Tag Archives: Kasie Janssen

Playing Favorites: Lab Staff Share Their Most-Loved Treatments & Projects

To celebrate national Preservation Week (April 25 – May1, 2021), staff at the Preservation Lab are sharing the following answers to the question below as they reflect upon the wealth of library resources located in the Cincinnati community:

What is your favorite treatment or project that you have worked on in the Lab?

Jessica Ebert:

Learning a new photographic imaging technique, RTI

In April of 2017 I had the amazing opportunity of attending a 4-day workshop at Yale University to learn Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) from the experts at Cultural Heritage Imaging. It was one of the most exciting experiences of my career, and when I came back to the Lab to show the staff what I had learned, Aller Bucher Und Schrifften volume from Martin Luther was one of the first items we captured with RTI. I remember that moment when Catarina and I completed the capture and processed the images – we were just in awe of everything we could see with RTI that we couldn’t under normal illumination. Since then, we’ve made changes to our equipment and our workflow, so now the results are even better than they were back then…but this will always be my favorite.

The left side of the image shows the front cover under normal illumination, or what you see with your naked eye, whereas the right side is a RTI generated image using the specular enhancement mode.
This generated snapshot illustrates the Static Multi Light mode. Below the center panel that features a portrait of Martin Luther you can see “1571”, and above the panel you can see “ID”, both of which are virtually impossible to see in the normal illumination image.

Catarina Figueirinhas:

Treatment of Diseases of the Sexual Organs, Male and Female from the Winkler Center

Of all the projects I have worked on at the Preservation Lab, this item is by far one of my ultimate favorite treatments I was able to perform. This book was brought to the Preservation Lab in poor condition. The book had no binding, the text block was split in multiple areas, the sewing was broken, and several pages of the text block where either torn or had extensive loss. In addition, most of the text block showed signs of water damage. Since this book was in such poor condition and the curator of the collection wanted the book to be handled by scholars and the public, it was necessary to do a full conservation treatment.

I was thrilled when I got assigned to this book treatment. I love to work on any book, but the more complicated or involved treatments the better and this was definitely the case. In this treatment, I was able to repair the text block, reduce some of the tideline staining, fill losses and resew the entire text block, while also creating a new binding (called a split board binding) that is strong and flexible to allow such a heavy book to be read.

Before Treatment – Initial condition of the book when it was received by the Preservation Lab. The text block was split, the sewing was broken, and several pages were torn or had paper loss.
After Treatment – Conservation treatment complete. After the text block was repaired and resewn, the book received a new split board binding that allowed the heavy book to be read while mitigating further damage.
After Treatment – The new split board binding provided the book a more flexible opening.

This treatment took a long time to complete, and to this day it is still one of the projects that I have enjoyed the most. Click here to see the complete treatment report and all the photographic documentation. To learn more about conservation split board bindings, check out the Preservation Lab blog post by Kasie and Jessica.

Kasie Janssen:

Iron gall ink treatment of the CHPL Jones Account Book

Washing and rebinding treatments are always a favorite when they come across my bench, as they allow a highly damaged item to become usable and accessible once again. An account book of Jones and Rammelsberg offered one such treatment as it came to the lab with a myriad of issues: a damaged book block without a binding, corroding iron gall ink, previous mold damage, and a shocking amount of pest evidence. The treatment is incredibly memorable because to tackle the issues of aging iron gall ink I was able wash the pages of the book block using a calcium phytate bath to stabilize the manuscript. Once the washing was complete, I was able to resew and rebind the book block, making it whole, functional, and protected once again. It is rare and special to have done such an involved treatment, but in this case the in-depth steps allowed previous damage to be treated and helped remedy the inherent vice of aging materials.

The book block before treatment was highly damaged, so much so, that it was difficult for library patrons and staff to access and use the item without a cover.
Handling the book, you’d never know the hours of labor that went into the treatment (including learning!), but its functional form makes it ready for use once again.

Curious about what some of this process looks like? Check out our Preservation Lab Instagram, @thepreservationlab, and see our Phytate Treatment Stories!

Holly Prochaska:

Creating the Italian ledger binding for our teaching model collection

The lab creates a lot of models. Many of these models are made in preparation for treatments. However, some models are created with instruction or engagement in mind. These models, such as the Italian stationery binding (laminated archival bind) I created, help illustrate the history of the book as its form and manufacturing process change over time. Check out the model at the blog entry where you can see a video of the binding being handled. Follow the instructions on the blog make you very own, and in the future, come see it for yourself when our in-person open houses resume in the future.

View of the cover fully opened that shows the overband lacing pattern, the front fore edge flap, and the buckle clasp.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer:

Treatment of a Haggadah owned by Hebrew Union College

I particularly enjoy the problem solving nature of special collection treatments and thus, my “favorite” treatment is usually the one I’m working on. Currently, I’m treating a Haggadah owned by Hebrew Union College that dates to 1526 or 1527. While I’ve treated other haggadahs from HUC, including this one, this project involved iron gall ink treatment AND rebinding a textblock with two different sized leaves, or pages, into its original historic leather cover. Because the binding had been previously treated and reformatted with materials that did not age well, collaboration with the librarians at HUC required exploration into whether we wanted to re-create the past reformatting option with longer lasting materials, or perhaps, explore a new option altogether. Before we committed to a solution, I created a model to test out a new option since unanticipated questions or outcomes often arise during experimental pursuits. For that reason, it’s better to problem solve on a model, rather than on an actual special collection material. In the end, the librarians and I were happy with the results of the new option, and I’m currently at the stage where I’m ready to start rebinding the pages of the actual object.

The top image shows the book open to smaller sized printed leaves before treatment. Leaves are previously reformatted with yellowed tape along the edges, attached to larger paper frames. Paper frames are cockled and distorted. The middle image shows a detail of untrimmed, full-size manuscript leaves. The bottom image shows the fore edge of the binding before treatment.
These images show the model that explores a solution to encapsulate the smaller pages into polyester sleeves that could be sewn into the binding next to the larger pages. This required staff to weld polyester sleeves with paper hinges that could be sewn through like a gathering.
The image shows the binding ready for resewing with its new encapsulated leaves, or pages, next to the created model.

Hyacinth Tucker:

Treatment of Shakspere’s Seven Ages illustrated by James Landy

Not only was this piece based on a favorite subject of mine (I love Shakespeare!), this was a historic photograph treatment I was able to handle with just a little guidance. I was able to properly identify the photographic elements on the first try, performed a surface cleaning on the piece, and created my very first cloth-covered clamshell and cradle to house it. It was such a wealth of learning experiences within one project, which is the best part of my work!

Before cleaning; albumen card (note the finger prints in the upper right corner). The image depicts the photographer as a soldier.
Cloth-covered clamshell exterior.
Cloth-covered clamshell interior, with piece opened to surface cleaned soldier image in integrated cradle.

Chris Voynovich:

Constructing a custom cloth-covered enclosure to house the Public Library’s William S. Porter Collection of photographs

One of my favorite aspects of the job here, in the lab, is designing and creating custom enclosures. This collection of rare daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes is an example of adapting a standard cloth covered clamshell to accommodate a collection. I created two trays with pull tabs that are removable for easy access and display. Each photograph has its own tuxedo box and is set in polyethylene foam (Volara) for protection. The tuxedo box enclosures are identical in size to reduce confusion while repacking. Check out this blog created by Jessica that shows a gif of the enclosure opening and closing, and this blog post showing a similar enclosure I created for a dairy collection.

View of the opened cloth-covered clamshell with the two removeable trays in place. The trays contain the collection of cased photographs in tuxedo boxes with labels for easy identification.
This image shows the bottom tray partially pulled out, displaying the two larger cased photographs.

In case you missed, head over to the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s blog where Holly shared some of the Lab staff’s favorite tools and equipment yesterday.

Today at 3pm (EST) join Jessica and Catarina on the Preservation Lab’s Instagram (@thepreservationlab) for a quick, informal Instagram Live.

Then tomorrow, make sure to tune into the Public Library’s Instagram (@cincylibrary) at 12pm (EST) for an in-depth Instagram Live event where Catarina and Jessica will be sharing treatments they are currently working on; giving you a behind-the-scenes look and answering all your questions “Live in the Lab”.

Finally, Friday a new video will be posted on the Preservation Lab’s YouTube channel.

Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer [CHPL] – Rare Book and Paper Conservator, Lab Co-Manager

Save the Date: Virtual Lab Tour 1/26 at noon!

The Lab will be offering a virtual lab tour on Tuesday, January 26^th at noon (EST). The Facebook Live event will be hosted on the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s Facebook page. Staff will give a tour of all of our most used and loved areas of the lab and will highlight how we use the spaces and the equipment, tools, and supplies stored in each space. Following the tour, we will be doing a live Q&A where you can ask us any questions you might have.

We hope you can join us for our first Virtual Tour, but don’t worry if you can’t, a recording of the tour will be available after the event so that you may view it at your leisure.

Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Tech/Photographic Documentation Specialist/Student Supervisor

The Split-Board Binding: Extensive Yet Extremely Effective

We recently shared a blog post on the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s blog that serves as a companion post to this one. Both posts focus on the repair of two CHPL books, Covered Bridges and When Art Meets Design, that received split-board binding treatments carried out by Kasie. While this post focuses on the treatment itself, the other illustrates the journey of a circulating book through treatment in the lab (and at home) and its eventual return to the library. We highly recommend checking out A Journey from Broken to Mended: Repairing Books in the Preservation Lab.

As a hybrid conservation lab, we treat and house both special collection items and general circulating collection items, as well as everything in between. Special collection items are rare or archival materials that typically do not circulate; basically, books and other objects that you can’t take home with you, are out of print, valuable, and/or are less readily available locally, nationally or even globally. General circulating collections are typically books that can be checked out and taken home, and tend to be newer books, books still in print, and/or more popular books. Since we are a collaborative lab that means that we treat and house special collections and general collections from both the University of Cincinnati Libraries (UCL) and the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library (CHPL).

Due to the nature of these two types of collections (general and special), the treatment, documentation and who treats what is very different. Before the pandemic, most of the staff’s time was dedicated to special collection items or the items that fall between the two categories, which we call medium rare, and our students and volunteers, with plenty of hands-on, one-on-one training, handled the bulk of our general collection repairs. But then working from home, all or a majority of the time, became the norm for Lab staff and we had to shift focus and turn to taking on more general collection repairs that we could more easily take home with us. Initially, we took home more difficult sewing projects and mending projects that our students or volunteers either hadn’t gotten to yet or were avoiding for one reason or another. Then, after we could return to the Lab in some capacity to prep our own materials, we realized that split-board bindings* were the ideal general collections treatment for staff to work on from home.

A split-board binding is a new binding or case that incorporates several newly added reinforcement elements that are then sandwiched between two pieces of board that make up the front and back covers.

Kasie’s split board binding cutaway model

Split-board bindings are a great solution for oversized, heavy books like coffee table books and art books with glossy pages, which are very common in both UCL and CHPL general circulating collections. They are also, by far, the most complex general collections treatment we perform in the lab and have always been done by the conservation technicians, instead of our students or volunteers. This is not only because of the complexity of the treatment, but also because of the lengthy treatment time involved; a student or volunteer’s limited weekly schedule in the lab is not conducive to such an extensive treatment. Though it was a general collections treatment reserved solely for the conservation technicians, prior to March 2020 the techs unfortunately had little time to work on these treatments, as our focus was primarily on special collections treatments and housing. Therefore, we had amassed a little backlog of split-board binding treatments – enter quarantine and working from home!

One question that might come to mind, if split-board bindings are so elaborate and extensive, why do them on general collections items at all? Why not just buy a new copy; wouldn’t that be more cost effective? Typically, the books that warrant a split-board binding are more pricey, glossy paged, oversized books, like art and architecture books. And unfortunately, though these books have a much higher retail price than your average James Patterson novel, the construction is generally less than ideal. These books might have beautifully printed, full-color, thick and glossy pages and dynamic cover art, which makes them attractive to the reader, but they also are often sewn with very thin, fragile thread that easily breaks. The spines are generally lined with a layer of rigid plasticized glue that can become very brittle over time. Often, the covers or cases are constructed solely of printed paper, not cloth, and generally have a thick piece of board along the spine (which we call a flat back) that doesn’t allow the book to flex properly when opened and can actually make the spine break down and tear in record time. It is not uncommon for these books to have little to no reinforcement in the attachment of the textblock to the binding (i.e. how the block of pages is attached to the cover), which makes the heavy textblock break away from the cover quite easily with use.

But why are these books constructed so poorly? These large coffee table and art books are constructed with individual use in mind, not with the frequent use and circulation that comes with a library collection item. The split-board treatment, along with many general collection repairs, improves on a bad binding design and makes the book stronger and sturdier, using better binding techniques and materials that can better stand up to use by many library patrons.

A split-board binding treatment involves creating a new binding with new sewn-on endsheets that are reinforced with cloth, at least three sewn on linen tapes (supports), new spine linings, and a new quarter bound case created with two boards at the front cover and two at the back cover, and generally an inlaying of the original cover designs. However, additional elements of treatment may be warranted based on the condition of the book, such as broken sewing, tears, detached leaves, etc. The steps generally proceed in the following order:

Prepare materials in the Lab – new endsheets, starched reinforcing cloth, linen tapes, spine linings, binders board, bookcloth and Bristol board for inlays.
Detach textblock from cover, if needed.
Remove original spine linings, mechanically and with poultices.
If broken, remove original sewing thread and disbind textblock.
Mend any tears and guard any separated, torn or detached leaves.
Sew to include linen tape supports and new endsheets using French link stitch – whether partial/added sewing over the original sewing or complete resewing is dependent on whether the original sewing was intact or if it was broken and the textblock disbound.
Round and back spine, as needed.
New spine linings adhered to the spine:
- Reversible layer of kozo fiber tissue with wheat starch paste.
- Original stuck-on endbands, if present, or new endbands.
- Cloth reinforcement lining (Cambric) with flanges that extends past the spine on both sides.
- Several paper linings to further support the textblock.
Create “laminated flanges”, the key characteristic of a split-board binding, using the sewn on linen tapes, the flanged cloth piece adhered to the spine, and the first and last leaves of the new endsheets. Cut laminated flanges into thirds, with the center portion incorporating all the linen tapes.
If the original covers included artwork that should be retained, mechanically remove from the original boards. Remove remaining board backing with poultice.
Remove and clean the original spine.
Cut binder’s board to size – 2 pieces of board are cut for both the front and back covers (4 pieces total). The thickness of the boards used is dependent on the shoulder of the book.
Determine placement of the board and adhere the middle laminated flange segment to the top of inner board, keeping the top and bottom laminated flange segment under the inner board, unattached. Adhere the outer board to the inner, thus sandwiching the middle laminated flange section between the two boards.
If the original cover is being inlayed, create and attach an inlay border of thin Bristol board to the cover boards, as needed.
Covering the boards:
- Attach the spine cloth piece and turn in at the head and tail.
- Attach the board cloth to the upper and lower boards and turn in the edges.
Bevel the remaining laminated flanges and sewn on cloth reinforcement (Cambric) slightly and attach both, in sequence, to the inner boards.
Adhere the pastedowns and trim the remaining sewn on Cambric to roughly 1/8” – ¼”.
If there are cover inlays, adhere the inlay(s) to the cover(s) within the inlay border.
Adhere the original spine to the new spine of the case.

When completed the treatment offers a substantial amount of support to the textblock and a robust attachment of the textblock to the new case. While it is an involved treatment that requires a good amount of preparation, work and skill, the end results are worth it all, and the improvements are significant.

Treatments of this magnitude take many, many hours over the course of several weeks. Often, only a few steps of the treatment can be accomplished at a time to account for drying time, and timing out visits to the Lab. To take a sneak peak at what some of the steps of treatment look like please check out the video below:

For an example of how Kasie used a split-board binding treatment and modified it for a special collection item that came to the Lab from UC’s Winkler Center without a case, check out her blog, A Monster of a Treatment.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into a split-board binding treatment! If you did and you want to see more of what we do, and see the Lab, then please check out our Virtual Lab Tour which will take place on Tuesday, January 26^th at noon, live on the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library’s Facebook page. For forthcoming information about the Virtual Tour follow the Public Library on Facebook and follow the Lab on Instagram (@thepreservationlab).

*This treatment was originally designed at the Brigham Young University lab. Then it was brought to the University of Kansas lab by Brian Baird, where our conservator, Ashleigh Ferguson Schieszer, learned the treatment and thus brought it to the Preservation Lab.

Kasie Janssen (CHPL) – Senior Conservation Technician & Jessica Ebert (UCL) – Conservation Technician

Upcoming Facebook Live event – “Preserving Your Personal Library”

Join Preservation Lab team members, Kasie Janssen, Catarina Figueirinhas, and Jessica Ebert for a special Facebook Live event hosted by our parent institutions: the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and the University of Cincinnati Libraries. The event, entitled “Preserving Your Personal Library”, will take place on Tuesday, June 16th at 7pm.

Kasie, Catarina and Jessica will be discussing at-home preservation concerns like temperature, humidity, pests, light damage and storage. They will be providing tips and tricks on how to address these concerns in a practical way, and Catarina will be offering up step-by-step instructions on how to make a simple yet protective paper slipcase at home! You can access the event via the Public Library’s Facebook events page: https://www.facebook.com/events/317097016118724/.

We hope to see you there!

Prepare Yourself for Preservation Week: Virtual Edition

Despite working from home right now, we here at The Preservation Lab are getting very excited for ALA’s Preservation Week, which starts on Monday, April 27^th! If you are familiar with us at all, you know we love to host our annual Preservation Week Open House. We truly treasure opening the doors of our lab to the community to talk about our work caring for the collections from both the University of Cincinnati and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. And of course you might remember those delicious cookies we like to share too!

Well, I hope you are stocked with your cookies at home this year, because while our in-person open house is cancelled, we will be fully celebrating Preservation Week virtually this year!

Stay tuned throughout all of Preservation Week as we post a daily blog (right here!) to highlight some of the great things we are working on. We’ll cover the digitization of an antiphonary (and if you don’t know what that is, be sure to check out the post!); share some content and media we have been creating while working from home; have a blast from the past with a look at past Preservation Week Open House events; and more!

The Lab and our annual Preservation Week open house were recently featured in Cincinnati Magazine. You can read more about it via Twitter and on Cincinnati Magazine’s website.

Remember to follow us on Instagram @thepreservationlab, if you aren’t already!

Kasie Janssen (PLCH) – Senior Conservation Technician

A Monster of a Treatment

When this mid-19^th century Treatise on Operative Surgery came to The Preservation Lab, little did we imagine the twists and turns the treatment would take. We certainly did not expect the treatment to turn into a Frankenstein’s monster, pulling inspiration from three different types of binding structures, although this monster found more successful results than Victor Frankenstein’s.

This 1844 full leather tight-back binding came to us from The Henry R. Winkler Center. The binding was in disarray with both the front and back boards having become fully detached, with only the back board remaining. Very few spine fragments remained, but there was clear evidence of false raised bands. The leather that remained on the spine and back board was severely red rotted. The textblock was sewn on recessed cords and remained beautifully intact. The textblock consists of 360 pages containing descriptions of surgical procedures, as well as 80 illustrated plates depicting some of these techniques.
Prior to any rebinding, the placement of the false raised bands was measured and recorded; the book’s spine was cleaned; the front and back flyleaves were mended and hinged; the back cover was housed in a polyester four-flap; new endsheets were sewn onto the textblock; and the spine was lined. Several of the linings attached will bring us to the first bookbinding structure that inspiration was pulled from…

The Split Board Binding: Because of the large size of the book, a split board binding attachment was chosen to add strength to the board attachment. After the spine of the textblock was lined with Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste, creating a reversible layer, a secondary spine lining with flanges was created out of linen and attached with Jade 403 PVA. This linen is an integral part of the split board structure, as it, along with the first endsheet and sewing supports, will create the “laminated flange” that will be pasted in between the two boards (hence, split board). This flange and split board structure can be seen in the uppermost book model in the stack pictured above.
Now that the book has the structure and stability of a split board binding, we can pull from another binding structure to attach the raised supports…

The “Baggy Back” Binding: A “baggy back” structure, also referred to as a conservation case, is what will allow the spine of the binding to be formed to the spine of the textblock, without being adhered directly to it. Another way to think about it is an alternative to a hollow tube structure. Sized linen was non-adhesively shaped over the spine of the textblock, and was pasted in between the split boards on top of the laminated flanges. The open book model in the image on the left shows what a typical “baggy back” structure looks prior to casing the textblock. Comparing that to how the linen can be integrated into the split board structure, we start to see our Frankenstein’s monster take shape.
To prep for the final stages of rebinding, some elements were added to stay true to the original structure of the book. False raised bands were cut and shaped out of 4-ply mat board to mimic the shape and location of the original false raised bands. Hollow tube segments were also attached in between the false raised bands.

These spine elements will finally be covered up using inspiration from one final book structure…
The Quarter Linen Binding: The book was decided to be finished as a quarter linen binding, instead of a more historical full leather or quarter leather binding for conservation purposes. The third model referenced, shown above, depicts the end result of this style of binding. In this structure the linen is stretched over the spine of the book to add the definition of the raised bands, or in the case of this treatment, false raised bands. The linen also allows for a strong attachment between the textblock and the boards. The hollow tubes laid between the bands allow for a better opening once the linen is in place.
During this treatment the linen was stretched over the spine of the book and onto the front and back boards, making sure the linen is securely and evenly applied around all of the spine elements. The book was then secured in a tying press to ensure definition of the bands.

Turn-ins were properly secured, and the linen was trimmed to the proper length on the boards. A brown book cloth was used to cover the remainder of the boards, the color chosen to mimic the color of the original leather used in the binding. The internal flanges from the split board binding structure (as seen in the right image above), along with the pastedowns, were applied to the inner boards. And no book is complete without a stamped title and a matching cloth covered clamshell.

Using three different book structures to plan this treatment does seem like a Frankenstein’s monster of a project, but the success of the treatment pays homage to the integration of bookbinding techniques we find in book structures throughout history. And this book will certainly look like no monster when it is on display for tours at The Winkler Center.

Kasie Janssen (PLCH) – Senior Conservation Technician
Photographic Documentation by Kasie Janssen & Jessica Ebert

2019 Preservation Week Open House

Chris Voynovich discussing papyrus and paper with attendees

We celebrated Preservation Week (a week late) with our Annual Preservation Open House, and we want to thank everyone who was able to stop by! This year we took a step back through time to share a brief history of the book, starting with some examples of cuneiform tablets and ending with a modern e-reader and computer technology. By displaying our staffs‘ models of book structures through time, visitors were able to take a hands-on approach to understanding how these structures were made, used, and evolved. This is information we use to inform the work we do in preservation every day.

Examples of early codices, including clay tablets, single quires, multi-quires, wooden tablets, rolls and scrolls

14th to 19th century models

We were also able to show recent conservation projects, including a two-volume set of a 17th century German bible, which highlighted what one volume looked like before treatment and what the other looked like after treatment. Another item in the lab for treatment is an oversized missal, which received RTI to offer a closer look at the metalwork on the binding.

“An obscenely abbreviated History of the Codex by The Preservation Lab” one-page wonder

Visitors were invited to make a “One Page Wonder,” which covers an obscenely abbreviated history of the codex. We hope this little book and the hands-on interaction helped spread preservation awareness and inspire a deeper love of the book!

If you missed us this year and want to see what all the fuss is about, check out a live video posted to our UC Library Page. We hope to see you all again at next year’s Preservation Open House!

Kasie Janssen (PLCH) – Senior Conservation Technician

Meet Kasie Janssen, our newest Preservation Lab team member!

Meet Kasie Janssen, the newest addition to the Preservation Lab, located on UC’s Campus. Employed by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, she will be filling the position, Senior Conservation Assistant.
Welcome Kasie!
Chris Voynovich: What drew you to conservation?

Kasie Janssen: Actually, I was applying to go to library school at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. My initial interest was in archiving but there was not a graduate assistantship available in the archives, but there was in conservation. That was my first introduction to the field of conservation. The heavens opened because my background was English and studio art. It was the perfect melding of books, literature and tactile materials. After that, I went through two years of library school while working in the conservation lab at UIUCC.

Chris: You came from a Conservator of Special Projects position at the Newberry. What are you looking for in this Senior Conservation Assistant position in the Preservation Lab at the Public Library of Cincinnati?

Kasie: I am excited and looking forward to concentrating on the technical side of conservation where my responsibilities are focused on collection treatment.

Chris: Do you like Charles Dickens?

Kasie: Yes. How did you know that?! My favorite is David Copperfield. I’ve read it almost four times. I love and have read all his novels. My interest started in undergraduate school. It was a kind of a love-hate relationship. To me, they were initially kind of dense, but I loved the humor and that was what hooked me.

Chris: So you like the Green Bay Packers?

Kasie: Yes. I grew up watching football in Wisconsin. I am a lifelong Packers fan. My husband likes hockey, the Anaheim Ducks, so these are my two main sports to watch.

Chris: What do you know about Cincinnati or the Tri-State?

Kasie: Not a lot. I’ve heard about the food scene and I’ve heard of the East side vs. West side rivalry!

Chris: Do you have a favorite conservation project you have done?

Kasie: One of the most surprising items I was able to prepare for an exhibit was an Oscar, for Ben Hecht’s screenplay for the 1927 film Underworld, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screen Play. It was cool to hold an Oscar, which is heavier than you would expect.

Chris: What kind of treatments do you like doing most?

Kasie: I like repairing a book from start to finish. It’s a satisfying feeling of accomplishment when I get a book that is completely falling apart and can do all the treatments necessary to repair.

Chris: Favorite book?

Kasie: Life of Pi, by Yann Martel.

Chris: Favorite musical artist?

Kasie: I like Folk, 80’s, Indie, depends on my mood.

Chris: Favorite movie?

Kasie: Shawshank Redemption.

Chris: If you could travel anywhere where would you go?

Kasie: I like traveling places that have a lot of nature. I guess New Zealand though it is pretty far away. The flight is intimidating, and I know it would take a long time to get there.

Chris: Do you have any hobbies?

Kasie: I like hiking and biking. It’s nice to see a hill again after coming from the flat-lands of Chicago. 😀

Chris: What is your favorite flavor birthday cake?

Kasie: Chocolate with chocolate icing.

Chris: Do you prefer coffee or tea?

Kasie: Coffee.

Chris: Do you play any musical instruments?

Kasie: No. I’ve played piano and flute but not in 5 years. I sing sometimes…(when no one hears me).

Chris: Do you have any pets?

Kasie: I have a cat and a dog. The cat’s name is Dany, short for Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. My dog’s name is Brie, short for Brienne of Tarth. She is a Greyhound and she is a couch potato.

Chris: How many cities have you lived in?

Kasie: Five states; I was born and raised in Wisconsin. As an adult, I’ve lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Houston, Texas, Wisconsin, and Champagne, Illinois for Grad school. I moved to Chicago for my first job after Library school – and now to Cincinnati! But my favorite is Wisconsin because it feels like home.

Chris: What is your favorite book structure to make?

Kasie: I like Long Stitch bindings. The sewing structure on the outside of the spine is beautiful and so customizable. But I always like to learn new binding structures.

Chris: Who do you think has influenced you most personally?

Kasie: My mom because we are really close. She is a very independent and active person. I feel like I’ve tried to follow those qualities. She is not afraid to try or get involved new things. She is a great lady.

Chris: Do you lean more toward Vampires or Zombies?

Kasie: Zombies. I do think the conservation lab would be a great place to be during a Zombie Apocalypse because we have all the sharp tools like a guillotine and scalpels. We know where the “safe house” is!

Interview by Chris Voynovich (PLCH) — Senior Conservation Assistant