Paperback Binding
Currently, with a few exceptions, all our paperback purchases are sent out to be bound. This adds even more time to making these items available to our users. I would like to suggest that we either start cutting back on what is sent to the bindery(develop some sort of criteria for this) or purchasing more hardcovers. If an item that is put on the shelf unbound is showing heavy use, then we should purchase a hardcover as the replacement.
posted by Mary T at 7:45 AM
3 Comments:
I would like to support this suggestion, adding that several books I've requested in the sciences and computer science field are not likely to be relevant for longer than a few years. It really isn't worth investing in a good cover for them. Another plus to keeping the paperback copies is that they are generally more visually appealing.
Yvonne
8:28 AM
I'd like to see this policy change, too. And I think it would be a good idea to get some input from the faculty about changing our criteria.
In the course of processing rush orders, I have occasionally had faculty members express surprise that we bind almost all paperback purchases. They have also been dismayed at the amount of time the binding takes.
A couple of points to consider about purchasing more hardbacks are availability and cost. To save processing time, I try to buy hardcovers when filling rush orders, and I have found that often a cloth edition is just not available. And of course, the price can be much higher (sometimes twice as high). Right now, if a book is available in both paperback and hardcover editions, I buy the hardcover--but only if its price is less than $50.
Of course, we can change this policy and raise the $50 maximum, but I think it would be a good idea to get input from the faculty about it. Some of them might not be happy about buying more hardbacks if it means buying fewer titles overall.
Another question: if we spend less on binding, could we transfer some of that money to the book budget to help defray the cost of more hardcovers?
9:54 AM
I've seen statistics somewhere that suggest most books only circulate a few times in their shelf-life. I believe a paperback would have to circulate many, many times before it because too tattered for further use. Have we considered simply shelving the paper copy? Like Yvonne, I also appreciate the blurbs, covers, and author information that often gets left out of hardback books.
I'm not a big fan of bound paperbacks because often too much of the gutter gets sliced off, making it hard to read.
2:58 PM
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