Notes on Bookbinding for Libraries

by John Cotton Dana

	First cost		.95
	Cost of first rebinding		.36
	Cost of time in handling		.07
	Cost of second rebinding		.33
	Cost of time in handling		.07
			——
	Total cost		1.78
	Times lent in publishers’ cloth		32
	Times lent in first rebinding		47
	Times lent in second rebinding		43
			——
			122
	Time out of use first rebinding	5.5	weeks
	Time out of use second rebinding	5.0	weeks
	Total time out of use	10.5	weeks

These figures do not tell the whole story. The book bound strongly and flexibly from publishers’ sheets is from the first more convenient to handle and pleasanter to read, and usually looks better throughout all its one long life than do, on the average, those books which twice or thrice in their histories get into a broken-backed, loose-leaved, generally disreputable condition. Furthermore, and this is most important, a book is most wanted in a library when it is new; if sent out to be rebound for five and a half weeks after it has been lent 32 times it is out of use just when it is most in demand; and the library loses in its effectiveness—that is, in the service it can render its public for the money expended—much more than the mere difference in the money cost of the two kinds of binding would indicate. The durable first binding gives us a book which can be in constant service from 100 to 150 times from the day it goes to the shelves, just when it is most needed. A book once or twice rebound in the first few months of its life is a special source of annoyance—the paradox is permissible—by its very absence.

Table of life histories:

Library	No. of books reported on	First cost of books	Times lent before rebinding	Cost of rebinding	Weeks out of use	Cost of handling	Times lent in rebinding	Cost of 2d rebinding	Weeks out of use	Cost of handling	Times lent in 2d rebinding
1	9	9 00	30	4 50	6		40
2	2	2 00	40	70	8	20	70
3	5	3 25	19	2 50	6	50	23
4	10	9 80	15	4 50	4	60	25	4 50	8	60	32
5	1	1 00	28	35	4	12	50
6	10	10 00	28	2 50	6	30	31	2 50	6	30	22
7	4	4 00	20	1 80	4	40	25	1 80	4	40	15
8	1	1 00	70	54	10	08	100
9	1	1 00	75	35	10	08	45	54	10	08	100
10	3	3 00	29	1 05	2	30	80	1 05	2	30	115
11	1	99	37	40	6	12	36
12	3	2 70	35	1 20	6	36	40
13	1	96	18	35	6	10	64	35	6	10	32
14	2	1 80	22	50	5	16	14	70	5	16	14
15	4	2 72	19	1 40	4	32	19	1 40	5	32	14
16	15	15 00	45	3 75	4	1 50	60	3 75	4	1 50	50
17	1	1 00	15	25	4	06	60	15	4	06	50
18	1	98	30	35	4	08	62	35	4	08	28
Totals	74	70 20	575	26 99	99	5 22	844	17 09	58	3 84	472
Averages for
each Book		95	32	36	5½	07	47	33	5	07	43

Table of life histories:

Transcriber’s Note

The following text is the transcription of a table whose column headings were written vertically.
Key to column headings:— A: Library, B: No. of books reported on, C: First cost of books, D: Times lent before rebinding, E: Cost of rebinding, F: Weeks out of use, G: Cost of handling, H: Times lent in rebinding, I: Cost of 2nd rebinding, J: Weeks out of use, K: Cost of handling, and L: Times lent in 2nd rebinding.

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L
1	9	9 00	30	4 50	6		40
2	2	2 00	40	70	8	20	70
3	5	3 25	19	2 50	6	50	23
4	10	9 80	15	4 50	4	60	25	4 50	8	60	32
5	1	1 00	28	35	4	12	50
6	10	10 00	28	2 50	6	30	31	2 50	6	30	22
7	4	4 00	20	1 80	4	40	25	1 80	4	40	15
8	1	1 00	70	54	10	08	100
9	1	1 00	75	35	10	08	45	54	10	08	100
10	3	3 00	29	1 05	2	30	80	1 05	2	30	115
11	1	99	37	40	6	12	36
12	3	2 70	35	1 20	6	36	40
13	1	96	18	35	6	10	64	35	6	10	32
14	2	1 80	22	50	5	16	14	70	5	16	14
15	4	2 72	19	1 40	4	32	19	1 40	5	32	14
16	15	15 00	45	3 75	4	1 50	60	3 75	4	1 50	50
17	1	1 00	15	25	4	06	60	15	4	06	50
18	1	98	30	35	4	08	62	35	4	08	28
Totals	74	70 20	575	26 99	99	5 22	844	17 09	58	3 84	472
Averages for
each Book		95	32	36	5½	07	47	33	5	07	43

In the Newark library an examination of 56 books, chiefly novels, from 15 or 20 different publishers, shows that on the average they were lent in publishers’ binding only 25 times each before being rebound; and that 42 books in the juvenile department were lent in the publishers’ binding an average of only 17 times each.