How to prevent books from becoming dirty due to being touched?

Question

I found that my print books tend to be dirtier than others', in the sense that the side of the books, where you can use your hand to quickly flip through different pages, are often darker and have non-uniform colors. My hands are not dirty often. But I sometimes use pencils and erasers while reading books。

What techniques do libraries use to keep books protected from becoming dirty from people touching them?

Answer 1

Assuming that the discoloration is uneven, and only occurs where the paper is touched, then the best way to prevent discoloration is to wash your hands before touching the books, to remove grease and other possible contaminants.

Most books are not museum objects: their purpose is to be used and read.The handling of books, however, provides opportunities for accidental damage.

Handle books only with freshly washed hands. Most of the dirt on book covers and pages is accumulated grime from oily fingerprints. While invisible initially, finger grease becomes all too visible as it oxidizes and collects dirt.Wearing white cotton gloves for handling rare bindings is a good preventive measure, but turning fragile or brittle pages with gloves may cause damage and is not advised.

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, Caring For Your Treasures - Books

Answer 2

This could be useful in determining patterns of use!
Dirty Books: Quantifying Patterns of Use in Medieval Manuscripts Using a Densitometer
by Kathryn M. Rudy

"Early users of medieval books of hours and prayer books left signs of their reading in the form of fingerprints in the margins. The darkness of their fingerprints correlates to the intensity of their use and handling. A densitometer -- a machine that measures the darkness of a reflecting surface -- can reveal which texts a reader favored. This article introduces a new technique, densitometry, to measure a reader's response to various texts in a prayer book." DOI 10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1 http://www.jhna.org/index.php/past-issues/volume-2-issue-1-2/129-dirty-books

Nuns sometimes made little decorative ovals of paper to place beneath their thumbs as they read through their prayer books, etc., but I cannot remember if those objects had a specific name.

Answer 3

I recommend digitizing the images and allowing patrons to view the images rather than the physical book unless there's a compelling research need to view the original

Answer 4

It is also worth pointing out that even if you were talking about Rare Books, the best option is just to ask people to wash their hands and then limiting access to particularly fragile or particularly rare objects.

One of the other options, having people wear gloves, is one of the worst things you can do to take care of the books. People lose their sense of touch and are far more likely to rip pages in a book.

If you are interested in discussion of this see Misperceptions about White Gloves.