Book jackets RE: [Publib] checking out books to keep them from being weeded

[Marita C. Masuch]

Funny, I never thought about it before but I tend to gravitate toward books
that don't have any flashy colors or artwork, and if it has no jacket all
the better.  I still go straight to any book that is leather bound with
nothing but the title and author to indicate anything about the book.  And
with my personal books I tend to remove the jackets before they go on the
shelves... although I don't throw them away I just save them in an archival
box.

As for throwing away book jackets at academic libraries -- when I worked as
a student worker in my university in 2002/2003 they were still throwing them
away.  Their reason was that they just got destroyed by students and
professors anyway so why bother.  Not sure if that was the truth or not but
that's what they said when I asked!

~~M
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Sharon Foster
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 4:49 PM
To: Nann Blaine Hilyard
Cc: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: Book jackets RE: [Publib] checking out books to keep them from
being weeded

I nearly cried the first time I was told that academic libraries throw
away book jackets.

Sharon M. Foster, 91.7% Librarian
Speaker-to-Computers
http://www.vsa-software.com/mlsportfolio/






On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Nann Blaine Hilyard
<nbhilyard at zblibrary.org> wrote:
> Do academic libraries still routinely remove book jackets?  I always
wondered why. Someone once told me it was because the books took up too much
space on the shelves, which I didn't buy (but it wasn't productive to argue
the point).  There could be the argument that the extra processing takes too
many resources (mylar jackets, attaching tape, staff time) but public
libraries don't have an oversupply of help in processing and they manage.
>
> I figure that Rangnathan's Laws apply to all libraries.  Any library wants
people to use its collections, and any way to make that easier would be a
Good Thing, and having book jackets and the blurbs would help college
students and professors know more about the contents.
>
> Nann
> @ZBPL
> ....remembering Elliott Inserts from Pittsburg, Kansas....
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Thomsen
> Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 3:35 PM
> To: publib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [Publib] checking out books to keep them from being weeded
>
> Abigail Goben wrote [in part]:
>> I have used the phrase cover-magpies when describing the love and care
>> of a children's chapter book section. Kids are drawn to bright and
>> exciting covers.  Adults are also--otherwise we'd never put books face
>> out.  I've been doing an indepth weed of chapterbooks and the classics
>> take me the longest to replace because I'm trying to find a cover that
>> is engaging.
>
> I agree that kids, teens and adults are all drawn to bright and exciting
> covers.  Well-designed covers really do convey a sense of what the book
> is about.
>
> But in addition to the visual appeal, consider the importance of the
> book descriptions on the back cover or jacket flaps.  When I was in high
> school, I discovered literature at a bookstore that stocked the complete
> set of the beautifully-designed Signet Classics.  Every week I'd go
> browse through them all and choose one, and start reading it on the way
> home, totally enthralled.  And most weeks when I showed my new purchase
> to my mother, she would point out that we owned that book, and she'd
> pull down a plain hardcover copy from the shelves.  But those plain
> hardcovers were of no interest to me -- the books all looked the same,
> and I had no way of knowing what a book was about or why it might appeal
> to me.  I couldn't seem to force myself to read the first few pages of
> any book without some sense of what the book was about.
>
> Today people have lots of ways to find out more about books, on and
> offline.  Reviews and booklists can be helpful, personal recommendations
> even more so, and there's nothing like a knowledgeable librarian
> handselling a book.  But when a person is browsing around alone in the
> stacks, those book covers with well-designed artwork and text really do
> help people figure out which books they will like!
>
> --
> Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
> NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
> 26 Cherry Hill Drive
> Danvers MA 01923
> Blog: http://www.noblenet.org/ethomsen/
> E-mail: et at noblenet.org
>
>
>
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