Book cradles are important tools when viewing or displaying books. It supports a book, holding it open at a certain angle thereby reducing stress on the spine by not forcing the book to lay flat, creating a stable structure to view the book (especially if it is fragile and the covers are detaching), and minimizing potential damage by reducing the handling of the book. There are many types of book cradles ranging from ones make of acrylic to polyethylene (aka archival-quality foam) to board and cushions. Some cradles are adjustable while others are not. The type of cradle you choose is dependent on what you plan to use the cradle for (i.e. exhibitions, displays, general viewing or handling) and the cost.

When our Cataloging Librarian, Kelly Evans, approached me asking if we had any extra book cradles that she could use at her desk while cataloging, I realized we did not. After looking online to purchase one (and seeing that many of the options are pretty expensive), I took it upon myself to craft an adjustable one with materials we had in the preservation lab. There are multiple ways to create more budget friendly book cradles, but I decided to utilize our book cradle clamshell template, making some tweaks to create this customizable book cradle. Each set of Velcro tabs allows the cradle to be opened wider or narrower depending on Kelly’s needs and still be very stable no matter the angle. Here is the result!