Why do libraries smell

President Michael Dimock explains why. The vast majority of U. Use this tool to compare the groups on some key topics and their demographics. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Facts are more important than ever. In a new study published in the journal Heritage Science, researchers tried to develop guidelines for characterizing, preserving and possibly even recreating old smells. To do this, they used one of the most recognizable smells of the past: old books. In the lab, the team, did a chemical analysis of the volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, emitted by books.

Since paper is made of wood and is constantly decomposing , it releases chemical compounds into the air that mix together to form a unique scent. They captured those compounds and used a mass spectrometer to analyze its chemical signature.

But the heritage science team from the University of London wanted to also take their work out of the lab. So to learn more about that first interaction, they took their research on the road. They presented museumgoers with eight smells—one of which was an unlabeled historic book scent and seven were decidedly non-bookish, such as eau de fish market and coffee. Do you like to have your nose in a book? Something about the scent of old books can perk up any bookworm.

Most of what we smell comes from volatile organic compounds VOCs , which books give off as they decompose over time. Find out where to donate your own old books.

Volunteers blindly sniffed extracts from the book, plus seven other unlabeled scents ranging from chocolate and coffee to fish market and dirty linen. Afterward, participants filled out a survey with a question asking them to describe the smell of the historic book.

Without knowing what they were smelling, more than a third of the 79 participants said the old book extract reminded them of chocolate. Coffee was the second most reported scent, according to the study in the journal " Heritage Science.

For another part of the study, volunteers described the smell of the library at St. Participants filled out questionnaires as soon as they walked into the space, before their noses could get used to the scent. First, they rated the intensity and appeal of the library, then picked out individual smells.

The volunteers marked if they could sense any of the 21 smells the researchers picked out from a VOC analysis and could fill in the blank with their own descriptions too.