Re: Brittle book repair

[Patricia Palmer <pepalmer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

To extend the life of brittle items a mere 5-10 years, I would simply box
as is.  The item is probably going to get at most 2-3 additional
circulations in that time.  If the item is circulated more heavily than
that, other repair or reformatting options should be considered.

In my dept, if the text block is intact, but the cover is not, we reinforce
or replace endsheets.  If the text block is not intact, it is a judgement
call at the repair table.  Depending on other damage to the item, time,
staffing, nature of the item's use and original materials, we will
reinforce signatures with japanese paper and sew to make the text block
intact.  Otherwise, we box or reformat.  We may box in addition to repair.
Loose or damaged pages are photocopied and attached with a japanese paper
hinge.  
The item has to warrant the additional attention through recommendation of
a bibliographer.  We limit repairs that will take more than 30 minutes.

Patricia 


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Patricia Palmer			phone: 804.828.2287
Head, Preservation Services		fax:   804.828.1051
Virginia Commonwealth University
Box 842033				email: pepalmer@xxxxxxx
Richmond, VA  23284-2033
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