What successful methods have libraries found for dealing with smoke-damaged materials?

We have a few members of our library that routinely return materials that reek of smoke. We are looking for

• practical methods to remove the smoke smell from books and audio-visual materials without damaging the materials. Internet research yields lots of suggestions: kitty litter, Bounce dryer sheets, charcoal, baking soda, a warm oven, or the ozone chamber at the local dry cleaners. Has anyone actually tried any of these, can they be implemented in a practical manner, and what is the risk to the material?
• policy suggestions for dealing with members who return materials that reek of smoke

Mary Jo Finch

• preservation
• technical-processing

Comments

• jonsca: I don't know if a company like SERVPRO would be willing to give up their secrets, as they do a lot of large-scale smoke damage repair.

Answer by Jessie Pate

I don't have firsthand experience with this, but some remedies were shared via my state library association's listserv a while back. Here are their suggestions:

"Most used a closed container of some kind with these various odor eliminators inside – with varying success. It probably depends on how much smoke was actually absorbed by the books. Also most of the books were placed on edge with the pages fanned out.

1. Sealed container with

   • Soap (deodorant soap like DIAL a couple of weeks
   • dryer sheets, a couple of days
   • kitty litter, about a week
   • bottle of vanilla extract, a few days
   • Solid air freshener, a few days
   • Box of baking soda and newspapers, about a week
   • Coffee grounds, a few days
   • Gonzo odor eliminators, a few days
   • Charcoal briquettes, a few days
   • Big D odor control fogger. Sprayer on a cloth and sealed up with books. Even got rid of skunk smell. 3 days

Or:

1. Put in a cupboard or closet with Oreck air cleaner Room Ionizer
2. Actually spray books while fanning with ozium or fabreeze – ozium has an odor itself that some people don’t like.
3. Fans books out with fans and exposes to sunlight.

Finally, The method outlined in the following blog post seems to be a easy and cost-effective strategy: http://parkslibrarypreservationdpress.com/2011/06/30/stinky-books/

If you search through the various book conservation vendor catalogs you will find specialized book deoderizer products but I like this method because the product is cheap and readily available through Amazon."

Comments

• Joe: I've used vanilla extract w/ musty refrigerators & coolers -- it helps to put it on a paper towel, so there's more surface area. Also for the charcoal, you really want to try to find activated charcoal, or at the very least, crush the charcoal to dust to increase the surface area.
• Mary Jo Finch: Thank you! The link had great photos that looked doable!