A Review of Paper Quality and Paper Chemistry.'" Library Trends 30(Fall

HANDMADEPAPER OF THE Middle Ages and earlier, housed in the rare book rooms of libraries, is often in excellent condition. The machine-made paper of the last 150 years, in the general collection, is as often brittle and crumbling. The failure of machine-made paper to endure has been a disaster for the records of this civilization. Recently, however, methods of making long-lasting paper on the paper machine have been developed. Now there is reason for optimism. The new paper not only shows improved life, but is more economi-cal to produce, causes less erosion of the paper-making equipment, and gives a cleaner effluent, or none. Companies have been changing to the new methods, particularly in Europe. American producers are lagging behind. This situation must not be allowed to continue. The problem of caring for disintegrating books in American libraries is already unman-ageable and should not be allowed to grow larger. Now is the time for librarians, bibliophiles and, indeed the paper-makers to unite toensure that long-lasting paper is again available and used in publishing. The Condition of Paper in Libraries Paper fails by gradually losing flexibility and finally becoming brittle. The change is apparent to the librarians only when the pages begin to crack and break as the book is used. Folding endurance mea