i remember a post by poly on removing labels from old ones to reuse.
i just found a tool i bought, that was also (that had been long forgotten, tucked away in a drawer) used at the library's technical services department, called a "label remover " (of all things). it's made of metal, not the plastic ones.
amazon has one very similar to the one used. (Scotty Peeler)
it has a 3-sided blade, it's very sharp, and the strokes used should be away from one's body or fingers. use the side of the blade to lift up the edges on the long side of the label using it to help lift the edge. once there's enough of an edge to grab hold of, pull and peel.
i bought one a long time ago, and just remembered it has been tucked away. i was able to remove 4 dried on labels in less than 10 min. there was a bit of prying on some of the labels. They didn't always come off in one piece because they were dry. but one of the labels only took 2 min.
