Acid Test: Stalling Self-Destruction in the Stacks; After Explosive Setbacks, Library of Congress Plans Major Facility to Preserve Brittle Books From: The Washington Post | Date: August 29, 1988| Author: | Copyright 1988 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post.Copyright information

For more than a century, paper manufacturers have inadvertently been planting self-destruct mechanisms in most of the paper used to print books-acids that gradually break down the fibers.

Library of Congress officials say the acids have now damaged an estimated one-quarter of the library's 14 million books, leaving their pages so weak they crack when folded. The books can no longer circulate. Every year 77,000 more books in the collection become equally brittle.

Library officials say that unless the destruction is stopped, 97 percent of the volumes in the federal government's premier ...

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