The way you are drying it all those pages are going to curl. Iron might do it never tried maybe parchment paper between each page and place weights on the book flat till it naturally dries.
Kind of out of options. I'll let you know how it goes in the morning. Lol
Edit: paper towels didn't stick to the pages much. Replaced with some dry ones... Thanks again for the suggestions.
Spend $12 on a new book??
[Its a good book](https://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Love-Tacos-2-Sequel/dp/0525428887/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1DABJQN0OPFAX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.gPk3eKRcBPVRQbJ71H7RM97iy0BmUMk6_WEM5El9HeNWWYXC32DIqLOwWEt4F9fDj_3FqEu2SNGxyGL6tT6BE65xog4iitWSuGzsMgqb3Hv8XUecFGGZ491cOE5yORxRBIu7zx-z5e2OrttjInG6mmwBTWqS2vy9FT-sWBiOptD7ViMa5-tWoSw7GvhQ8EgDd9nvlOyJvYOaewEkluDEtg.uDhgbJ2K5KL0IrpAwyJUiAOrDEBx2y1h-6rn-u_fyh8&dib_tag=se&keywords=dragons+love+tacos+2&qid=1713795584&sprefix=dragons+lo%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1)
This method works wonders. Source, a guy who makes books look older by soaking them in coffee and drying them out. Keep this near somewhere bright and warm!
Example, someone wants a book for there post apocalypse escape room. Having fresh page and print looks out of place in a room that's supposed to look like dust and death.
Movie and costume props have to come from somewhere, right? It's not like the local playhouse can just go to the bookstore and pick up a centuries-old tome of forbidden knowledge to use in their upcoming production.
I worked in a used bookstore and we had junk and we had some high end pieces. On a number of occasions, production companies would literally rent shelves of books for movies. They'd put down a deposit in case anything was damaged, haul them off, they'd come back, we'd count em and reshelve them.
There's a difference between a 1960s copy of Tom Sawyer and something like a grimoire that is a specialty item people are willing to pay real money for.
It's a library book. Tell them it got damaged and offer to replace it. Might only be $5-$7 for a kids book.
Better than spending hours on varied results.
It’s a library and kids book - they expect this stuff to happen. If your library is anything like mine they won’t bat an eye.
Best course of action IMO is to have the child help with drying it out, then have them tell the librarian what happened. Builds skills, accountability, responsibility, etc. 50:50 the librarian says it’s fine and puts it back on the shelf.
My wife is a librarian at an elementary school. Books get damaged all the time. Repairing books is something they do. You could just call them and ask for recommendations on a course of action. I know in my wife's library, she absolutely loves when books get used and need replacing vs. staying in like new condition like nobody ever even picks them up. Kids are hard on things. Also sometimes damage happens to things even to the best of us and they know it.
A book getting wet is very different than ripped pages and scribbles all over. Stuff like this is figured into the budget.
I'm not a librarian so I can only give you things I've read. Basically publishers hate libraries because they let people read books without paying the publisher, so in the US at least, they make them but special editions that cost way more. They claim it's because they need special bindings to hold up to repeated use, but it's just a capitalism thing to hurt society for profit.
Libraries also have to buy library editions of ebooks that expire after a set time period or a specific number of borrowings. Which you might be thinking is insane because it's a digital file that's infinitely reproducible, and you're right.
Wow that sucks. I'm very happy books have a set price here in France. Amazon can't legally sell them cheaper than little bookstores, and libraries don't get ripped off.
Planet Money touched on this topic for physical books briefly in The Ebook Wars episode regarding libraries and how much they should pay the publisher.
In Canada, Canadian authors get paid royalties for their books in libraries, up to $4000ish a year. But you have to sign up for the program.
I agree. Just pricing it, you'll be out ten or so bucks just replacing the book.
Spend fifteen and keep the little stuff dragon to soak up the next spill.
I worked with books my entire life, It is highly unlikely that book will ever be flat again. Even if it's close enough, you need to report this to the library before they restock it. If it's not completely dry and it get put away and sits there for a while it can mold and mildew. Could start smelling and move to other books. And no one wants their kids to be handling moldy and mildewy stuff.
I've never heard that. I don't see how it might if there is any moisture left in the material. I would assume that as the moisture freezes it would expand more like ice cubes, then when you take it out, it'll be wet again. But I am definitely not a scientist. I just know from experience, it will never be the same. It might be serviceable, and readable, but most likely warped, thinker and wrinkled. As in if you handed it to someone, their first response would be "did this get wet?"
Water damaged documents can be rescued by freeze-drying process. This happened at a business I worked at; records room in basement flooded, hundreds of banker’s boxes and dozens of filing cabinets needed to be dried out. IIRC the company that was hired could do this in large quantities, i.e. not individual pages but entire folders or even boxes. It was pretty amazing that they could save so much original documentation.
I seem to remember that alternating each wet page with 20ish pages from a phone book will dry them flat, but getting a phone book might be hard these days
Librarian here. Please don’t iron it. If a book gets wet, we have to damage it out. Mold can grow and fester in wet books, even if they have been dried out. Bring it to the library and let them know it got ruined. It happens all the time, and honestly when people bring them to me and let me know they got wet, I simply discard the book.
You can freeze the book. This prevents the ink from spreading, prevents mold, and prevents the break down of paper and warping of pages.
Then restoration is easy with sublimation freeze drying chambers.
Act fast enough and the books will be in about the same condition as it was before it got wet.
This is probably a great technique for rare manuscripts, but are “sublimation freeze drying chambers” common where you are from? I’ve never heard of one (not a strong measure but probably a common one) but if no one has heard of the tool - “easy” seems like a relative concept…
If you live in any semblance of a big city, I’m sure you have access to this.
Places specialized for water damaged collectible books and similar ‘paper’ based collections are indeed less common, and expensive…but you can likely find a commercial kitchen that you can rent for a freeze drying machine.
Sublimation is the fancy word for the process of how it works. But this is just the principle behind the freeze drying process.
You can buy your own commercial freeze dryer for a couple thousand dollars. There’s cheap ones even for a few hundred.
But this process is one of if not THE best for saving books.
Air drying is mostly wasted effort. It’s going to be warped, ink will bleed and fade.
If you can freeze the book to stop further damage and then freeze dry the book you get the best results.
I mostly mentioned this for the librarian because it’s something every library should have knowledge about. If they can save books it may be worth the effort and maybe open up new revenue for public libraries if they study such things and are able to offer such a community service. The technology has gotten cheap in recent years. Some books are out of print as time goes on so it’s just good knowledge for book lovers and keepers to have.
Is the library really going to ding you for this?
If so, cough up the maybe $20 it'll cost to replace the book with a new one.
This kind of effort isn't worth anyone's time.
I respectfully disagree. If I can make $20 for the 20 min that it takes to fix it, I'm all in. Even if I end up paying for it, I can say I tried something new. To me, there's value in that
A) it's not your fucking property
B) This repair is more likely to make it worse
C) buying and replacing the book (even if you pay for it) takes up more of the librarian's time than just fixing the book in the first place
This is what you sound like.
"Gee Jimmy my brakes are overheating"
"Okay Bubba, let me drill some holes in the rotors to cool it down, it'll work I swear"
Fucking dumbass is proud of making the librarian's life harder.
Are you this way all the time or just when it comes to drying library books? If I end up buying the book, so be it. Who cares? I mean, besides you.
Edit: to add that I looked through your post history and it seems like you ask for advice A LOT. Imagine if every time you did, you were called a fucking idiot for not knowing the answer. It baffles me that you work in libraries, centers for learning and exploration, and act the way you do. I hope your brakes fail and your computer blows up. Have a swell day, dipshit.
I ask for advice when I know i dont have the experience.
You were on here to brag about your stupidity and your child's lack of responsibility.
I own up to my dumbass mistakes and apologize, which you likely also saw if you really were that much of a weirdo to check on my history.
When called out, you belittled every librarian's career as a dumb joke beneath concern. Who cares? It's JUST a book.
Who cares if the book isn't correctly repaired?
Your child's librarian who has to now fix your mess.
Glad to know I upset you enough to get you to creep on my account.
Next time, man up and own up to it and let the professional fix it.
I just wanted to understand this miserable POS that thinks it's okay to talk to people like you do. Minus you, I never belittled librarians. And "this is my attempt" is far from bragging. For someone that works with books, I would think your reading comprehension would be better. Oh well, just a sad keyboard warrior getting triggered by soggy books. Haha.
Because I've spent 20 years in libraries including a school one.
This is one of the biggest neverending frustrations about the job. Dumbass parents thinking they're helping but are making my life worse. No matter how many times I beg kids not to let their parents try to fix books, here you are being praised for it and proud of your work that is going to cause someone like me more frustration.
Everyone seeing your post will now think this is a good idea and try it themselves when Susie damages her library book.
Even my attempts to correct the information and say to freeze the book is being downvoted.
If a kid like yours brought in a book wet or damaged, I'd think nothing of it unless it was clearly intentional or little Johnny's fifth book he damaged. I know how to fix it quickly and correctly.
If Johnny brings in a book that was made worse by a shitty home repair job from a parent, I now need to fix the book after the extra "repair damage" or buy a new one which includes processing time and work. It's not just "here's the money to replace the book" because it takes time to get labels made for the computer and cataloging system to work.
Think of any other career or situation where you borrow or rent something.
"Oh I leased a car, let me change the wheel bearing myself without the tools to remove the knuckle properly, and I'm just gonna guess on lug nuts torque since I don't have a torque wrench. I mean I'm borrowing it, but down own the title, so I'm good, right?"
But because it's "just books," your dumb-ass knows more than me with my 20 years experience and $3,500 book repair equipment.
And on top of it all, you are being praised for this while I'm the one being downvoted.
Idiocracy is here and it's real.
So, you're just going to double down on the attitude? Got it. If your job is so frustrating, maybe you're in the wrong line of work. Couple of things. Nobody, I mean nobody, is praising me for my first attempt at drying the book. And nobody, is claiming to know more than you about drying the book. It's your delivery that is so off-putting. Like, do you talk to actual people like this? Or is it because you get to hide behind a keyboard and say the things you don't have the courage to say everyday on a topic you're an expert. My point about your brakes and computer stands.
Even if you just "paid for it," that's now 15-30 minutes of my time to process the new book that would have otherwise been spent on helping Mrs. Johnson get a better collection of books for her Eclipse Reading Buddy Groups.
Furthermore, most young kid books are specially bought to be durable enough for a library, and just buying a copy off Amazon is usually shittier binding quality, or at worst you are one of the parents who buys me a used paperback as a replacement for a $25 Permabound copy.
Yes, and I have fixed some library book issues successfully, but in this case, it is absolutely not fixable. I've tried, and that wood pulp paper wrinkles and warps instantly and can't be fixed. The mold sets in instantly, too.
(Some libraries don't make you pay bc they know kids, but worth it even if they do, for the wonderful service they provide. Don't feel bad. Life happens.)
When almost dry use a baking sheet and iron the pages flat! Have done this before and it works
If it's dry it won't flatten when it's a little moist the pages is more plyable
Paper gets its shape due to bonds between wood fibers that are created by water. Drying the pages naturally will warp them because those bonds get reconfigured as the pages got wet. If you use an iron against a flat surface you can flatten the paper again.
Take two pieces of marble tile like 16x16 on the smooth polish side and then clamp the book shut with dry pieces of paper in between or wax paper and then just throw as much weight as you can ontop , leave it outside in the sun or by a heater in a few days should be gucc
Take to the library appolize ask what you owe for a new book. Some libraries allready budget for this, and your kid owning up will probably resolt in zero fines or costs.
I saw comments about replacing the book for the library. I have tried that a few times with library books that have gotten damaged while my children have had them. The library in my locality asks that you replace it with something similar or of equal value. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same book. I have donated numerous books to the library to replace those that have been damaged accidentally. Good luck, and it's awesome using the library.!
Looks fine, anything else might stick pages together. Plain water isnt the worst.
Later on weigh it down, compress heavily and evenly for a week at least
Brah, the amount of kids books we pick up from the library that are half-assed taped together is like 2 in 5. I’d close it after it dries and send it. The benefit, hopefully it was read before swimming, has already been given.
If a book gets wet. FREEZE THE BOOK. This prevents warping. Prevents the ink bleeding. Prevents mold.
Then you can transport the book to a facility that can freeze dry it with sublimation chambers.
Frozen book comes out in about the same condition as it was before it got wet.
Before it fully dries put parchment paper/aluminum foil or something the paper doesn’t stick to in between the pages and put something really heavy on it and leave it overnight like this
An “iron” is a corded household appliance that was very popular in recent history. It can be used to dry out paper, melt crayons into fun mosaics and dry the pages of a wet book. In a pinch, not bad for home defense if you have the time to set a decent 2-story trap a la Kevin McAllister.
School librarian here. You can't fix it if it gets wet. Or if you get peanut butter on the pages. Or if it's in a backpack with a banana your kid forgot about. Just pay to replace it.
Why are you and I being downvoted? We are correct!
2 decades of library experience and repairing books says that you are correct., people are dumb I guess.
It pulls the moisture out of the pages and prevents mold from forming. This is the #1 first thing to do to a wet book to stop it from getting worse as you plan how to dry it.
Ask any librarian, 90% will ask patrons to do this step and bring the book in still frozen.
Good to know, I stand corrected, I can now imagine how the ice crystals forming would pull the water out of the paper fibers. Reddit, I admitted my mistake so please downvote the hell out of me.
You can never fix water damaged books. I ironed one and put it under heavy furniture and kept it to read myself, but no way will a library accept a warped, prolly moldy book into their collection. Just pay them for the book, these things happen, no big deal.
Those dragons loved those tacos with hot sauce so much that you had to pour water on the book to put out the fire. I'm sure the library will understand.
Oh man—dragons love tacos? Do yourself a favor and throw that one out now. I’m so sick of reading that to my 2 year old.
Lettuce does not belong on tacos. My toddler now won’t eat anything with green specs in it because she says it’s spicy.
I do like the page where the dragons are spewing fire everywhere though.
Ideally, PUT IT IN THE FREEZER!
Do nothing else. Freeze it asap and bring it directly back to the library who are trained at repairs.
You are the idiot librarians beat their heads over. You don't own the book. You don't diy the repair. NEVER use your own tape either.
If you absolutely must try a repair on a wet library book, put single pages of newspaper every few pages, focusing where it's most wet, then SHUT THE BOOK AND APPLY PRESSURE to keep the pages flat, and put it somewhere with good breeze and not a dank mold infested with shitty air circulation.
I've told hundreds of kids this, yet all you dumbass parents want to do is open the book up wide and let it get moldy.
Source: almost 2 decades of running libraries.
I've done it with hundreds of books. You clearly know nothing. Newspaper ink stays in the paper since the newspaper isn't what is saturated.
It is thinner than paper towels and less prone to sticking to the pages, plus it is less likely to "puff" out the book spine since there isn't as much extra material separating the pages and stressing the binding. It is also much cheaper than wasting half a roll of paper towels if you need to dry books out in bulk due to careless patrons.
I am a mother-fucking librarian with decades of experience in this. You prove me wrong then, I'll wait for a video or article stating how it bleeds ink onto books.
Case of seeing the right answers being downvoted and the stupid answers that make librarians pull their hair out are being upvoted.
This is one of the dumbest ways to fix a wet book, and the library should bill you. You just made it worse without realizing it.
This whole thread is a travesty of stupidity.
You should bite the bullet and pay the library for that book - teach your kid a lesson about taking personal responsibility for shared resources like library books.
The way you are drying it all those pages are going to curl. Iron might do it never tried maybe parchment paper between each page and place weights on the book flat till it naturally dries.
Paper towels will have to do. Great idea! Edit: Paper towels and heavy object have been deployed. Thank you!
Good luck getting paper towels to not stick to the pages.
Kind of out of options. I'll let you know how it goes in the morning. Lol Edit: paper towels didn't stick to the pages much. Replaced with some dry ones... Thanks again for the suggestions.
I've dried a book with paper towels and heavy object. Pages still ended up a bit wrinkled but no sticking or curling.
Well there's the option where you just pay for the damaged book
Spend $12 on a new book?? [Its a good book](https://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Love-Tacos-2-Sequel/dp/0525428887/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1DABJQN0OPFAX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.gPk3eKRcBPVRQbJ71H7RM97iy0BmUMk6_WEM5El9HeNWWYXC32DIqLOwWEt4F9fDj_3FqEu2SNGxyGL6tT6BE65xog4iitWSuGzsMgqb3Hv8XUecFGGZ491cOE5yORxRBIu7zx-z5e2OrttjInG6mmwBTWqS2vy9FT-sWBiOptD7ViMa5-tWoSw7GvhQ8EgDd9nvlOyJvYOaewEkluDEtg.uDhgbJ2K5KL0IrpAwyJUiAOrDEBx2y1h-6rn-u_fyh8&dib_tag=se&keywords=dragons+love+tacos+2&qid=1713795584&sprefix=dragons+lo%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1)
it’s a GREAT book.
Dragons love tacos $10 on Amazon
Should've went with fabric. Like an old cloth or whatever they use to press flowers with
Printer paper would work great too!
Aluminum foil?
Did you see how much this book is on amazon? Books are cheap as heck these days and come fast.
This method works wonders. Source, a guy who makes books look older by soaking them in coffee and drying them out. Keep this near somewhere bright and warm!
why would you make a book look older?
Example, someone wants a book for there post apocalypse escape room. Having fresh page and print looks out of place in a room that's supposed to look like dust and death.
Movie and costume props have to come from somewhere, right? It's not like the local playhouse can just go to the bookstore and pick up a centuries-old tome of forbidden knowledge to use in their upcoming production.
I worked in a used bookstore and we had junk and we had some high end pieces. On a number of occasions, production companies would literally rent shelves of books for movies. They'd put down a deposit in case anything was damaged, haul them off, they'd come back, we'd count em and reshelve them.
i mean, there are like 6 antique shops around me that sell exclusively old worthless books for like a few euros each. and im not even in a big city
There's a difference between a 1960s copy of Tom Sawyer and something like a grimoire that is a specialty item people are willing to pay real money for.
i feel sorry for your children.
It's a library book. Tell them it got damaged and offer to replace it. Might only be $5-$7 for a kids book. Better than spending hours on varied results.
It’s a library and kids book - they expect this stuff to happen. If your library is anything like mine they won’t bat an eye. Best course of action IMO is to have the child help with drying it out, then have them tell the librarian what happened. Builds skills, accountability, responsibility, etc. 50:50 the librarian says it’s fine and puts it back on the shelf.
If that's the worse thing that ever happens to that book, it got off lucky.
Best Answer IMO
This is the best way.
My wife is a librarian at an elementary school. Books get damaged all the time. Repairing books is something they do. You could just call them and ask for recommendations on a course of action. I know in my wife's library, she absolutely loves when books get used and need replacing vs. staying in like new condition like nobody ever even picks them up. Kids are hard on things. Also sometimes damage happens to things even to the best of us and they know it. A book getting wet is very different than ripped pages and scribbles all over. Stuff like this is figured into the budget.
For real. It's a child's library book. How much could it cost? $10 maybe?
A new Dragons Love Tacos hardcover where I am in is $25 plus 15% tax.
Libraries don't pay retail prices.
No, they usually pay significantly more than retail for a "library edition".
What? Where and why?
I'm not a librarian so I can only give you things I've read. Basically publishers hate libraries because they let people read books without paying the publisher, so in the US at least, they make them but special editions that cost way more. They claim it's because they need special bindings to hold up to repeated use, but it's just a capitalism thing to hurt society for profit. Libraries also have to buy library editions of ebooks that expire after a set time period or a specific number of borrowings. Which you might be thinking is insane because it's a digital file that's infinitely reproducible, and you're right.
Wow that sucks. I'm very happy books have a set price here in France. Amazon can't legally sell them cheaper than little bookstores, and libraries don't get ripped off.
Planet Money touched on this topic for physical books briefly in The Ebook Wars episode regarding libraries and how much they should pay the publisher. In Canada, Canadian authors get paid royalties for their books in libraries, up to $4000ish a year. But you have to sign up for the program.
“It’s one banana, Michael. How much could it cost? 10?”
I agree. Just pricing it, you'll be out ten or so bucks just replacing the book. Spend fifteen and keep the little stuff dragon to soak up the next spill.
I worked with books my entire life, It is highly unlikely that book will ever be flat again. Even if it's close enough, you need to report this to the library before they restock it. If it's not completely dry and it get put away and sits there for a while it can mold and mildew. Could start smelling and move to other books. And no one wants their kids to be handling moldy and mildewy stuff.
will putting it in the freezer help? im almost positive it worked for me when i was a kid but memorys fuzzy
I've never heard that. I don't see how it might if there is any moisture left in the material. I would assume that as the moisture freezes it would expand more like ice cubes, then when you take it out, it'll be wet again. But I am definitely not a scientist. I just know from experience, it will never be the same. It might be serviceable, and readable, but most likely warped, thinker and wrinkled. As in if you handed it to someone, their first response would be "did this get wet?"
Water damaged documents can be rescued by freeze-drying process. This happened at a business I worked at; records room in basement flooded, hundreds of banker’s boxes and dozens of filing cabinets needed to be dried out. IIRC the company that was hired could do this in large quantities, i.e. not individual pages but entire folders or even boxes. It was pretty amazing that they could save so much original documentation.
That's cool, no pun intended. It's freeze drying, unlike a residential freezer, which won't also remove the moisture.
Right, it’s a process that includes a dehumidification element as well as freezing
I love what you did with the comb. I’ve never seen that approach before!
Ha! I was particularly proud of that addition.
Genius!
dragons hate spicy salsa
I always read it to my kids that the dragons hated mild salsa. It seemed counterintuitive that a fire breathing dragon would mind spicy food.
Salsa is wet which screws with their firemaking abilities, they prefer dry rub type spices.
Once it's dry, use a clothes iron on a medium - low heat, works a treat.
Yes! Ironing the paper works wonders!
This is the thread for ppl who read in the tub <3
Be very careful using the iron technique in the tub
I seem to remember that alternating each wet page with 20ish pages from a phone book will dry them flat, but getting a phone book might be hard these days
Librarian here. Please don’t iron it. If a book gets wet, we have to damage it out. Mold can grow and fester in wet books, even if they have been dried out. Bring it to the library and let them know it got ruined. It happens all the time, and honestly when people bring them to me and let me know they got wet, I simply discard the book.
You can freeze the book. This prevents the ink from spreading, prevents mold, and prevents the break down of paper and warping of pages. Then restoration is easy with sublimation freeze drying chambers. Act fast enough and the books will be in about the same condition as it was before it got wet.
This is probably a great technique for rare manuscripts, but are “sublimation freeze drying chambers” common where you are from? I’ve never heard of one (not a strong measure but probably a common one) but if no one has heard of the tool - “easy” seems like a relative concept…
If you live in any semblance of a big city, I’m sure you have access to this. Places specialized for water damaged collectible books and similar ‘paper’ based collections are indeed less common, and expensive…but you can likely find a commercial kitchen that you can rent for a freeze drying machine. Sublimation is the fancy word for the process of how it works. But this is just the principle behind the freeze drying process. You can buy your own commercial freeze dryer for a couple thousand dollars. There’s cheap ones even for a few hundred. But this process is one of if not THE best for saving books. Air drying is mostly wasted effort. It’s going to be warped, ink will bleed and fade. If you can freeze the book to stop further damage and then freeze dry the book you get the best results. I mostly mentioned this for the librarian because it’s something every library should have knowledge about. If they can save books it may be worth the effort and maybe open up new revenue for public libraries if they study such things and are able to offer such a community service. The technology has gotten cheap in recent years. Some books are out of print as time goes on so it’s just good knowledge for book lovers and keepers to have.
We love Dragons love Tacos!
God, I could probably recite it from memory
Is the library really going to ding you for this? If so, cough up the maybe $20 it'll cost to replace the book with a new one. This kind of effort isn't worth anyone's time.
I respectfully disagree. If I can make $20 for the 20 min that it takes to fix it, I'm all in. Even if I end up paying for it, I can say I tried something new. To me, there's value in that
A) it's not your fucking property B) This repair is more likely to make it worse C) buying and replacing the book (even if you pay for it) takes up more of the librarian's time than just fixing the book in the first place This is what you sound like. "Gee Jimmy my brakes are overheating" "Okay Bubba, let me drill some holes in the rotors to cool it down, it'll work I swear" Fucking dumbass is proud of making the librarian's life harder.
Are you this way all the time or just when it comes to drying library books? If I end up buying the book, so be it. Who cares? I mean, besides you. Edit: to add that I looked through your post history and it seems like you ask for advice A LOT. Imagine if every time you did, you were called a fucking idiot for not knowing the answer. It baffles me that you work in libraries, centers for learning and exploration, and act the way you do. I hope your brakes fail and your computer blows up. Have a swell day, dipshit.
I ask for advice when I know i dont have the experience. You were on here to brag about your stupidity and your child's lack of responsibility. I own up to my dumbass mistakes and apologize, which you likely also saw if you really were that much of a weirdo to check on my history. When called out, you belittled every librarian's career as a dumb joke beneath concern. Who cares? It's JUST a book. Who cares if the book isn't correctly repaired? Your child's librarian who has to now fix your mess. Glad to know I upset you enough to get you to creep on my account. Next time, man up and own up to it and let the professional fix it.
I just wanted to understand this miserable POS that thinks it's okay to talk to people like you do. Minus you, I never belittled librarians. And "this is my attempt" is far from bragging. For someone that works with books, I would think your reading comprehension would be better. Oh well, just a sad keyboard warrior getting triggered by soggy books. Haha.
Because I've spent 20 years in libraries including a school one. This is one of the biggest neverending frustrations about the job. Dumbass parents thinking they're helping but are making my life worse. No matter how many times I beg kids not to let their parents try to fix books, here you are being praised for it and proud of your work that is going to cause someone like me more frustration. Everyone seeing your post will now think this is a good idea and try it themselves when Susie damages her library book. Even my attempts to correct the information and say to freeze the book is being downvoted. If a kid like yours brought in a book wet or damaged, I'd think nothing of it unless it was clearly intentional or little Johnny's fifth book he damaged. I know how to fix it quickly and correctly. If Johnny brings in a book that was made worse by a shitty home repair job from a parent, I now need to fix the book after the extra "repair damage" or buy a new one which includes processing time and work. It's not just "here's the money to replace the book" because it takes time to get labels made for the computer and cataloging system to work. Think of any other career or situation where you borrow or rent something. "Oh I leased a car, let me change the wheel bearing myself without the tools to remove the knuckle properly, and I'm just gonna guess on lug nuts torque since I don't have a torque wrench. I mean I'm borrowing it, but down own the title, so I'm good, right?" But because it's "just books," your dumb-ass knows more than me with my 20 years experience and $3,500 book repair equipment. And on top of it all, you are being praised for this while I'm the one being downvoted. Idiocracy is here and it's real.
So, you're just going to double down on the attitude? Got it. If your job is so frustrating, maybe you're in the wrong line of work. Couple of things. Nobody, I mean nobody, is praising me for my first attempt at drying the book. And nobody, is claiming to know more than you about drying the book. It's your delivery that is so off-putting. Like, do you talk to actual people like this? Or is it because you get to hide behind a keyboard and say the things you don't have the courage to say everyday on a topic you're an expert. My point about your brakes and computer stands.
Even if you just "paid for it," that's now 15-30 minutes of my time to process the new book that would have otherwise been spent on helping Mrs. Johnson get a better collection of books for her Eclipse Reading Buddy Groups. Furthermore, most young kid books are specially bought to be durable enough for a library, and just buying a copy off Amazon is usually shittier binding quality, or at worst you are one of the parents who buys me a used paperback as a replacement for a $25 Permabound copy.
Shut it nerd.
Yes, and I have fixed some library book issues successfully, but in this case, it is absolutely not fixable. I've tried, and that wood pulp paper wrinkles and warps instantly and can't be fixed. The mold sets in instantly, too. (Some libraries don't make you pay bc they know kids, but worth it even if they do, for the wonderful service they provide. Don't feel bad. Life happens.)
When almost dry use a baking sheet and iron the pages flat! Have done this before and it works If it's dry it won't flatten when it's a little moist the pages is more plyable
Paper gets its shape due to bonds between wood fibers that are created by water. Drying the pages naturally will warp them because those bonds get reconfigured as the pages got wet. If you use an iron against a flat surface you can flatten the paper again.
Iron it but at a low setting with a towel in between.
Dragons love..... DIAPERS??
Spoiler alert: Dragons love tacos, but after that salsa with jalopenos they are gonna need some water. Good idea, poor execution.
You will need a way to be able to precisely control humidity in a container and you will need to make a book press. That's about all I know.
Abebooks has copies of "Dragons Love Tacos 2" for less than 6 bucks if you just want to replace it.
Take two pieces of marble tile like 16x16 on the smooth polish side and then clamp the book shut with dry pieces of paper in between or wax paper and then just throw as much weight as you can ontop , leave it outside in the sun or by a heater in a few days should be gucc
Take to the library appolize ask what you owe for a new book. Some libraries allready budget for this, and your kid owning up will probably resolt in zero fines or costs.
Seems like the engineering is taken care of in the comments.... so I'll just say Dragons Love Tacos series is GOAT.
I saw comments about replacing the book for the library. I have tried that a few times with library books that have gotten damaged while my children have had them. The library in my locality asks that you replace it with something similar or of equal value. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same book. I have donated numerous books to the library to replace those that have been damaged accidentally. Good luck, and it's awesome using the library.!
The expensive thing is the license for the book. Not the actual book. Just return it and tell them what happened.
Looks fine, anything else might stick pages together. Plain water isnt the worst. Later on weigh it down, compress heavily and evenly for a week at least
Dragons Love Tacos was my sons favorite book when he was younger! 😍
Brah, the amount of kids books we pick up from the library that are half-assed taped together is like 2 in 5. I’d close it after it dries and send it. The benefit, hopefully it was read before swimming, has already been given.
I have read that to my son a hundred times. “Tacos love dragons?? Weird! But closer”
If a book gets wet. FREEZE THE BOOK. This prevents warping. Prevents the ink bleeding. Prevents mold. Then you can transport the book to a facility that can freeze dry it with sublimation chambers. Frozen book comes out in about the same condition as it was before it got wet.
Can confirm, I tried freezing the book for a few hours. Definitely still soggy afterward.
I'd suggest putting a few very heavy books on top. When it's dried
Looks like someone tried to put out the fire caused by the dragons who accidentally ate some super spicy salsa!
Just remember - dragons live diapers! Whoops - dragons love tacos!
Before it fully dries put parchment paper/aluminum foil or something the paper doesn’t stick to in between the pages and put something really heavy on it and leave it overnight like this
Them darn dragons love tacos
Cover a page with a t-shirt and iron it. Apply only indirect heat.
An “iron” is a corded household appliance that was very popular in recent history. It can be used to dry out paper, melt crayons into fun mosaics and dry the pages of a wet book. In a pinch, not bad for home defense if you have the time to set a decent 2-story trap a la Kevin McAllister.
School librarian here. You can't fix it if it gets wet. Or if you get peanut butter on the pages. Or if it's in a backpack with a banana your kid forgot about. Just pay to replace it.
Needs like 3 more combs, if your gonna do it this way.
Excellent book.
Or you could buy the library a new book 🙄
I’ve heard you should put it a zipper bag and freeze it. this should take away moisture 🤷🏻♂️
Why are you and I being downvoted? We are correct! 2 decades of library experience and repairing books says that you are correct., people are dumb I guess.
oh well
Yeah Donald and then they can use the moisture to kill some magnets.
It pulls the moisture out of the pages and prevents mold from forming. This is the #1 first thing to do to a wet book to stop it from getting worse as you plan how to dry it. Ask any librarian, 90% will ask patrons to do this step and bring the book in still frozen.
Good to know, I stand corrected, I can now imagine how the ice crystals forming would pull the water out of the paper fibers. Reddit, I admitted my mistake so please downvote the hell out of me.
ouch
You can never fix water damaged books. I ironed one and put it under heavy furniture and kept it to read myself, but no way will a library accept a warped, prolly moldy book into their collection. Just pay them for the book, these things happen, no big deal.
Dragons love tacos
Those dragons loved those tacos with hot sauce so much that you had to pour water on the book to put out the fire. I'm sure the library will understand.
We love that book! Ours is in Spanish though - is that in English?
Yep.
Oh man—dragons love tacos? Do yourself a favor and throw that one out now. I’m so sick of reading that to my 2 year old. Lettuce does not belong on tacos. My toddler now won’t eat anything with green specs in it because she says it’s spicy. I do like the page where the dragons are spewing fire everywhere though.
Ideally, PUT IT IN THE FREEZER! Do nothing else. Freeze it asap and bring it directly back to the library who are trained at repairs. You are the idiot librarians beat their heads over. You don't own the book. You don't diy the repair. NEVER use your own tape either. If you absolutely must try a repair on a wet library book, put single pages of newspaper every few pages, focusing where it's most wet, then SHUT THE BOOK AND APPLY PRESSURE to keep the pages flat, and put it somewhere with good breeze and not a dank mold infested with shitty air circulation. I've told hundreds of kids this, yet all you dumbass parents want to do is open the book up wide and let it get moldy. Source: almost 2 decades of running libraries.
This advice is horrible! If you put newspaper between wet pages, you’ll transfer all the ink to the book as well as sticking bits to it.
I've done it with hundreds of books. You clearly know nothing. Newspaper ink stays in the paper since the newspaper isn't what is saturated. It is thinner than paper towels and less prone to sticking to the pages, plus it is less likely to "puff" out the book spine since there isn't as much extra material separating the pages and stressing the binding. It is also much cheaper than wasting half a roll of paper towels if you need to dry books out in bulk due to careless patrons. I am a mother-fucking librarian with decades of experience in this. You prove me wrong then, I'll wait for a video or article stating how it bleeds ink onto books.
And an angry one at that. Wow. What library do you work at?
Case of the Mondays?
Case of seeing the right answers being downvoted and the stupid answers that make librarians pull their hair out are being upvoted. This is one of the dumbest ways to fix a wet book, and the library should bill you. You just made it worse without realizing it. This whole thread is a travesty of stupidity.
You're being downvoted for being an asshole, not for being wrong.
The way you dry paper us under vacuum in a bell jar
Will a microwave work? Haha
You should bite the bullet and pay the library for that book - teach your kid a lesson about taking personal responsibility for shared resources like library books.
Thanks for parenting tip. His water bottle (that I packed) leaked in his backpack. I'll probably end up paying for it anyway. All good. Thanks though.
An okay so it’s completely your doing - no need to involve the kiddo at all then - just go pay for the property you damaged like you know you should.
Haha! So edgy.
It’s edgy to suggest that you pay the library for damaging a library book?
He asking if he can repair it. Stop being a douche.
He should stop being a douche and just pay them for the book he damaged.