Hacker News Reader

Controlling humidity could be the simplest option. RH <50% makes it really hard for anything living to propagate in an otherwise "dry" space.

That works great for your basement but what's the impact of low humidity on ancient books?

You definitely wouldn't want to go all the way to zero. 30-50% RH is generally the sweet spot for archival purposes.

The library also talks about having a huge mold problem, so it would likely be positive.