(1)--------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:42:11 -0400
From: Lauren Corbett (Emory U. ) <lcorbet_at_emory.edu>
Subject: RE - Publisher question regarding dust jackets and library
practices
I don't know the situation across the profession, but for our
circulating collection I'm pretty
sure we discard the majority of book jackets except for the few that are
separated from the
books to make temporary attractive displays. Since many libraries apply
barcodes used for
circulation to the outside of the books, I don't see how they could keep
book jackets without
doing the special covers described below to make sure the jacket doesn't
fall apart and stays
with the book through numerous circulations, which would be particularly
important if the
barcode is affixed to the book jacket instead of the durable book binding.
Lauren
Lauren Corbett
Head of Acquisitions
Emory University -- Woodruff Library
ph: 404 712 1818
fax: 404 727 0408
Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:51:08 -0400
From: Victor Lieberman (U. of ND) <victor_lieberman_at_und.nodak.edu>
Subject: RE - Publisher question regarding dust jackets and library
practices
Our library discards just about all dust jackets that
come on our library books. Here are a few of the reasons why:
(1) Loss of spine labeling.
Keeping dust jackets means putting spine labels (a book's call number)
on the dust jacket, which can be torn, damaged, or otherwise removed and
leave a book unidentified
(2) Loss of Bar Code.
The bar codes that we use to check books in and out is affixed to the
outside front cover of books. With covers on, we'd have to affix it to
the dust jacket, which again, can be lost, torn, or (maliciously) removed.
Affixing bar codes inside the book cover delays many routines done thousands
of times a day in the library (circulation, inventory, etc.), which makes
affixing these scanable bar codes to the unobstructed outside of a book
very important.
(3) Processing time and/or cost.
Keeping dust jackets would involve us applying covers, and affixing them
to books, or paying for this to be done by our book suppliers. We can reduce
our costs by discarding this step altogether.
In general ...
Unlike a public library, I don't believe that our collection is as dependent on
being browsed by the casual reader, or that it must have eye-catching visual covers
to get the attention of users. It is a research collection that is bought for
its intellectual content, rather than the leisure reading of library patrons.
Also, I suspect that our material is purchased with the thought to a longer shelf-life
than a typical public library's. It is not a (necessarily) a circulation-driven
collection where every volume must earn its keep, but one where we hope that the
subject content of books we purchase will hold up over time and be useful to library
patrons for years, even decades, to come. I know that I regularly am thankful that
sturdy, hard-cover "classics" are still around in our stacks when I encounter
advertisements for not-cheap reprints of these same titles.
The point of the above is that we're looking for the sturdiest, longest-lasting
format for the books we buy, as well as ways to reduce our processing time and costs,
and, pleasant as they are to look at, dust jackets tend to go first.
That said, our library does pay to retain certain dust jackets for specific
collections in our library. We have a popular reading collection (fiction, bestsellers,
etc.), a children's literature collection, and an art book collection where we keep
dust jackets and pay addition feels (or take the time ourselves) to have protective
covers put over the dust jackets after call numbers & spine labels are affixed.
In part, this is done because these three collection areas are used for
illustration/graphic instruction purposes (art & kid lit) or for recreation & leisure
reading, where book jackets become important parts of the collecting purpose.
I believe that many academic libraries routinely discard dust jackets when adding
titles to their collections, and that ours is not unusual. You speak of considering
"lithocasebinding" titles with strong library potential. I am guessing that this means
including the cover illustration directly as a part of the hard cover book, as kind of a
laminate on the hard cover itself. I suppose that's certainly one route to go.
Perhaps I can suggest another. As a book selector in the social sciences for my
library (and a reference librarian with input to book selection in that area), I do
not typically select on the basis of eye-catching cover illustrations, either as dust
jackets or lithocase/laminate covers. My I respectfully suggest that either you use
cost savings on illustrated dust jacket design either to (1) lower the cost of the book,
or (2) add/improve the content. These, ultimately, are enticements that will attract
buyers in your "target audience" if, indeed, a book is primarily intended for library
collections.
Victor Lieberman
University of North Dakota
(3)------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:26:06 -0400
From: Mary Page (Rutgers Univ.) <mary.page_at_gmail.com>
Subject: RE - Publisher question regarding dust jackets and library
practices
We discard most dust jackets. The exceptions include materials
purchased for our New Jersey
collection, which covers everything related to NJ from history, to NJ
authors, to pop culture, etc.
The dust jacket is considered an important piece of documentation for
this collection.
However, for our general stacks collections, it is much too expensive to
affix spine labels to
dust jackets, then treat the dust jacket so that it says with the book.
We place spine labels
directly on the volume. Dust jackets decorate many cubicles here, but
most of them go to the trash.
Mary Page
Head of Acquisitions
Rutgers University Libraries
(4)-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:56:51 -0400
From: Norine Hanus <nhanus_at_upei.ca>
Subject: Re: Publisher question regarding dustjackets and library practices
In our library we use the dust jackets for the promotion of new
books. The front of the jacket and informational material are cut
out and attached to the end of the stack in which the book is
shelved. A call number label is put on the cover. The resulting
collage brightens up the stack area and directs our users to the
new books in the collection.
Norine Hanus
Collections Librarian
e-mail: nhanus_at_upei.ca
phone: (902) 566-0479
fax: (902) 628-4305
--------------------------------------------------------------
For information about ACQNET's editorial policies,
how to subscribe/unsubscribe, and access to Archives, see:
http://www.acqweb.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Sun Jul 08 2007 - 17:06:03 EDT