On November 17, 2020, the British journal Nature published a paper from the Institute of Wood Sciences of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences discussing the impact of lignin content in cellulose pulp on paper durability. Some peers said that they were encouraged to see this article, not only because the paper literature protection article can be included in Nature, but also because there is a lack of such basic research in this field. Although it only reveals a small problem at the microscopic level, it provides an important basis for many specific problems in the preservation and protection of ancient books, archives, calligraphy and paintings, and many other paper documents and cultural relics.
In fact, in past studies, we have also found a similar phenomenon: some alkaline paper, despite its high lignan content, still has good aging resistance. Unfortunately, this discovery only stays at the phenomenon level, and because it is not explained in depth from the mechanism, there is inevitably a slight doubt about the universality of this phenomenon, and even attribute it to other external factors. When this phenomenon was revealed by science, the doubts of the past suddenly became clear, and many uncertain problems were solved.
This is where the importance of basic research lies. It tends to reveal the basic principles of the internal operation and change of things, and only by clarifying these underlying reaction mechanisms, macro-level phenomena and problems in the field of application can we fundamentally give answers. As is the case in other fields of science and technology, basic research often plays a pioneering role. The technical research on the protection of ancient books is still in its infancy in China, and some issues can only be studied clearly from the mechanism level, and the actual work can have a practical basis.
In the past, due to the lack of systematic technical research as a support, many protection means can only rely on the simple and vague experience of predecessors, although many of these experiences have been effective, but some of them seem to lack scientific basis today, and even have a negative impact on ancient books. For example, the habit of the ancients to dry books, although it can kill insects and remove mold and moisture, the ultraviolet rays in the sun will accelerate the aging of the paper and cause damage to ancient books. Today, when we advocate the scientific protection of ancient books and documents, we must clearly understand the scientific problems involved in all aspects and their basic principles, rely on scientific concepts to establish a more effective set of protection methods, and solve various specific problems in practical work. Judging from the content of the research on the protection of ancient books and the current situation, in addition to the application problems that need to be overcome urgently such as batch deacidification and reinforcement, there are still many basic areas to be studied in depth.
First of all, the reaction mechanism of the aging process of paper is still the most core problem in the field of ancient book protection technology research. Although there is a general disclosure of the basic process of the main components of paper in the aging reaction, this disclosure is still relatively rough, and the more in-depth influence mechanism is still rarely systematically revealed. Especially for many complex side reactions, few studies have been involved. These basic systemic problems are not clarified, and it is difficult to provide effective technical support for the scientific protection of paper literature, so that many protection measures in reality can only learn from the experience of predecessors.
Mechanism-level research often requires strong scientific research ability, which has high requirements for the academic background of researchers and the hardware facilities of laboratories, and is suitable for carrying out in high-level research institutions and universities. With the establishment of ancient book protection laboratories in many institutions in recent years, colleges and universities have successively opened majors related to the protection of ancient books, many experts and scholars have begun to pay attention to research topics in the field of ancient book protection technology, and the concept of ancient book protection based on experience in the past has gradually embarked on a scientific and systematic development path.
At the same time, to carry out scientific system research, the test analysis of material properties is indispensable. Since most of the commonly used detection methods of paper are lossy tests and cannot be used for precious ancient books, the development of new nondestructive testing technology has become the key to opening the door to the research of ancient book protection technology.
Thanks to the development of modern instrumental analysis technology, some lossless spectroscopy and chromatography techniques have gradually been applied in paper inspection and analysis. However, on the whole, such means are still relatively limited, and there are not many indicators that can be measured, and it is impossible to fully cover the performance of all aspects of ancient book paper. In the past, the research on the protection of ancient books belonged to a niche field, and there were fewer developments and attempts in this regard. With the continuous expansion of the application of technology, it is necessary to develop more non-destructive analysis techniques that can be applied to ancient book elements in the future, and only by solving this key can the scientific research on the ancient book carrier itself be carried out.
In addition to these technical basic problems, there are some basic problems, or some old problems, in the practice of ancient book protection. These old problems are almost all throughout daily work, although there are currently ready-made solutions, but the current methods do not meet the requirements of scientific protection, or there is a relatively large controversy. Such problems exist in part because there are no well-established alternatives, or because scientific research has not been effectively integrated with practice. Most of these problems have one thing in common, the negative impact of the process is very slow, it is not easy to observe the obvious harm in a short period of time. For example, the suitable environment for the permanent preservation of paper documents, the safety problems of repairing materials and loading materials, etc.
Because such problems do not have an urgent need to solve in a short period of time, they are often easily ignored habitually. In the long run, when this chronic invisible effect accumulates to a certain extent and is discovered, the harm to ancient texts tends to be relatively large, and most of this harm is irreversible. Taking the temperature and humidity in the preservation environment as an example, it is traditionally believed that paper should be preserved in a medium humidity environment, so as to maintain its good toughness. However, in recent years, some scholars have shown that the humid environment will accelerate the degradation of cellulose inside the paper, causing rapid acidification and aging of the paper, and even causing problems such as macula and mold on the surface of the paper. The neglect of these old problems and the controversy in the field of technology are ultimately due to the lack of depth of basic research. Only by figuring out the impact of temperature and humidity on paper preservation, accurately grasping the different needs of literature circulation and permanent preservation on the environment, and relying on detailed research data to find the best preservation scheme, can we give a convincing answer to this question.
In the past, we were limited by the level of economic development, and the investment in the field of literature protection was limited. Nowadays, with the strategic goal of building a socialist cultural power, the protection and utilization of precious cultural classics has become an important part of promoting excellent traditional culture. To do a good job in the protection of these classics, it is necessary to rely on modern science and technology to carry out systematic and in-depth research, combine advanced technologies and concepts with traditional experience, learn from each other's strong points, and jointly promote them. At the same time, we must also pay attention to avoiding the detours that foreign counterparts have taken, learn from past experiences and lessons, and steadily carry out and promote relevant research.
All in all, the protection of ancient books is the cross-integration of philology, management, digital technology and environmental science, materials science, chemical analysis, pest control and many other fields, and the solution of many problems at the technical level must be based on scientific and systematic basic research, the fundamental problems are clear, the key problems are overcome as soon as possible, and the old problems that are easy to ignore are understood, so as to provide more support and guarantee for the practical work of ancient books, and to promote the scientific development of the cause of ancient book protection. (The author is an associate research librarian of the National Library of China)
Author: Yi Xiaohui
Source: China Culture Daily