Sixth Week Experience-February 17th

Today I arrived at 8:35am and started with learning how to further process materials coming from the circulation desk. This includes learning some new library policies.


All of the records of the library's other copies of a damaged book are printed off so that these items can be reviewed. Those records are attached to the damaged books and put on a cart. I went upstairs with Sharlane to find the items. Once locating the call number, you look at the second copies to see if they need attention. The preservation department also has the binding type (commercial, original hard binding, hand bound, and soft binding) and color noted so that the item can be repaired similarly. If the item needs attention it is pulled from the shelf to be reviewed later by Sharlane and the collection manager. While looking for second copies you also locate other volumes and editions, and pull the ones that need repair.


While in the stacks I was shown a "disaster" that continually occurs at the library. There is a leak in the roof that comes down directly over the compact shelving. Sharlane has plastic drop cloths that can be pulled back to retrieve books over the section. There are also extra drop cloths at circulation, in case a leak occurs.

The next step in processing books is checking out the books that need repair to the department. You do this so an item cannot be requested while it's in the preservation department. After you check the items out, you group them with the original item needing repair. Now the items can be examined by Sharlane and placed on the repair shelf.


At this point I started another reback, but with a thick book covered in fabric. Here are some photos of the book as I stripped it. I created a hollow tube spine and new spine fabric for the item.

Creating the spine fabric with the spine strip to go with a hollow tube is different only in that you draw small squares on the fabric on each end of the spine strip (on either side of the strip). They should be about as wide as the groove of the book (gutter) and as long as the excess fabric at the top and bottom of the spine strip. This marks off an area so that you do not glue in it, making it more difficult to tuck in the fabric later. Here is the item, sandwiched between remay and blotter paper, and weighted with a piece of plexi-glass and a brick:

Last time we cleaned off the title, which I also did with the second book because it was intact and decorative. Here is what they booth look like before they are cut to fit the spine:

This is the paperback, dried and ready to cut.

 As you can notice, this title has color that runs off onto the blotter. It seems that more often blue fabric has issues with the color bleeding like this item.

These are all the items being prepared for the next step. 

-The next step of the reback is gluing the spine strip (attached to the new spine fabric).
-Position the the spine lining so that it matches up with the spine strip (you can shift it into place afterward).Roll the unglued side pieces around and tuck them into the flaps of cover fabric (or paper) you made before.
-Hold your fingers to the spine to avoid shifting and rub down the spine and put in the upright bracer (for lack of a better term-shown in first photo above) under the bean bag weights for five to ten minutes.
-Take the item out of the brace and glue the exposed sides of spine fabric using PVA and wax paper. If you are doing a hollow tube, this should exclude the boxes you marked earlier. *Do one side at a time, following the next few steps then repeating for the other side.
-Tuck it into the flap on the covers.
-Bone folder the fabric into the gutter.
-Apply PVA to the underside of the flap and bone folder down. Be sure to wipe away excess glue with a damp paper towel. (Repeat for the other side at this point)
-Put the item in the press with the boards that have metal runners (to indent the gutter) with a sheet of wax paper on either side. Make sure to line up the spine/text block so that the book is straight.


The last part of the reback is the turn-in, when the fabric at the top and bottom of the spine is tucked into the space left by using a hollow tube.
-Draw the spatula through a  layer of board underneath the end sheet where a slit has already been made.
-Use a pointed spatula to go under and open up across the whole length of the spine-everywhere the new fabric will need to go. be sure to leave a little extra space to make the turn-in easier.
-Coat the new spine fabric with PVA.
-Use the flat steel spatula to grab the ends of the fabric and push down between the board and end sheet. *This will take some time and practice because it is difficult to keep moving it after the glue has started to set. Try to do quickly.
-Push in the fabric in the middle of the spine, bringing it to the same height of the board.
-Rub down gutters with a bone folder, then lay the book flat and rub down the top edge with a small bone folder.
-Put a small amount of glue on the spatula, and with the book open, put glue in the space between the end sheet and the fabric that has been shoved into the board.

-Smooth down end sheets and wipe away excess glue with a damp paper towel. (You may want to put wax paper in, to be safe)
-Put the item back into the press with the metal runners. Be sure to use new sheets of wax paper and to line up the spine again. Leave in the press overnight.

At the end of the day we trimmed the titles to the existing fold lines using a clear triangle and scalpel. Before we left, Quinn and I checked the hygrothermographs. We finished at 4:40pm.

*If any processes are repeated in my blog, it is because they were repeated during my practicum experience. I apologize for any redundancy.