How to Preserve a Notebook

Up there among the greatest inventions of all time are a writer’s spiral notebooks. No matter how sophisticated the world becomes, most people still want to keep exercise books. All the great inventors had notebooks and it is obvious that they help to organize our lives. This is why many entrepreneurs keep office notebooks.

Why keeping exercise books is important

We cannot deny that technology is making everything digital, including how we put down our thoughts. Regardless of this, paper notebooks (know more) cannot be pushed aside. There’s a lot they bring to the table.

Have you asked yourself what will happen to those documents if computers went offline? Why technology has even come this far is because of the access we have to the thoughts of great inventors. We gained this access through their notebooks.

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There are several reasons why office notebooks are important.

• You can use a writer’s spiral notebook to jot thoughts for a meeting or a new project.
• They help in organizing office work as you can have several for different purposes.
• Notebooks are a great way to maintain a To-do list which you can make reference to.
• Keep exercise books and you can pass information from one generation to the next.
• You easily get inspired when writing in a notebook, at least many people agree with this.

We could go on and on about why you should keep exercise books. There are just too many reasons, but we need to get to the crux of this post.

Preserving/ keeping exercise and notebooks

When you take a look through those office notebooks, you want to preserve those contents for years. If you could keep them alive for a thousand years, wouldn’t you want to?

Here’s the good news, you can. We have put together a few tips to help you achieve this aim. Let’s go through them together.

• Keep exercise books by investing in quality

The first step to preserving that writer’s spiral notebook is investing in quality from the onset. There are so many notebooks on the market but not everyone is able to stand the test of time.

The best types of notebooks are those that have pages made of 100% rag paper. These pages should be white and completely alkaline in nature.

Paper made of acidic wood pulp is not likely to last beyond a hundred years. This implies that your thoughts will go into extinction after this period.

If you are not sure about the acidic or alkaline nature of the pages of a book, you can run a test. To carry out this confirmatory test, write on the pages using a test pen. This will prove which side of the divide the pages are on.

• The binding should be sewn by hand

Did you just say that’s old school? After all, books are held by staple pins these days. You are not far from the truth but we know that they don’t as long as hand-sewn bound books.

Watch out for the thread used in the binding. It has to be a cotton thread that is free form acid too. You should also check that it is actually sewn and not just glued into the book’s covers.

Some people prefer to contract a local bookbinder to do the job on their behalf. If you will do this, then make sure the person only uses acid-free materials. Spiral notebooks are another great option in case you prefer modern methods.

• Keep exercise books by using pencil over ink

This is another idea that goes against the norm when it comes to preserving notebooks. Most office folks will argue that they make use of pens in their offices. Of course, pens use ink but the problem is most of these inks are acidic in nature.

The most notable ink in this class of acidic inks is Indian inks. While acidic inks end up damaging the book pages over time, inks that are dye-based tend to fade. The implication of this that you are going to lose information inscribed in your office notebooks with time.

If you are going to keep those records for a thousand years, your best bet is to use graphite pencils. A number 3 pencil is a little harder than the rest but it gives you lighter inscriptions. The advantage of this is that the writing wouldn’t smudge and it will be impressed on the pages better.

• One-sided writing

To be economical, it is wise to write on both sides of a page. After all, it gives you more space to express your thoughts. When it comes to preserving the contents of the notebook for long, it isn’t such a wise idea.

Graphite tends to transfer to the other page after a couple of years. If you have written on both sides of your writer’s spiral notebook, there could be mix-ups. To avoid this, it is best to just write on one side.

• Add dates and numbers to each page

This is very important when you want to keep exercise books for long. No one will be able to tear out of the book without it being obvious. It will also be impossible to replace the contents of the book.

• Keep exercise books by storing the book in a cool dry place

This is important to keep mold and other organisms away from the pages of your precious book. If you can, create a desert-like climate in your library since you cannot take the book to an actual desert.

• Seal the book in a waterproof material

Many people do everything right and miss out on this step. It is important that you seal books in waterproof material to keep them away from water, dirt, or corrosion. The best option is still a ceramic box, not metal, plastic, or wood.

• Duplicate contents

This is the reason why we were able to gain access to most of the written work of ancient writers. Their duplicates were stored in different parts of the world. This way, when there were damages by fire or flood, we still had access.

Even if you cannot store the books in different area codes, you can make copies and keep them separately. This gives you insurance against loss.

Conclusion

Now you know what to do to preserve that writer’s spiral notebook in your possession. You have also learned the importance of office notebooks and why you should keep exercise books. Tell us what you feel by dropping a comment in the comments section below.