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:
“Hide your pink knees from the gaze of other men.
You must be pure—go slow with that home-brew”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“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)