From Poison Books to “Bibliotoxicology”: Highlighting Hazards in Paper-Based Library Collections

Abstract

The Bibliotoxicology Working Group (“BibTox”) was formed in 2022 as an ad-hoc, international cohort of conservators, cultural heritage scientists, librarians, collection managers, book historians, and health and safety professionals. Sixty members across more than 30 institutions and eight countries in North America, Europe, and Australasia explore reliable identification methodologies for toxic materials in library and archives collections and develop safer practices for managing such collections. This note will discuss the working group’s past activities and future outputs, as well as sharing information about getting involved in the working group.