Book Repair and Conservation Treatment
Functions of Book Repair:
Under the direction of the Preservation Administrator, the Book
Repair Unit is responsible for the treatment of all general collections
materials that can be repaired in-house.
 Book Repair Office
This
determination
is based upon the physical characteristics of the material, the economic
merit of in-house treatment, and/or the user demands that could prioritize
in-house treatment because of time constraints. The repairs performed by
the book repair unit must incorporate techniques that will not damage the
item over its useful life, be expeditious to perform, and retain the
original integrity of the object being treated whenever appropriate. This
is accomplished in two ways: 1)corrective treatment of books damaged by
use and 2) preventive treatment of books entering the collections.
Recognizing the limitations of time and resources, books must be selected
and prioritized within the constraints of the University Libraries. Two
methods of choosing books for corrective treatment are use-drive selection
and systematic inspection. Use-driven systems cull damaged books needing
repair from volumes being reshelved after circulation. Systematic
selection works by choosing a collection of books and systematically
inspecting them for items needing treatment. Both methods are utilized.
It should be noted that books received in damaged condition through gift
or order processes often require repair prior to shelving despite their
projected low use. This has a negative impact on the Book Repair unit,
placing demands on it that undermine its ability to keep up with repair
problems in the heavily-used circulating collection.
Approximately seventy-five percent of books treated in the Book Repair
unit are identified by the Olin Circulation department as needing
treatment upon return, reshelving, or patron/staff identification.
Treatment specifications are determined by the Book Repair staff. Other
sources of books requiring repair include materials identified by the
Collections Review program which requires bibliographers to assess a
portion of their respective materials on the shelf, and forward
recommendations to the Preservation Unit. In addition, materials are
forwarded to the book repair unit by the serials department, the
reference
department, data-base management ( newly catalogued gift/ordered
materials), and Departmental Libraries.
Flow of Work: A quota
of
35-50 books from Olin Library needing
treatment
are placed on a booktruck for bibliographic review prior to being routed
to the Book Repair unit. This review is timed to the two week schedule of
the review of new acquisitions. The use of quotas necessarily limits the
amount of work that can be sent in a given period in order to insure the
timely repair and return to useful life of damaged items. Departmental
Libraries identify and send items directly to the book repair unit. Each
library is afforded a specific number of items to be sent monthly. The
quotas for Departmental Libraries are flexible and usually adjusted as
specific needs arise. Additional materials from the Reference Department
are routed directly to the Book Repair unit. Reference materials are
given priority over other items.
Maintenance activities include preventative treatments for
materials that
are newly entering the collections. Candidates for such treatment are
newly acquired old books with damage, books damaged in shipping or
processing, volumes with loose plates or maps, books with supplements,
errata slips, or plates to be tipped in and stiffening of new paperback
materials. In addition, new single signature pamphlet materials are
sewn into acid free binders before shelving. Incomplete serial sets are
given a temporary "lace-on" binding until the set can be completed and
bound commercially. This temporary housing reduces the number of bindings
thereby increasing the useful life of the item and cutting
costs.
Specific techniques that are applied to materials include the
following
treatments:
Cloth Spine Repair
Technique: Expeditious repair for failed outer hinge when endpaper
hinges remain undamaged. Original spine lining material is usually left
vundisturbed unless it is damaged. In that case, a new lining is applied.
Titled
with original spine over new book cloth or laser-printed
label.
- Materials:
-
Book Cloth
-
Co-polymer PVA
-
Acid-free bristol (for spine lining)
-
- Time: 15 min.
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Cloth spine repair
|
Inner Hinge Repair
Technique: Expeditious repair for failed inner hinge when outer
hinges remain
intact.
Spine and Hinge Repair
Technique: Combination of inner and outer hinge repair when both inner
and outer hinges are damaged. (see above for detailed description of each
technique).
-
Materials:
- Optima F Library Buckram
- Acid-free Bristol board
- Linen strips
- Linen thread
- Co-polymer PVA
-
Time: 25 min.
Pamphlet Binder
Technique: Commercially available permanent binder for pamphlets.
Text is sewn
through the fold whenever possible, though stapling
through the fold or
the side are possible. Thread is adhered to binder.
- Materials:
- Gaylord acid-free buffered binders
- Linen thread
- Time: 12 min. + processing
|
Pamphlet binder
|
Kapco (tm)
Technique: Commercially available reinforcement for modern publishers trade
paperback books estimated to receive low circulation as an alternative to
library binding.
-
Materials:
- Kapco reinforcers (archival polyester
- coated with
acrylic
adhesive)
- Easy Bind (tm) (tyvek tape) to reinforce spine
- Time: 7-10 min.
|
Kapco reinforcement
|
Phase Box
Technique: Wrap-around box custom fitted to book.
-
Materials:
- Archivart (tm) library board
- Black cotton tape
- Co-polymer PVA
Time: 20-25 min.
|
Phase box
|
Lace-On (Temporary binding)
Technique: Housing for incomplete serial sets and other materials as necessary.
Text is post-bound into buffered acid-free barrier board using heavy duty
fishing line cord.
-
Materials:
-
Blue/grey barrier board lace-on binders
- Heavy-duty fishing cord
- Time: 20 min.
|
Lace-on binding
|
Tip-in replacement pages
Techniques: Includes
photocopying
replacement pages to place in a book with pages missing, gluing them
into the margin, and trimming to size.
Materials:
-
- Acid free photocopy paper
- PVA co-polymer PVA
- Time: Varies with individual book
|
Tip-in
|
Paper repair
Techniques: Includes paper mends, and
reinforcing tear with archival mending tape.
-
Materials:
- Filmoplast (tm) acrylic tape
- Document repair tape
- Co-polymer PVA
-
Time: Variable
|
Paper mend
|
Minor Binding Repairs
Techniques: Creating paper pockets for extraneous material, polyester (mylar(tm))
wrappers, hinge tightening, et al.
-
Materials:
-
Acid-free bond or bristol
- Polyester film
- Co-polymer PVA
-
Time: Variable
|
Pocket for diskette
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Last Update:
Monday, February 22, 1999
|
Book Repair Office
