Yewon Son was in first-year engineering when she developed a plan with five others to save the University of Toronto’s rare books from the library’s condensation problem. When 750,000 volumes of rare books are imperiled by condensation, it’s time to think outside the building.
Since at least 2004, the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library — which houses books including all four of Shakespeare’s folios and a papyrus from the time of Christ — has had a condensation problem. The insulation inside the library has been slowly degrading and condensation has been building up, according to Loryl MacDonald, interim director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. This also resulted in fluctuations in the temperature, something that can be detrimental to books that need climate controlled environments.
The problem landed in the lap of Yewon Son and her five classmates. Son, a 21-year-old U of T student, was18 at the time and had only recently finished high school…
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