Saving the IrreplaceableRestoration in India

Saving the IrreplaceableRestoration in India

March 2003 • Vol. 40 No.3 The Official Publication of ASCR International

INSIDE:

WLI Conference Recap – Part 2

Defeating the Fear Factor

The Future of the Industry – Part 2

2 Cleaning & Restoration • March 2003

By Marshall Oliver / Photography by Dr. Atlury Murali

Aunique restoration effort, probably the first of its kindever, has salvaged more than 100,000 historical writings,many from the 17th century, after flash floods hit a

library in Hyderabad, India, on August 24, 2000. Restorationof this priceless collection, originally assembled by Mr. SamadKhan, and now owned by a consortium of North AmericanUniversities, is nearing completion at the SundarayyaVignana Kendram (SVK) Library in Hyderabad under thedirection of the Canadian subsidiary of Belfor International.The significant work of thermal vacuum freeze-drying andmold remediation has been completed, and finishing details,including straightening and rebinding, are almost complete.

The unprecedented monsoon of August 2000, resulted insevere flooding in Hyderabad with the water level reaching itspeak on Thursday, August 24th, when a 15-foot wall of waterravaged parts of the city. At the SVK, the basement windowsimploded and within minutes the entire collection was com-

pletely submerged. Witnesses reported more than nine feet ofmud, water and sewage covering the entire library.

Dr. Atlury Murali, history professor at the University ofHyderabad and a member of the trust governing the SVK,sent an SOS by e-mail to library conservationists world-wide. “I am reporting a tragedy with tears in my eyes,”Murali wrote to James Nye on the evening of August 24.Nye, bibliographer and director at the University ofChicago, represented the consortium which had purchasedThe Khan collection in 1996. Murali told Nye that the en-tire collection of over 100,000 books and manuscripts hadbeen completely submerged in contaminated water.

At that time, the books were being catalogued andmicrofilmed at SVK. Over 100 volunteers and staff donned

March 2003 • Cleaning & Restoration 3

The Gallery entry at the SVK Library in Hyderabad. Everybook and manuscript in the 100,000-volume collection wascompletely submerged in contaminated water.

rubber gloves, boots and masks, and began the task of sav-ing the books.

In Vancouver, Canada, we first learned of the flood whena staff member saw a news brief on the Internet. The condi-tions at the library sounded grim and there was no apparentsolution to their problem. We decided to make inquiries tosee if there might be a way for a Canadian company to assistwith what appeared to be significant damage to a large col-lection of irreplaceable books on the other side of the world.

At Cromwell Restoration Ltd. in Vancouver (now a sub-sidiary of Belfor International) we have made significant in-roads in vacuum freeze-drying of paper materials. We hadhad recent successes with paper restoration projects inCanada, the United States and in Mexico, following waterdamage and mold infestation. We also had first-hand experi-ence with this type and scale of disaster. While enroute to leada seminar at the State Farm Insurance Company in Chicago,I stopped at the University of Chicago with my colleague,John Stagl of Belfor USA, where we visited James Nye.

He briefed us on the situation. In Hyderabad, a city ofsix million people, floodgates had been opened in order torelease surplus waters from the Hussein Saga Aquifer. Thishad resulted in immediate flooding in many areas of the

city. Thousands of families in temporary shelters saw theirpossessions washed away. Torrents of water turned roadsinto rivers, and large areas of the city were suddenly waistdeep in water. Jim told us the stacks at the SVK Librarywere completely submerged in less than 30 minutes. Later Icalculated that the water must have entered through librarywindows at the rate of approximately 30,000 gallons perminute, given the size of the gallery.

We learned that responses to Murali’s desperate e-mailhad come from Columbia University, Northeast DocumentConservation Centre (NDCC) in Maryland, the Library ofCongress, the Weissman Preservation Centre at HarvardUniversity, the University of Columbia Libraries, theUniversity of Chicago Libraries, the Association of ResearchLibraries, the Centre for Research Libraries and the Councilof American Overseas Research Centres, as well as from usat Cromwell/Belfor.

4 Cleaning & Restoration • March 2003

(above) Volunteers approach the library wading through 3feet of water. At the peak of flooding the water level climbedabove the ceiling in the Library Gallery.

(right) As diesel pumps lowered the water level, books floatingnear the ceiling could be individually retrieved. In this photo,the water depth is greater than 12 feet.

The combined advice of experts had been that while theimmediate task was to get the books out of the water, it wasequally important to prevent the formation of mold due tothe humidity level. At the time of the flooding, tempera-tures approached 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Hyderabad,and relative humidity at the SVK was well over 90 percent.For this reason it was suggested that the books remainunder water until arrangements to move them into freezerswere fully in place. And it was recommended that once ade-quate freezer space was arranged, the books and records beplaced in wooden or plastic crates in single layers with theirspines facing down in order to prevent further damage.

According to the NDCC, paper materials can distort im-mediately on becoming wet. Paper cockles, inks and pig-ments tend to run, and coated papers begin to adhere. Moldblooms rapidly in wet collections, first attacking the spines ofbound material. Once established, “mold is extremely diffi-cult to control and eradicate . . . time is of the essence in anyrecovery operation. The process of stabilization of the collec-tions and the facilities in which they are housed are the keyto a successful salvage operation . . . In most instances, wetbooks and records must be stabilized by freezing.”

In addition, the NDCC had observed from experience inthe last decade in the U.S., “If sound recovery methods arefollowed, it is less expensive to dry original collections than

to replace them.” According to other experts in the U.S., atabout 80 percent humidity and at 100 degrees Fahrenheit,mold will grow in about 13 days. At 90 percent humidityand at the same temperature, mold can occur in about fourdays. And at 99 percent humidity, mold can form within48 hours. This meant that until adequate freezer space wasarranged, the books had a better chance of survival whileimmersed in water rather than in the hot humid air inHyderabad.

With modern printing techniques, when coated paper isexposed to water, it can cause inks to bleed or dissolve. Theimage layer of the coated paper can also be softened, andpages easily adhere when wet. Fortunately, most of the booksat the SVK were from the 19th century or earlier, so fewwould be made of coated paper, and the traditional Indianink used in most of the publications is not readily soluble.We were more concerned with deterioration of embrittledopen-weave vertical grain paper which, if in good condition,would likely withstand prolonged immersion, but if in poorcondition, might not survive extended wet storage.

The likelihood of finding over 7,000 cubic feet of vacantfreezer space in Hyderabad was slim, so other frozen materialshad to be displaced or re-organized to make way for the satu-rated books. When Murali found what appeared to be ade-quate storage, the diesel pumps were started. As the waterlevel dropped in the library, books were carefully rescued andwashed gently to remove mud and contamination. Slow-flowing water from garden hoses floated away the worstsludge, and books were gently agitated in water-filled tubs.Volunteers took great pains not to further disturb these pageswhich paid testament to India’s heritage. The delicate condi-tion of the collection meant that books were loaded intocrates with extreme care to prevent their falling apart under

March 2003 • Cleaning & Restoration 5

A human chain of volunteers gingerly handles saturatedbooks. Temperature during the salvage operation was close to100 degrees F. inside the library.

While passing saturated books up the staircase, the odor fromcontaminated water was overpowering.

continued on page 32

their own weight. Ideally, books are loaded so they are com-pressed to their original thickness, however this task was vir-tually impossible since so much swelling had occurred.

Soon the volunteers ran short of crates and the call wentout once more for assistance from the community.

That day, the thermometer climbed to 102 degrees. Thebooks were loaded in single rows in each crate, their spinesfacing down. By the morning of August 26, the first truck-loads of crated books were delivered to the freezer.

By the evening of August 30, five days after the flood, thefirst leg of the recovery operation was over. More than100,000 books and manuscripts in 2,200 plastic crates hadbeen relocated to cold storage. Of these, three quarters ofthe load were below freezing (at approximately 28 degreesF.), but due to a shortage of space, the remaining quarterwere placed in the only space available at 36 degrees F.These volumes would later prove how readily molds flour-ish at above-zero temperatures.

The international community of library conservationistspraised the salvage operations and actions of the volunteers.Nye described them as “miracle workers.” He contrasted the

6 Cleaning & Restoration • March 2003

Volunteers discuss the possibility of compressing a water-logged book back to its original size. In many cases, silt hadcollected between the pages.

Saving the Irreplaceablecontinued from page 29

successful effort in Hyderabad with a 1966 episode inFlorence, Italy, where historical records suffered similardamage in floods. Most of these records were lost forever.

Nye’s only bad news that day was his recap of ongoingcosts of the reclamation. The consortium was spending over$2,500 (USD) each month for cold storage in Hyderabadwith no end in sight, since freeze-drying facilities were notavailable at any price in India. And the Indian government,in its continuing effort to protect its national heritage,would not permit the books to leave the country.

As we left Jim Nye’s office, John and I agreed that the sit-uation in Hyderabad was a unique opportunity for

Cromwell to provide a needed service overseas. We believedthere might be a way to get involved if we could find ameans to inspect the books, develop a funding formula andsubmit a detailed proposal. Within a few weeks, Nye agreedto cover the cost of airfare if Cromwell would inspect thebooks without charging a fee. In February 2001, Cromwellmade the first of three visits to India.

My companion was Gary Bird, Cromwell’s documentlaboratory manager. Gary’s extensive experience with wetpaper materials proved to be invaluable, and he became akey member of the India project team. Gary and I hadworked together on previous catastrophe responses acrossthe U.S. and Canada, and we were both accustomed tolong-distance travel. However, at 30,000 feet somewhereover Greenland, neither of us was quite prepared for the se-ries of events that would unfold in India in the monthsahead: examining thousands of mold-infested books, exten-sive training sessions for volunteers selected to remediatemold, a Cromwell workshop presented to librarians andrecords managers from across India, lost luggage, cultureshock, jet lag, a political uprising, and the beginning of

March 2003 • Cleaning & Restoration 7

(above) Volunteers take a break in the afternoon heat. Over2,000 crates were needed to contain the collection of wetbooks.

(left) Loose pages are inspected individually. Hundreds ofhours were spent reconstructing separated books.

to the film at JamesMElderton@Netscape.net. This documentary isscheduled to premiere in Savannah,Georgia, this month at the ASCRconvention.

A 28-page proposal prepared byCromwell, which was submitted toThe University of Chicago and wasused to secure funding for the project

can be viewed at http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/southa-sia/cromwell_feb_2001.pdf. ■

Marshall Oliver is the director of technical services for Cromwell Restoration and BelforCanada. He is a member of the Belfor Mold Advisory Board. Over the past 12 years,Marshall has participated in international emergency responses, has implemented disas-ter plans and has assisted with the development of Cromwell’s research and develop-ment programs. He continues to lead technical seminars in the insurance industry on avariety of topics including restorative cleaning procedures, mould remediation andforensic property damage analysis. He can be reached via e-mail atmarshall@cromwell.ca.

what would be the restoration of a col-lection describing a century and a half ofIndian life and scholarship.

In the next issue of Cleaning &Restoration, I will detail the restorationprocesses used to restore 100,000 booksover a six-month period. I will describethe ordeals associated with the airlift of15,000 pounds of equipment fromCanada to India, and provide a glimpseat the unstable political climate, whichresulted in our rapid departure fromIndia for our own safety at the request ofthe Canadian Embassy. And of all thisoccurred during the acquisition ofCromwell by Belfor International.

Much of the detail in this article is a compilation of in-formation by news reporters in Hyderabad. My thanks to avariety of reporters from the Times of India, the DeccanChronicle, Frontline, the Hindu and other publicationsreporting the Cromwell/Belfor story throughout India. Mythanks as well to Mr. James Elderton, who is presently com-pleting a one-hour documentary of the project for TV dis-tribution in North America, the United Kingdom andIndia. He can be contacted for further information relating

8 Cleaning & Restoration • March 2003

Crates of frozen books await the nec-essary funding before freeze-dryingcan begin. Books stored in coolersabove freezing became heavily in-fested with mold.

Saving the IrreplaceableRestoration in India –Part 2

Saving the IrreplaceableRestoration in India –Part 2

April 2003 • Vol. 40 No.4 The Official Publication of ASCR International

INSIDE:

Professional Practice for MoldRemediation

By Marshall Oliver, CR

2 Cleaning & Restoration • April 2003

We arrived at Mumbai(Bombay) InternationalAirport at 2 a.m. Once the

seal on the aircraft door was broken,we were engulfed by the smells, soundsand overwhelming humidity of India.

We had been warned about the haz-ards that befall tourists in this bustlingseaport city and, sure enough, withinminutes of our arrival we were dupedby a cab driver who successfully de-manded an exorbitant fare for a five-minute ride from the international tothe domestic terminal, where wewould catch the plane to Hyderabad.(Later we learned we could have takena free shuttle bus). My associate andtravelling companion was Gary Bird,an expert in paper reclamation, whowould acquire a taste for Indian foodlong before the project was completed.

There were no other Caucasians insight and we were very relieved tofinally arrive in Hyderabad and meetour hosts. Dr. Atluri Murali, professorat the University of Hyderabad, andMr. Sambi Reddy, secretary of theSVK Library Trust, both scolded usfor falling for the taxi scam. We likedthem immediately.

In the March issue of Cleaning &Restoration, I introduced the SVK

Library book-restoration project inHyderabad undertaken by CromwellRestoration Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada.On August 24, 2000, immediately fol-lowing a devastating flood in southerncentral India, graphic photographs ofwater damage to 100,000 irreplaceablebooks and manuscripts echoed acrossthe Internet. These, as well as calls forhelp, were seen and heard by libraryconservationists across North America.At Cromwell we had wondered if wemight be able to help, and now fivemonths later, here we were on the otherside of the world, on our way to inspectthe damage.

They received us as if we were roy-alty, but took great pleasure in tellingeveryone about the taxi scam. The firstorder of business was to meet every-one at the library over a cup of strong,sweet tea or chai. We quickly learnedthat nothing happens in Hyderabadbefore chai.

Later, we were taken to the coldstorage facility. As we entered the cool-ers, we could scarcely believe oursenses. The smell of spicy peppers wasoverwhelming and within a few min-utes our nasal passages were burning.Gary and I took turns sneezing. As wepicked our way through all of the dif-

ferent foods, thousands of books cameinto view, and we were shocked to seewell-established mold infestation.

That day we learned that of the col-lection of 100,000 saturated books,there was only room in the freezers for80 percent of them. Approximately20,000 volumes had been stored inthe coolers at 36 degrees F. for over sixmonths. That such extensive moldgrowth could flourish at temperatures

Left: Library staff sort another load of books infront of the sublimation chamber. Each week3,000 to 4,000 books were delivered from thecold storage facility for processing.

Right: The portable Canadian freeze dryer weigh-ing 16,000 lbs. was installed in the SVK LibraryReading Room during the 6-month India project.A battery of portable air conditioners was re-quired to maintain temperature controls in themakeshift laboratory.

When the freeze dryer arrived from Chennai, twocranes were required to lift the unit. Overheadpower lines had to be lifted clear of the cranearms with hand-held bamboo poles.

April 2003 • Cleaning & Restoration 3April 2003 • Cleaning & Restoration 3

just above freezing was a real eyeopener, and we were reminded thatmany fungi are extremely hardy andwill flourish in a wide range of condi-tions as long as a food source is pres-ent. Our first objective was suddenlyclear. With no funding yet available,we had to find a way to initiate a reme-diation program to prevent further de-terioration of the books being ravagedby mold. But first we were required tohave more chai.

Next, we inspected the 80,000frozen volumes. Fortunately, they werein excellent condition, consideringthey had been submerged in contami-nated water, coated in silt and mud,and rinsed with garden hoses to re-move surface contaminants. Plus theyhad been packed into crates designedfor a different purpose, and stored in afreezer where rapid air movement con-tinually distributed microscopic parti-cles of dust, spices and environmentalcontaminants. As we left the coolers,our choice was ice cream or chai.

During the ride back to the librarywe passed row upon a row of sheltersmade of discarded lumber, tattered tarpsand rusted scraps of corrugated sheetmetal. These gave no clue that just fivemonths earlier every one of these homesfor the homeless had been washed awayin the same deluge that had submergedevery book in the library.

Minutes later, passing attractivemodern high-rise buildings, we were

once again awed by the contrasts thatmake up this fascinating city. Whilestopped in traffic, a partially clad childapproached our open three-wheeledtaxi, revealing his disfigured dirtybody in hopes that we would be gen-erous with our rupees, yet over hisshoulder I could see billboard adver-tisements flaunting the world’s finestelectronic wizardry. Incredible!

The next day, we were invited toaddress about 150 conservationists, li-brarians and archivists who had gath-ered from across the region to hear theCanadian message that might savetheir library. Many were enthusiasts,while others were sceptics. So far thiswas only talk—while some didn’t be-lieve the books could be saved, every-one was able to agree that it wasdefinitely time for chai.

On our return to Canada, wereported our findings to James Nye atthe University of Chicago. Jim was, ineffect, our client, as he represented theconsortium of libraries across NorthAmerica, which owned theHyderabad collection. Our findingwas that the books could be saved, butonly with the aid of a thermal vacuumfreeze-dryer. The consortium was al-ready spending over $2,500 USD(100,000 Rupees) each month forcold storage in Hyderabad, with noend in sight. Permanent freeze-dryingfacilities were not available at any pricein India, and the Indian government,

in their continuing effort to protect anational heritage, would not permit thebooks to leave the country. The solu-tion? Ship a vacuum freeze-dryer fromCanada, where paper restoration tech-nology is leading the world. Our rec-ommendations were accepted, and theconsortium set to work to raise fundsto airlift a vacuum freeze-dryer fromVancouver to Hyderabad.

Months passed. The fundraising ef-fort was losing momentum, while inIndia the library trust members wereunder sharp criticism over the continu-ing high expenditure of the freezerrental. Eventually, with other challengeson our horizon, our hopes for a chanceto save the books in India began to fade.

April 2003 • Cleaning & Restoration 3

Gary Bird reviews the start-up sequence with vol-unteers responsible for electrical systems mainte-nance. Constant monitoring was required due tothe frequent power surges.

Volunteers move a power transformer into posi-tion. Out of necessity the SVK workers becameproficient with set-up and operation of everyequipment component.

Nervous hands move quickly to complete themyriad of electrical connections. Many electricalsub-systems had to be re-engineered to operateat 50 cycles per second.

Another false start. Dr. Murali poses at the controlsduring one of many attempts to begin poweringthe unit. Marshall Oliver watches from behind, andin the foreground, Gary Bird appears doubtful.

4 Cleaning & Restoration • April 2003

Through it all, Cromwell tech-nology was making inroads elsewhere.Recent breakthroughs in our laborato-ries had brought new possibilities withbiocide injection of contaminatedpaper and experiments with ionizationas a restorative cleaning method hadproduced promising results. Thesenew processes (inspired by founderDean Russell) were now available at allof our Canadian locations.

In 2002, Cromwell was acquired byBelfor International who, through ac-quisition, was rapidly becoming thelargest restoration group in the world.During these exciting times we werevery surprised to receive a call fromJim Nye in Chicago. He had raisedthe necessary funds, so when could wesend a freeze dryer to Hyderabad?

In the wake of the tragedy ofSeptember 11th, and the resultingdamage to huge quantities of paper,Cromwell and Belfor vacuum freezedryers in Canada and the U.S. were allfilled to capacity. There were backlogsof frozen documents waiting in freez-ers, so the request from Jim came atthe worst of times. Hyderabad wouldhave to wait even longer.

Our documents permitting the im-portation of equipment from Canadato India were amended over and overagain. Negotiations with the govern-ment of India dragged on while offi-cials pondered such an unlikelyrequest—to import this odd lookingpiece of equipment weighing sevenand a half tons and measuring 20 feetin length, for a six-month period sothat Canadians could save a library.Their lengthy lists of equipment per-mitted for import did not include athermal vacuum freeze dryer.

Choosing an aircraft capable of thetask, and finding an airport nearHyderabad to receive it were amongthe many other challenges we faced.Our request to transport the necessaryfluids to operate and maintain a subli-

mation chamber raised official eye-brows. Information about these fluidswas requested again and again, and wecompleted endless forms. Through itall, our new parent began to take noteof the project, and after wondering ifthe Belfor organization would see thesame merits that we saw in pursuingthe proposal, we were delighted whenthey embraced the project. And so itbecame the Belfor project in India.

On May 21, 2002, the Hercules air-craft with its 15,000-pound payloadlanded in Luxembourg, refuelled andheaded for Chennai (Madras) on theeast coast of the Indian continent.Escorts from the SVK library werewaiting, and after two days of customsinspections, heavy cranes lifted thefreeze dryer onto a flatbed trailer, and aconvoy began the three-day run over-land to Hyderabad. The trip wasplagued with vehicle breakdowns andpoor road conditions. Later, we learnedthat during a rest stop along the way,thieves had lightened the load.Fortunately the stolen tools were re-placeable.

Due to traffic congestion inHyderabad, progress was slow. In thiscity of six-million people, moving a 60-foot truck and trailer through a maze ofbicycles and traffic circles, with gridlockat virtually every intersection, was likecarrying a piano up a crowded staircase.Traffic police had to be convinced ofthe merits of allowing the convoy tocontinue. Mules and carts had to bemoved aside to permit our passage.Many hours later the precious cargo ar-rived at the library, where hundreds ofpeople had gathered to see the strangeobject hidden beneath protective tar-paulins. More heavy cranes were re-quired. Overhead power lines had to belifted out of harm’s way using hand-held bamboo poles. The exterior wallof the library had to be dismantled tocreate an opening large enough to per-mit entry of the 1,200 cubic foot cargo

Introduction to ThermalVacuum Freeze-Drying

Vacuum freeze-drying or

lyophilization is the process of drying

frozen materials by sublimation and

desorption at low pressure (high vac-

uum) and at subzero temperatures.

Lyophilization cycles consist of three

phases: freezing, primary drying, and

secondary drying. Freezing wet

paper at a slow rate encourages the

formation of large ice crystals, which

can have a damaging effect on the

fibers of wet paper. Rapid air circula-

tion (blast freezing) promotes a faster

decline in temperature during the

freezing phase, forming smaller, less

damaging ice crystals. The process of

sublimation is a change of a solid

substance directly to a vapour with-

out first passing through the liquid

state. During the primary drying

phase, sublimation of surface ice

crystals occurs. In the secondary

drying phase, the moisture diffuses

from the matrix of the paper and is

desorbed from its surface. New tech-

nology permits the use of thermal

adjustments to accelerate the rate of

sublimation, while maintaining ma-

terial conditions below the triple

point. The triple point of a material

occurs when the vapour, liquid and

solid phases are all in equilibrium.

April 2003 • Cleaning & Restoration 5

with frequent blackouts and powersurges. For these reasons we were veryconcerned about the ability of theequipment to operate with any effi-ciency, and without jeopardizing theequipment itself. Complex power con-verters and stabilizers were devised forthe project, but would they be reliable?

Coincident with our second arrivalto install the freeze dryer, the mediawas giving much attention to the con-flicts between India and Pakistan.Each evening, after a long dusty day,we watched the British version ofCNN, the only network offering in-ternational TV news in English. Weanxiously waited for the latest mes-sages from President Bush and UKPrime Minister Blair. Every day thechance of war seemed more likely.Although we used a cellular telephoneprogrammed for use in India, it wouldnot function in Hyderabad due to dis-agreements between service providers.Our e-mail link was unreliable, andoften we could not make the connec-tion. Occasionally, our hotel operatorcould secure an overseas telephoneline, but the connection often failed.One night we returned to our hotel tofind two messages waiting. One was

from Belfor, and the other from theCanadian Embassy. Both messagessaid . . . “Leave now.”

Thus we were suddenly faced witha new reality. We had to leave thecountry before our mission was ac-complished. Training was far fromcomplete, power supply problemswere not resolved, the freeze dryer wasnot yet operational, and we had tohead for the airport. Were we leavingthe equipment at risk? What otherchoice did we have?

After draining cash from everyATM in the neighborhood to getahead of the exodus of travellers usingcredit cards, we succeeded in arrang-ing flights home via Dubai andLondon. We wondered if we wouldever see the freeze dryer again.

Once back in Canada, we set to thetask of trouble shooting and then op-erating a thermal vacuum freeze dryerlocated on the other side of the globe.During the first month we communi-cated daily and sometimes hourly withHyderabad, de-bugging the system,solving the operational problems andtraining the staff. The project had tosucceed. Our milestone after solvingpower supply problems was achievinga vacuum. This was our first indica-tion that the equipment had not beendamaged in transit. To celebrate, wemade our own chai.

Thinking back, Gary and I didn’trecover from jetlag for weeks, as weoften worked through the night to bein contact with Hyderabad, 12.5hours ahead of us.

Top Left: An empty cart is manoeuvred inside thefreeze-drying chamber. A loaded cart is visible in thebackground, and ice is visible on the chamber walls.

Bottom Left: A makeshift cotton swab saturatedwith biocide was one of the many implementsused to treat individual pages in each of the100,000 books. Row upon row of helpers per-formed this labor intensive task every day for 6months. In Belfor Laboratories, similar results areachieved using cost-effective automated methods,including pressure induction.

Top Right: An iron is used to draw moisture out ofthe pages following application of a biocide solu-tion. Coarse, open-weave paper permitted sim-ple, but effective remediation methods.

. . . all to save the books.For months, engineers in Canada

had debated with their counterparts inIndia the differences in electrical powersupply. In Canada, as in the UnitedStates, our power is generated at 60 cy-cles per second, while in India it is sup-plied at 50 cycles. In addition, powergeneration in Hyderabad is unstable,

6 Cleaning & Restoration • April 2003

The panic call came at 3 a.m. onThursday morning, when the chamberhad been opened after processing thefirst load. It was 3:30 on Friday after-noon in Hyderabad, and the messagereceived was desperate. There was fartoo much ice on the condensing coils;it wasn’t possible for so much moistureto come out of one load of 3,000books, so something must be wrong.

That’s when Gary and I knew theequipment was fully operational! Inour laboratories under controlled con-ditions, where our vacuum chambersare four times the size of the portableunit in India, we knew that substantialvolumes of ice could only be subli-mated from wet paper if the equip-ment was operating correctly. Thepanic call was music to our ears.

Over a six-month period, theHyderabad team successfully driedevery single volume in the 100,000-book collection, achieving anunbelievable success rate. Volunteersworked in shifts, treating the mold, re-placing deteriorated bindings, restor-ing their heritage for future scholars.

The Belfor India project began as aneffort to save books, and ended as a li-brary enhancement project for a rarecollection of irreplaceable documentswhich had suffered years ofdeterioration and acidification prior tothe flooding. After freezing, primarysublimation and secondary sublimationwere completed, the library staff per-formed biocide applications, mold re-mediation, paper straightening, textblock realignment and rebinding under

the direction of the Belfor team. Today,the books are being microfilmed andcatalogued to conclude a library preser-vation project unlike any other.

We made our third and final trip toIndia in late October 2002, after thepolitical scene had settled, and afterthe freeze-drying phase was com-pleted. We found time for camel rides,elephant rides, wonderful food, a jun-gle trek and an overnight trip to a re-mote village where sugar cane andcoconuts are harvested. During thetrip we reminisced with our newfoundcolleagues, including ChowdaryLakamsani, a graduate student whobecame involved (after first saying thatthe restoration process was a waste oftime). Chowdary worked long hoursfor many months without a break,leading a team to ensure the correctoperation of the freeze dryer inHyderabad. He would phone mefrom India regardless of the time, andtogether we would solve operationalproblems. During the project he hasbecome proficient with paper restora-tion techniques, and will travel toVancouver in May 2003, to visit theBelfor-Canada facilities.

On our final evening of that lasttrip, we said our farewells. We dinedwith the library staff and celebratedour success. One of the highlights wasthe realization of so many new friend-ships; another was the sweet, hot chai.

After complex and lengthy exportnegotiations, we air lifted the unit toParis, France, where it continues to op-erate at capacity due to an increase in

demand for document restoration inEurope. In fact, as I put the finishingtouches to this article while in the airover Winnipeg (on the way home froma flooded library restoration project inToronto), Gary is over the Atlantic onhis way back to Paris to continue train-ing our French technicians. Althoughour colleagues at Belfor Internationalhave identified many applicationsworldwide for their newly acquiredCanadian technology, we wonder if wewill ever have an experience to matchthe challenges encountered and over-come in Hyderabad.

In the previous article I mentionedJames Elderton, who has now com-pleted production of a one-hour TVdocumentary on the project for distri-bution in North America, the UnitedKingdom and in India. He has tire-lessly documented the Belfor Indiaproject for all time. He can be con-tacted for further information atjamesmelderton@netscape.net. Hisdocumentary, “The HyderabadProject,” premiered in Savannah lastmonth at the ASCR convention.Watch for it on your local cablenetwork.

We are very fortunate to have thesupport of Cleaning & Restoration andother media to spread our messagethat now, more than ever, libraries canbe saved. ■

Marshall Oliver, CR, is the director of technical servicesfor Belfor Canada and Cromwell Restoration. He is aCertified Restorer and a member of the Belfor MoldAdvisory Board. Over the past 12 years, Marshall hasparticipated in international emergency responses, hasimplemented disaster plans and has assisted with the de-velopment of Cromwell’s research and development pro-grams. He is committed to making Cromwelltechnology available to Belfor offices worldwide, andcontinues to lead technical seminars in the insurance in-dustry on a variety of topics, including restorative clean-ing procedures, mold remediation and forensic propertydamage analysis. He can be contacted for further infor-mation at marshall@cromwell.ca.

Re-binding was performed on many of the books.Hand-made covers were fashioned using materialssimilar to the original bindings originally assem-bled two or three hundred years earlier.

Reprinted with permission from the March and April 2003 issues of Cleaning & Restoration magazine.©2003, Association of Specialists in Cleaning & Restoration.