Paperback binding service

To add to my previous posting about the Midwest Library Service "Dual
Edition Plan" binding.......

The poor quality sample binding I received may have been an anomaly.  On
22 Sept. I received another sample and a letter from Howard Lesser,
president of MLS.  The joint adhesion on this sample was much better
than the earlier sample, although the joints were still not very crisp.

The letter also said that "occasionally, the method of binding may vary
due to narrow margins, coated paper, print on end and fly sheets, etc."
In a follow-up phone conversation with Mr. Lesser today, I learned
several interesting things.  Apparently, their binder (an LBI member
binder) is using the decision trees from the *Guide to the LBI Standard*
as the basis for making leaf attachment decisions.  In practice, this
means that most volumes are double-fan adhesive bound, although thin
ones may be side sewn, and large heavy ones on coated paper could be
oversewn.  He did say that volumes with very small margins,
illustrations that bleed into the binding margin, or very large volumes
are usually sent to the library unbound, rather than binding them in a
damaging way.

The most encouraging bit of information was that at least one library
has negotiated with Midwest to have paperbacks with multiple sewn
signatures recased, rather than double-fan adhesive bound.  However,
unless a library asks, volumes will *not* be recased.  Midwest does
sound very open to hearing what clients want in terms of pre-bound
paperbacks.

Since I received a much better-looking sample, I wanted to update my
previous posting to this list.  However, my earlier comments about the
importance of really looking at library bound volumes, no matter who
ships them to you, still stand!

Carol Eyler
Mercer University Main Library
Macon, GA
912-752-2193
Fax: 912-752-2111

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:22
               Distributed: Wednesday, September 28, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-22-003
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