Cleaning Books - Video

In my home, books seem to generate spontaneously. We have hundreds of books, filling every bookshelf and many nooks and crannies throughout the house. Every once in a while we need to clean the books so that they don't look—or, quite honestly, smell-dirty or uninviting.

You can clean books with the dusting brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner. You don't even need to have it hooked up to the vacuum. Or, you can brush off the dust with a shaving brush or soft paintbrush. When brushing the edges of your books, make sure you go with the grain of the pages; that'll stop any damage that might occur.

I keep all my books in the main section of my house. But if you keep your books in a damp room, such as a garage or basement, that can invite mold and mildew. If you see such pests appear in your library, wipe them off with a clean, soft cloth. If the pages are still moldy, wipe them with a cloth dampened with alcohol, then fan out the pages to dry.

Cleaning leather book bindings is a bit more intensive. Use saddle soap, neat's-foot oil or petroleum jelly to both dust the bindings and condition the leather.

Sometimes books may become infected with book mites, in which case you'll want to treat all the books and papers in the infected area. Now, that might even include some food wrappers or boxes nearby. To kill the mites, lay the books out on a flat pan in your oven and heat them to 135 degrees for three hours. That should take care of the problem.

With a little bit of attention, your library can be looking great in no time!