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

[Lindsey Smith]

I work in a community college library, and yes the jackets are still
thrown away.  The reason I was given is that the mylar is too expensive.


-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 4:46 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Book jackets RE: [Publib] checking out books to keep them
frombeing weeded

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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