The Processing of Paperbacks

[John Dean <jfd5@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

In response to these problems, a low-cost, in-house system of "stiffening" was developed that prepared paperbacks for the shelves by stiffening their covers, strengthening the connection between text blocks and covers, and, as it turned out, significantly extending the useful life of even heavily used paperbacks.  In 1973, I introduced the system into the United States and it is now used with some success in a number of libraries, including Cornell University Library, where it was introduced in 1985.  
At Cornell, with a central technical processing system, one full-time and one part-time staff member "stiffen" approximately 70,000 items per year at a full (time, benefits, materials, machine depreciation, etc) unit cost of 83 cents. Moreover, these new materials are available on the shelf within 48 hours of clearing the cataloguing unit.  The failure rate of the stiffening method (i.e. the number needing further treatment after circulation) is one in four hundred.  The average number of circulations of a failed stiffen is 29.  The method is quick, highly-uniform, safe, reversibile (i.e. the primary leaf attachment is not altered), and responsive to the need to protect materials at the shelf in a way that is consistent with patterns of use.  A description of the method appears in "The In-House Processing of Paperbacks and Pamphlets," Serials Review (October/December, 1981).   John F. Dean Director and Conservation Librarian Department of Preservation and Conservation 214 Olin Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Telephone: (607)255-9687 Fax: (607)255-9346