready, csr Perfect for the summer! 485-2115 turn >^ University of Oregon [ In the EMU Building Eugene 877 1/2 East 13th Street Eugene (541)344-2263 J3toi City ordinance proposed by EPD could result in bigger fines, costing students more money. Informational forum Friday, May 19th, 2 p.m. Gumwood Room, EMU sponsored by the ASUO outreach team Bookbinding continued from page 1A housed in Special Collections — conies an interminable list of re pair and preservation workdone to keep the items around for library users to enjoy and learn from. “We’re really the only ones in the state doing this level of work,” Helmer said. At other libraries “preservation is often an extra job.” Preservation employees evalu ate each damaged book to decide what needs to be done for it. If the book is moldy or has evidence of insect damage, it will often be put in a freezer for up to six months to kill bacteria and vermin eggs. Books and food don’t mix, ei ther. Helmer said the biggest con tribution to book preservation that library users could make is to avoid handling books after eating or drinking. Even grease on hands, when transferred to books, can at tract biblioclastic bugs, such as sil verfish, beetles and book lice. Some books are damaged delib erately because of sex- or drug-re lated content. Helmer said an arti cle on psychedelic mushrooms had to be replaced five times be fore librarians finally gave up and left it out of the volume. Now pa trons who wish to view the article must check it out at the front desk. Careless book handling also lands books in the main floor doc tor’s office, located on the west side of the library. Helmer said the simple task of grabbing a book from the middle of the spine in stead of the top can save it an ap pointment with spine surgery. Photocopying is also taxing, particularly on older books. Com mercial binderies now use a more flexible glue and acidrfree paper so books last longer. New books also receive the at tention of preservationists. Paper back books are reinforced with a plastic covering that is sewn to the book by hand. Roberson said it is a lot of work to maintain a collec tion of 2 million books so proac tive preservation techniques save work down the line. “People don’t realize how much work goes on behind the scenes,” Roberson said. Whatever the reason for the damage or loss, books are expen sive to replace. The true cost of re placing a book is more than the re tail value of the book. Helmer said an average $40 of staff time goes Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald Sandy Tilcock prepares the type to run in the press. Tilcock is the owner of Lone Goose Press, a bookbinding company specializing in hand-crafted binding. into each book, searching for a re placement and ordering it, before the price of the book is even fac tored in. “It is a lot cheaper to repair than to replace,” Helmer said. A basic guideline to not becom ing part of the problem is to “think of it as someone’s personal cre ation,” Helmer said. Amanda Garcia a senior visual design major, has been working in preservation for almost three years. She now has the responsi bility of caring for and protecting many of the rare books and manu scripts in Special Collections. Garcia spends her work days making boxes, portfolios and oth er encapsulations for fragile mate rials, such as Ken Kesey’s hand written manuscripts of novels or journals written by pioneers on the Oregon "frail. All books housed in Special Collections are in temperature and humidity controlled environ ments. Helmer said each degree the temperature goes up, about ten years is subtracted from the life of the book. Garcia said she enjoys working with books because she is interest ed in “preserving the book as an art form in the technological, elec tric world we live in.” All of the 60 graduating seniors who work for the library received a personalized blank book hand made by Sandy Tilcock, head of the Knight Library Fine Printing Press. Tilcock is a well-known bib liopegist who makes and prints each book by hand. Each time she completes a project, which are all done on a one-time-only basis and therefore rare, the Knight Library’s collection keeps a copy. Garcia’s job is to preserve rare and fragile books such as the ones Tilcock makes, and Helmer said she believes the task of preserva tion surpasses economic practical ity “I believe libraries are reposito ries of human knowledge,” Helmer said. “We have a moral ob ligation to preserve them for peo ple to come.” Citations continued from page 1A for repeated police response to rented properties, including apart ments, houses and taverns. The City Council is expected to con sider the ordinance in early June. Many student organizations oppose the ordinance saying it unfairly targets students and would hurt the community, by encouraging evictions, more than it would help. The ASUO has be gun organizing opposition to the ordinance and will hold a forum Friday afternoon to educate stu dents. “We feel students should be ed ucated about this issue, and many of them are not because it’s only a proposed ordinance at this point,” ASUO Community Outreach Di rector Marian Fowler said. The latest draft of the ordinance would force tenants to repay the city the costs of police response to disorderly parties if more than one party with 10 or more people is shutdown within 90 days. Fowler said the proposed 90 day window is too long and would affect too many renters. EPD Sgt. Rick Gilliam, howev er, countered that a similar ordi nance in Corvallis that uses a 48 hour window has been ineffective in deterring raucous parties or even holding tenants financially responsible for repeated response to parties. Gilliam said police had considered a time window rang ing from two days to a year. “We feel 90 days is a fair com promise,” he said. After the first police response, a tenant would receive a warning. After the second response within 90 days, a tenant would be given a bill to repay the cost of officers’ wages, injury to officers and dam ages to uniforms and vehicles. The bill could range from a few hun dred dollars to as much as several thousand dollars. . The ordinance was first pro posed this fall when police report ed writing 75 to 100 citations for alcohol-related offenses each weekend in the University area. ASUO intern Brian Tanner agreed that something should be done about unruly partying but said the ordinance wasn’t the ide al solution. “It’s financially punitive,” he said. “It’s not proactive, and it tar gets a part of the community that doesn’t have much money. To be targeting any segment of the popu lation is wrong.” On the other hand, Gilliam said the ordinance would affect renters city-wide and wasn’t drafted to target students. “It’s just a fact of life that [Uni versity students] are the people causing the problems that we’re responding to,” Gilliam, the ordi nance’s co-author, said. “We want to make sure the people responsi ble are held liable.” Live-in landlords could be forced to split the costs with ten ants, while absentee landlords would be notified of the fine but not charged. The original draft of the ordinance held all landlords jointly liable with tenants. The City Council, however, asked po lice to receive and consider more public input before bringing the proposal to the council floor. After meeting with students, landlords and tenants, police dropped the landlord liability re quirement. The ASUO will hold a forum Friday at 2 p.m. in the EMU Gum wood Room. Public testimony will also be accepted at the Eugene Police Commission May 25 at 5:30 p.m. in the McNut Room of City Hall.
