MENDING AND BINDING

Materials which library departments identify as being worn or in need of repair are brought to the Technical Services Department.  Those that can be repaired with departmental resources are treated and returned to the shelf.  Those that cannot be mended in the library are referred to Collection Management and Special Services for review by the bibliographers.  Each title is examined in the Technical Services Department to determine bindability.  CM & SS staff then searched the library’s online catalog to identify any duplicate copies and newer editions in the collection, and check standard bibliographic tools to determine the availability and cost of a replacement copy or new edition.  The appropriate bibliographer reviews each title, recommending transfer to Special Collections, photocopying, or withdrawal of titles that can not be rebound, and indicating whether bindable titles should be rebound or replaced if possible.    

The library routinely binds periodical, abstract, and index backsets not retained in microform.  Some monograph titles have Kapco covers applied by the vendor prior to shipment to the library.  This process is charged to the monograph or binding line of the budget, as vendor invoicing practices dictate.  Monograph titles acquired in paperbound or looseleaf form are (re)bound on receipt if the quality of the original binding and anticipated level of use warrant doing so.  The librarians responsible for the Art and Music, Career, Documents and Maps, Reference, and Youth Collection and for Special Collections may recommend to the Head of Collection Management and Special Services that a particular title be bound on receipt.  Titles with quality paperback bindings and those that are expected to receive light use are placed in the stacks without being first rebound.

Revised July 2004