Circulation of brittle books

This is in response to Regina Sinclair's query about circulating brittle
materials.  At Syracuse, last year in cooperation with Access Services
staff, we instituted a 24-hour rush repair/put- in-protective-enclosure
program.  Access Services had been bothered about letting patrons charge
out books when the book was clearly in poor condition.  What Access
Services staff do now is negotiate with the patron to see if they can be
convinced to wait 24 hours to take out the book so that the preservation
staff can either repair or make a protective enclosure for it.  From the
reports we get from Access Services, it is RARE for patrons to insist on
taking out the book.  They seem to be happy to see that we're trying to
take good care of the material for them.

Marty Hanson
Preservation Administrator
Syracuse University Library

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:10
                  Distributed: Tuesday, July 26, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-10-002
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