[ILL-L] RE: Books arriving from lender damaged due to age

[Knowles, Cynthia Marie]

I occasionally receive items like this, and if I'm concerned about the
item (it's going to someone I'm not positive will be careful with it), I
make a note of the damage and keep the book as Library Use Only.  This
way it will face less risk of damage from being stuffed into a book bag,
and so we can keep an eye on the materials.

 

My thoughts on this are that for a lot of the older materials we get,
just about any copy will be in less than pristine condition, so I just
try to protect the copy I receive.

 

And usually before sending something in that condition I call the
borrowing library to let them know about the potential problem, but they
tend to want it anyway.  If they are willing to wait, I will send it up
to be repaired before sending it out, but that usually takes too long
and patrons are unwilling to wait.

 

Cindy Knowles
Interlibrary Loan & Reference Librarian

UMKC Miller Nichols Library (UMK)
816-235-1511

knowlescm at umkc.edu

http://www.umkc.edu/lib/

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Beth Willis
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 10:42 AM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: Books arriving from lender damaged due to age

 

Lately I've been seeing a lot of books come through here from lenders
that are really not fit to circulate; e.g. the text block is entirely
pulled away from the spine.

 

Is there a protocol for this? Do you repair such items before
circulating to your patron? Do you let them go out as is? (There is no
way the lender wasn't aware of the condition of the material before
sending it. Or, do you return them to the lender and submit a new
request for the patron?

 

My *real* question is: Why do libraries let stuff go out in this
condition? :-?

 

 

 

Beth Willis

ILL Department Head

bwillis at mcpl.lib.mo.us

Phone: (816) 521-7231

Mid-Continent Public Library - http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us

Unless explicitly attributed, the opinions expressed are personal.

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