[original posting followed by response.]
Preference for Paperbacks: CD Policies?, experience?
Hi, I'm going to have to make an adjustment in our allocation for
printed books. I encourage selectors to buy paperbacks instead of
cloth when (a) the cloth is noticeably more expensive; (b) the
paperback is high quality w/ high quality paper; and (c) the book is
not expected to see heavy use. However, this is not a policy, and
some selectors choose cloth if available.
If we make a policy to prefer paperbacks then we can get more books
with our money? Can somebody point me to any of the following:
Collection Development policies that reflect a preference for
Paperbacks; written discussions of the pluses & minuses of buying
paperbacks; and documentation that the quality of paperbacks printed
today (at least by University/academic presses) is adequate for
academic libraries. One person I talked to here is concerned about
shelving problems if we have mostly paperbacks; another thought it
possible that paperbacks actually hold up better than modern cloth
bindings.
Thanks,
Fran
Fran Rosen
Collection Development and Acquisitions Librarian
FLITE: Ferris Library for Information, Technology, & Education
Ferris State University
1010 Campus Drive
Big Rapids MI 49307
Phone: 231-591-3043
==#1==
Dear Fran,
I often buy paperbacks to save money. Just a comment - though it's
certainly nice to have quality paper, I don't feel durability of the
actual cover and binding needs to be a major consideration given that it
only costs about $10 a book to get a book bound. So, it's less
expensive to bind the ocassional tattered paperback rather than pay
$40+ more for a hardcover.
Thanks for bringing this up! Ellen
Ellen Metter
Humanities/Anthropology Bibliographer
Campus Box 101
Room 203
Auraria Library
1100 Lawrence Street
Denver, CO 80204
Phone: (303) 556-4516
Fax: (303) 556-3528
ellen.metter_at_cudenver.edu
The Auraria Library serves three institutions of higher learning:
University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Downtown
Denver Campus
Metropolitan State College of Denver
Community College of Denver
Received on Wed Mar 28 2007 - 01:36:11 EDT