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Solveig,<div>You've already received some good responses -- I'll just add that when an institution requires visitors to wear gloves, the institution usually has a supply of gloves on hand to lend. If you feel you need to own a pair, I suggest looking in an art supply store or the classroom supplies section of a university bookstore (check the biology dept., as well as art). Gloves do keep body oils off of artifacts but you have to balance that with the slight chance that fibers from the gloves could snag loose bits of whatever material you're handling.</div><div><br></div><div>IIRC, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art just asks researchers to wash their hands *and* refrain from wearing hand lotion; the Library of Congress allows visitors to handle leather-bound books with bare hands, as does the Special Collections department of the university library where I work.</div><div><br></div><div>HTH,</div><div>Susanna</div><div><br><div><div>On Dec 3, 2008, at 12:00 PM, <a href="mailto:sca-librarians-request@lists.gallowglass.org">sca-librarians-request@lists.gallowglass.org</a> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 02:59:30 -0500</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">From: Solveig Throndardottir <<a href="mailto:nostrand@acm.org">nostrand@acm.org</a>></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Subject: [Sca-librarians] Cotton glvoes?</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">To: <a href="mailto:sca-librarians@lists.gallowglass.org">sca-librarians@lists.gallowglass.org</a></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:18AE78EB-1223-4893-B4F4-71B40452F7CF@acm.org">18AE78EB-1223-4893-B4F4-71B40452F7CF@acm.org</a>></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Noble Librarians!</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Greetings from Solveig! I am planning on visiting the rare book <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">collection of the NIH. Although the fellow who called me on the phone <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">mentioned that East Asian books are sturdier than European books, I <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">suspect that cotton gloves might be a good idea. What do you folks <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">think? Also, if they are to be used, where do you get them? Thank you <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">very much!</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Your Humble Servant</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Solveig Throndardottir</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Amateur Scholar</font></p> </blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>