The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 12, March 17, 2002, Article 9

IRRADIATION IS DAMAGING, DELAYING COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS.

  Dick Johnson writes: "The books stopped coming by mail
  October 17th. Mail handlers in the United States Copyright
  Office at the Library of Congress refused to open packages
  because one envelope, addressed to Senator Tom Daschle,
  contained anthrax powder the week before.

  The Library of Congress, along with many other government
  agencies, diverted all their mail to be irradiated at plants in
  Lima, Ohio, or Bridgeport, N.J. Afterwards the Library's
  treated mail was stored in trailers.  It's still there.

  Samples of the treated mail have exhibited paper that has
  become brittle, turned brown and the glue rendered ineffective.
  Books are literally falling apart and the life of the paper,
  normally expected to last for a hundred years or more, now
  has an uncertain lifespan.

  The Copyright Office is facing other problems: By the time
  they do open these packages the $30 copyright fee checks
  will be older than six months, past the time most banks will
  accept for payment.  But what's even worse, music and
  sound recordings on tape are in melted plastic jewel boxes!

  Savvy publishers have been sending their copyright deposit
  packages by FedEx or private messengers and these are
  being processed.  Read more in a story from the 
Cleveland
  Plain Dealer:

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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