A slow fire is a term used in library and information science to describe paper embrittlement resulting from acid decay. The term is taken from the title of Terry Sanders' 1987 film Slow Fires: On the preservation of the human record.
Solutions to this problem include the use of acid-free paper stocks, reformatting brittle books by microfilming, photocopying or digitization, and a variety of deacidification techniques.
Famous quotes containing the words slow and/or fire:
“Angels may be very excellent sort of folk in their own way, but we, poor mortals in our present state, would probably find them precious slow company.”
—Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927)
“It looks as if we may be presented with a kind of vast municipal fire station.... What is proposed is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend.”
—Charles, Prince Of Wales (b. 1948)