"Urgent: Book in Need of Medical Attention!"

The book conservation lab at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a fascinating place where a team of six employees work to restore 2,500 books annually, using fearsome machines and antique tools to treat ailing books from every department of the museum. The lab, designed in close collaboration with conservation staff, exudes a certain mad-scientist magic and serves as a hospital for books, aiming to intervene as little as possible while maintaining the function of a book and making it look like they were never there. The head of the lab offers advice for keeping books in superb condition, including avoiding light, dust, extreme temperature fluctuations, and improper storage, and recommends using a thin slip of regular old paper as the safest bookmark.