[contingencies]

Hands contain oils, mold spores, bacteria, etc. and are certainly not good for fibrous media. Strategies depend upon what kind of media you have. Disposable cotton gloves are very popular. If you are interested in further research, the Getty is one of the world authorities on antiquities handling, they probably have a page or guide about it someplace. (Source: I have an art collection on antique paper myself, and have made efforts in the past to optimize handling and storage.)

[matwood]

For books, clean, dry, bare hands is recommended by the Library of Congress, the British Library, and Library of Canada. They explicitly recommend against using gloves.

https://thediscoverblog.com/2019/04/05/the-gloves-come-off/

[contingencies]

Interesting summary, though the argument is limited to old worn books that are still physically sturdy and they explicitly disclaim the recommendation for art and photographs.