Like many other things, books also experience wear and tear, especially those in public libraries that are used on regular. Poor storage conditions, low-quality adhesive bindings and improper repair are also key factors that contribute to book damage. Fortunately, alternative solutions such as high-quality book repair tapes have helped to salvage and restore books in good reading conditions.
How to Properly Repair Your Book
Though it’s not a rocket science affair, book spine repair, in particular, can be a challenge if you don’t have some basic skills. Spine book repair tape is a simple tool to use, but you need utmost caution when approaching this process, otherwise you might end up with a poorly done repair that only cause more damage than good. One of the major challenges for libraries is handling book repairs and every year libraries dispose of thousands of books due to poorly done repairs. This is a waste of resources and could be easily averted with the right repair knowledge, skills, and quality book repair tape.
Choosing the right spine tape specially designed for book repair is essential for having a proper repair done. Of course, skills are also part of the success. Spine tape, also referred to as book tape offers more than just repair, it can be used to protect a new book from damage on the spine and edges. This is especially important for highly circulated and demanded books. However, keep in mind that not just about any tape is ideal for book repairs. Some options like scotch and duct tape are not designed for this type of application as they are known to offer weak binding, so stay away from such options.
Using the wrong type of book repair tape will likely yield undesired results and potentially cause more damage than good on the book. Such tapes cannot sustain constant handling hence the edge easily becomes frayed and the pages tear away effortlessly. Go for spine tape which is designed with excellent features for water, abrasion and deterioration resistance.
Type of Book Damage
Highly circulated books experience damage in three common areas although a single book can also suffer multiple types of deterioration. These types of book damage occur on:
- Textblock damage: This includes any type of damage on the pages either the pages are torn, detached or missing.
- Case damage: This type of damage occurs most on the book covers where they can either be warped or abraded or the spine is completely detached.
- Textblock-Case attachment When the bind between the textblock and the case is damaged the hinges becomes loose and the covers start to detach.
Inspecting and Sorting Damaged Books for Repair
For librarians, being able to catch damage early can protect the book from further damage, which could be costly than fixing minor book repairs. You need to identify bools with relatively minor damage such as weak spine, broken hinges or warped covers. It’s also easy and fast to fix minor problems than doing extensive repairs. Take note of damages when books are returned for recirculation and plan accordingly for repairs. Depending on the type of book damage, you may need to sort the books you’ve identified according to the type of repair needed.
- General books repairs For textblock type of book damages which include torn or loose pages, warped and detached covers, broken spines and loose hinges, and other small damage, consider book repair.
- Rebound books using bindersIf a book has a significantly large amount of loose or detached pages, frayed covers and detached hinges, consider rebinding. However, you need to consider other factors such as the cost of repair and the importance of the volume to the collection. Flexible paper books are easily rebounded than hard paper.
- Reformatting Books that have soiled pages, brittle covers and pages, or extensive page losses are considered for replacement or reformatting. New copies or reprint may be requested depending upon library policy and the availability of the book in the market. Other forms of reformatting are preservation microfilming and photocopying.
- Discarded Not every book can be repaired, at least some are not worth the effort nor the resource to repair or rebind. This include books with extensive damage such as missing pages or out-dated or obsolete information.