We are experiencing the same problems-plus, all CD-ROMs and diskettes are
warped and damaged.
I, too, would be interested in any effort to address this issue.
Diana Smith
Chief, Library & Information Services Unit
(202) 898-3910 (voice) (202) 898-3984 (fax)
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-----Original Message-----
From: Mohrman, Robert J WRAMC-Wash DC
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 3:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Irradiation of the mail: damage to journal
issues
I'd like to ask if anyone in the Federal Library world is
addressing the
issue of the damage that
irradiation of mail does to print products. The mail we
receive here at the
Walter Reed Army
Medical Center is being irradiated, and while I understand
the rationale for
doing it, it is very
damaging to a paper product. Envelopes and their contents
become very
brittle; the plastic windows
in envelopes are shriveled, stuck to the contents of the
envelope, or vanish
entirely. Self-adhesive
labels fall off the envelopes. The effect on white paper
is quite
pronounced: it is visibly yellowed,
as if exposed to sunlight for a very long period of time.
What distresses me most is that this is being done to
library materials as
well, and the same damage
is evident. The glue in the binding of one journal issue I
looked at today
is almost entirely melted
away, and once again, the paper is brittle. The ink from
the bar codes on
the outside of two books
that were mailed back to us by a patron had disappeared
entirely (I didn't
notice any real damage
to the pages, but who knows).
I'm not sure who to complain to about this. We are paying a
lot of money
for our print subscriptions,
which we bind when volumes are complete, theoretically for
posterity. With
the damage that this
prophylactic irradiation is doing to our journals, we need
to seriously
reconsider this time-honored
practice of archiving information. I'm also concerned about
mailing books
for interlibrary loan; what
kind of damage is this causing, and who will be ultimately
responsible?
I've done some quick and
dirty searches of the Internet using Google, but I haven't
come across
anything on this subject. The
US Postal Service web site discusses irradiation of the
mail, but they don't
address this issue, either.
Comments?
Robert Mohrman
Acting Chief, Medical Library
Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)
6900 Georgia Ave NW
Washington DC 20307-5001
(202)782-6547; fax (202)782-6803
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