Peg binding

At the University of Vermont, the bindery uses a peg binding machine for
several purposes.  The machine is on its last legs, and I would like to
find a process that would be an alternative to drilling holes in these
books and pamphlets. The machine is used for the following purposes:

    1.  to hold together books such as almanacs and annuals that will be
        discarded at the end of the year.

    2.  to provide rigidity for little-used, thin, large (8.5 x 11)
        paperbacks and stapled state government reports.

    3.  to provide rigidity for certain low-use materials that come in
        parts. Several issues of one item will be pegged.

Numbers 2 & 3 above are clearly a cost saving measure. I could send them
to our commercial bindery, but would like to find an alternative. We
could also put them in boxes, but the argument made here is that they
are easily stolen or lost. An example is a title that is a thin weekly.
We do have limited in-house binding capabilities, but like many
libraries we do not have much staff time to allocate to a major on-going
project.

    **** Moderator's comments: while we're on the subject, could someone
    tell me what is meant by peg binding?

Albert Joy
Collection Development Librarian (also responsible for preservation of
non-rare library materials)
University of Vermont
802-656-8350

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 6:16
                  Distributed: Sunday, August 23, 1992
                        Message Id: cdl-6-16-004
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