Japanese libraries hope UV machine gives visitors peace of mind

Japan has too much money obviously...

Thats a difficult one as you can sterilize the cover but never each page.

Never heard of e-book? It's 2021 soon...

“fascinated with the blue ultraviolet light’

UV rays are invisible to the human eye.

"I'm not sure how effective this is, but I think it's better than nothing," said Isozaki.

Most likely is not effective at all, surfaces are usually irradiated for minutes with lamps that emit strong UV light, 30 seconds distributed in hundreds of pages are not going to have any effect. Anything that would actually sterilize the books would also damage the pages and ink.

Yes, UVC is invisible. But light near the invisible spectrum is also emitted and not filtered out. UVC cannot pass through glass.

It takes direct exposure, so each page would have to be fanned out and exposed.

Is it true that the virus can live on paper max one day or so?

Funny, I was at book off a few weeks back and it was packed with people reading while standing, as always. Nobody seemed concerned about touching the books, like, at all.

Why does the man in the photo have to "rent" a book?

How much does it cost?

In most countries people borrow books for free from public libraries.

Does he always rent the same book? That must get boring.

Why does the man in the photo have to "rent" a book?

The original article on Reuters is not nearly as poorly written.

I thought borrowing books from public libraries was supposed to be free..

This seems to be the company making these UV-C book-sterilizing machines. Better than nothing, I suppose, and if it gives some people peace of mind, why not?　

http://en.evertreecn.com/

Is it true that the virus can live on paper max one day or so?

Up to 72 hours depending on the paper composition. But in a dark cool place a few weeks. That is why UV light is used.

Looks more like a gimmick to interest children than something really useful, but books are not exactly the most risky thing to be touching, probably the coins or card used to ride the train to the library or the handles on the door are much more likely to be contaminated, as long as kids don't use the pandemic as an excuse to stop reading I can live with this.