Such residue, sometimes invisible to the eye, is produced by flood water contaminated by sewage or industrial waste, or by the interaction of books or other library materials with intense heat, smoke and the water or chemicals used to put out a fire.

Kathleen Delaney, an assistant librarian in the Archives, is researching library disaster preparedness, but what she has to say applies to personal libraries and collections as well.

Delaney says that besides flood water and fire, other threats to a library include mildew, mold, fungi and insects, all of which can destroy entire collections.

Corinne Jorgenson, assistant professor of library studies, cites the danger from insecticides sprayed on collections sent to the U.S. for safekeeping during World War II and book collections traded by European nations for tractors during the era of the Marshall Plan and later. These materials often are very toxic to humans, which wasn't realized at the time, she says. And they remain so, capable of making users sick many, many years after handling them.

Book residue of any age can be allergenic as well. Recently, while cataloging the Archives' Love Canal collection, Delaney developed an allergic rash on her arms due to a chemical reaction produced by 20 years of interaction between printer's ink and newspaper. It's not the sort of thing that usually would be considered dangerous, but goes to show that librarians protect the stacks at risk, if not to life, at least to limb.

Fungi can spread throughout an entire collection, often before anyone knows they're there. Donna Serafin, preservation officer for the nine UB Libraries, says that it doesn't take a flood or leak to bring on mold bloom.

"Fungi can develop after materials are dampened by small ceiling leaks or by a sprinkler system that goes off by mistake," she says. "Even damp or humid weather can cause a mold bloom, particularly if air-conditioning units break down as they sometimes do during a long siege of very hot weather like we've seen this year in many regions of the country."

Delaney notes, "Some organic toxins, like those produced by the ergot fungus, can even produce hallucinations in librarians and researchers handling contaminated books."

R.J. Hay, one of England's leading mycologists, agrees. In an article published in the British medical journal The Lancet last year, Hay wrote that, even at the levels found in contaminated libraries, ergot spores can, indeed, make you daffy.

"Many great literary figures," he wrote, "may have been 'inspired' by inhaling spores from moldy books."

No one knows how much library time it would take to become high because there has been no empirical research on the hallucinogenic effects of old books. Delaney agrees, however, that a casual stroll through even very moldy stacks is unlikely to send you flying.

Library disaster also can be provoked by book-chomping insects and vermin, which usually are attracted by food, according to Delaney. That's why smart libraries allow no eating in the stacks.

Cockroaches, disease-vectors that thrive in dark, moist areas, are the most troublesome of the five most common library pests and are very hard to eliminate, she says. "They transmit disease, consume all sorts of paper and binding materials, especially those containing pastes and glues, and can survive by eating crumbs and other dead insects, including one another," she says, adding that insects often follow widespread fire or flooding.

"Librarians work very hard to save their collections before and after a disaster strikes," Delaney says, "but these things often affect hundreds of small libraries at the same time-most with neither the staff, expertise nor equipment to detoxify their damaged documents."

Fortunately, written disaster-preparedness plans can offer added protection, often ensuring that threatened collections are evacuated in time to prevent serious damage.

"For instance, wet books and documents need to be packed out to freezers within 48 hours to kill bacteria and prevent mold, mildew and insect infestation," Delaney says. "When an entire community is under water or fire-damaged, however, there is often neither the time nor freezers available for library emergency use."

She says that for that reason, contact lists are a good part of disaster preparedness, since librarians from other towns or regions usually are available to assist the book evacuation and clean-up effort, and commercial operators can provide refrigerated trucks and commercial freezers for temporary use.

Do the UB libraries have a disaster plan in place? "Oh yes!" says Delaney-check out the UB Libraries' Central Technical Services (CTS) link on the libraries Web site. "It's very comprehensive. It's the work of many librarians here and covers a multitude of contingencies. It's all very high tech, of course," she adds, "but we also have it on paper in case the electricity goes out."

"First, we evacuate the people, of course," she says. "Next, each library will save its irreplaceable collections-the James Joyce, Darwin Martin, History of Medicine and Polish collections, the architectural slide collection, original musical scores and other documents. These all are prioritized and cited by specific location.

"When it's over, we'll all meet at the flagpole and after 10 minutes, look for hundreds of librarians at Starbucks."