I handle rare books, documents, manuscripts and images on a daily basis, and have done for forty-odd years. I don’t wear gloves except in exceptional circumstances, never have. Gloves notoriously induce clumsy handling, and (except for fine silk, which is too slick for an ideal grip) can snag and tear pages and bindings. The average fifteenth century book, for example, has held up perfectly well against generations of handling, though often not against worm, gnawing, fire, water and all the multitude of other ills that can indeed seriously beset books. So put down the gloves. Just don’t turn down pages, separate unopened pages with the butter knife (as Wordsworth was wont to do), or–of course–gnaw on your rare books or read them in the bath.
See the Library of Congess website (after all, who should be better informed)?
http://www.loc.gov/preservation/about/faqs/books.html#gloves
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