Gloves and inserts: UvA library takes measures against arsenic in old books
Globally, toxic, arsenic-containing books are more and more often turning up in ancient collections. It is likely that the UvA also possesses them. Therefore, the UB has decided to take precautionary measures.
It is 2019 when a museum in Delaware discovers that the green pigment in an eighteenth-century book contains arsenic. The emerald green pigment, or Schweinfurter green, was first produced in the German city of Schweinfurt in 1814 and was widely used as a dye for clothes, wallpaper, artificial flowers and books until 1960. It soon turned out: that poison green is literally toxic.
Since its discovery in Delaware, books containing arsenic have been popping up in collections all over the world. The National Library (KB) also start a large-scale investigation into arsenic in old books in 2020 and already removed dozens of books with arsenic from its reading room. In late November 2024, the KB shared the findings from the research with other libraries in the Netherlands. The UvA also attended that meeting.
Errol Graf, head of Central Library Services at the UvA, was shocked when he was updated on the meeting by his staff the next day. “I did find it quite extraordinary to hear that we may have a substance in our library that I know only in a very negative sense.” He immediately enlists the help of Jan Buursma, safety, health and environment adviser at Facility Services, and launches an action plan.
Arsenic is in fact a heavy metal, like lead and mercury, best known from Agatha Christie’s crime novels. With frequent exposure to high concentrations, arsenic can also cause lung and skin cancer and damage organs. People who regularly work with arsenic may also experience mild symptoms such as diarrhea or stomach cramps. On the skin, arsenic can cause wounds.
Great danger, small chance
Nevertheless, it quickly turns out that the risk of arsenic exposure in books is low. “Harmful effects of arsenic are familiar from an industrial environment where arsenic is part of the work process,” says consultant Buursma. “Examples of poisoning by arsenic in books we do not know.”
The KB’s research also shows that. Arsenic can get on your skin when you pick up the book and remains on the table but does not measurably get into the air. Also, staff who worked a lot with the books did not have measurably higher levels of arsenic in their bodies. Finally, everyone ingests a very small amount of arsenic, as it is found in soil, seafood and rice, rice cakes are even notorious for it.
Safety measures
“So the risk of exposure to arsenic is low, but because the substance is so dangerous, we still came to the conclusion that we should take some safety measures,” Buursma says.
Starting next week, all books in the pre-1960 UvA collection will be fitted with an insert stating: this book may contain arsenic, wash your hands after use. Employees in the IWO depot are also asked to wear gloves when handling old books and wash their hands when they are done.
Should students worry if they borrow old books? “Worried is not the right word,” according to Buursma, “because we think we have covered the risks with these precautions. But students and staff do need to be careful when working with old books. And if employees have questions about complaints or want to get pregnant, you can always contact a (company) doctor.”
Eighty kilometres of books
In addition, the university library is trying to map in which part of its collection arsenic is present. It is likely that those books – if any – are largely in the closed collection of the IWO book depository. The open collection consists mainly of more modern books.
Testing all the books for arsenic seems a hopeless task: it takes about twenty-five minutes per book using the current method, and the IWO holds eighty kilometres of books. Whether there will be a research project at the UvA is not yet clear. “We are following the line of the KB in this,” says Graf. The KB is currently considering acquiring a handheld X-ray scanner that, when scanning the book, can immediately tell whether it contains arsenic. Such a device could therefore be used at the UvA if successful and financially viable.
Should a book actually be found in the UvA collection containing arsenic, it will not be immediately removed from the collection. Graf: “The protocol now is that we will package that book, probably in a custom-made box with a warning label. When you then retrieve the book from the catalogue, the user gets a notification that it contains arsenic and the precautions appear.”
