Preserving Books with Jell-O

"Preserving Books with Jell-O(trademark)" is the title of an article in
a recent issue of the _Journal of Irreproducible Results_, vol. 37, no.
2, pp. 10-11 by Mr/Ms? Nouleigh Rhee Furbished.  A serendipitous
accident led this preservation officer (Molesworth Inst.) to the
startling conclusion that some snacks have a place in the library.

Regular Jell-O is apparently able to neutralize acidic wood-pulp paper,
according to Furbished's experiments, and "while sugar-free Jell-O
produced good results, standard Jell-O produced even better results."

The recipe for Jell-O book preservative is included, along with the
recommendation that any yellow-colored dessert be used, so that the book
becomes "pre-highlighted for the discriminating reader."

(This citation thanks to a colleague in the MSU Science Libraries)

Mary Ann Tyrrell
Michigan State Univ.

    **** Moderator's comments:   For the record, the green Jello in my
    fridge has a pH of 4.5 - 5.0.  JIR, being a nonspecialist rag is apt
    to be a bit casual in technical matters and DistList participants
    are advised to check out Recent Setbacks in Conservation.  Unlike
    JIR, all results in RSC are indeed reproducible, though some of the
    small type comes out kind of blurry on cheaper copiers.

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 5:48
                   Distributed: Sunday, April 5, 1992
                        Message Id: cdl-5-48-002
                                  ***