Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Artists bind books in a variety a ways; here the pressed text technique is shown.
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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.