Don't think it's worth returning my son's DS Lite to Nintendo for a $75 repair job, but would like to fix if it's not...

Gotta assume you're fixing old books to read, not to collect. I completely--but neatly--cover the covers and bindings of paperback books with clear packing tape, trimming it off at the edges with scissors. Then I open the front and back pages and run clear tape down the crease. This generally holds them together long enough to get through them once. Oh. It's a trick I learned from the Boy Scouts. They use it on beat up Boy Scout Handbooks. Wish I could help you on the darned hardcovers. You'll need an old librarian to teach you those techniques.

Annoyingly true that sometimes it's cheaper to replace whole fixture than the ballast. Arrgh. LED lighting is getting cheap fast, and doesn't seem to include the environmental dangers of mercury (plus whatever evils lurk in the ballasts). Have a look here. https://www.instructables.com/howto/LED+...