Beginner’s Book Repair- Book Details
During the workshop, you will work on and repair actual library materials, so it will be necessary for you to bring books to be repaired. If you don’t have books in your collection that are damaged in this way, you may want to go to a used bookstore to purchase some cheaply. Buying 4 or 5 standard sized (novel sized) hardbacks should be adequate for the day (we may have some books on hand to serve as “willing victims”). If you do have damaged books, or can damage them before the workshop, make sure you bring at least one of the following:
1. Books(s) with text coming out—either a few pages or sections.
2. Books that are loose in the hinge area but whose endsheets and spine liner (or “super” as it’s called in the drawing) are still intact and functioning.
3. Books needing new endpapers: i.e., the endsheets are torn, but the spine liner is still attached. Spine liner (or super) is the sort of “cheesecloth” material glued to the back of the spine and the inside of the boards of the book.
4. Cloth covered books with torn head caps, deteriorated or detached spines, but with covers still attached.
5. If time permits—and if there is interest, we can work on books that have come completely free from their casings: the bound pages have to be intact, as does the cover of the book.
Another note about the books you should bring:
1. The pages in the books should not be brittle. If a corner on a page breaks off after about four folds, it is too brittle to repair.
2. None of the books should be rare, hard to replace, or valuable in any way. Do not bring reference materials out, either.
3. Bring 20th or 21st century materials only, please.
4. Do not bring children’s books. Unfortunately, due to the special way some of these books are bound, different repair techniques are needed.
5. Do not bring oversized materials; all books should be less than 12 inches tall, less than 9 inches wide, and less than 2 1/2 inches thick. Common novels would be ideal.
6. You are encouraged to bring “problem” books—those with numerous types of repairs needed. We can discuss the decision-making process in how to proceed in repairing these.
Remember, practice makes perfect—so you may want to bring the most expendable books you have to practice on. Later, as you get better, you can move on to more expensive materials. The skills taught at this workshop are for general circulating materials, and not rare or valuable items.
I am intereseted in the beginner workshop. I am a school librarian in Berkeley County.
What is the optimal number of participants? What are the fees? Is cost per person or a cost per workshop?
Thank you, Nancy Barnwell
Hello Nancy,
Sorry it took us so long to respond to your comment. We are working on our workshop schedule and getting more people trained to teach them. We hope to have a book repair/cleaning workshop in Charleston this spring. Just keep checking back to the blog for a date when it gets firmed up.
Optimal number of particpants is no more than 25. Basic book repair takes a lot of space so we’d need to have a meeting room with ample room to spread out. Costs depend on if you want lunch included or not. Sometimes we’ve had a boxed lunch brought in and other times we just let everyone be on their own for lunch then meet back for the afternoon session. Normally we try to keep the costs as minimal as possible so $15 to 20 is where we like to keep it.
You can email me directly, southh@scdah.state.sc.us and I’ll get you on the mailing list for PALMCOP and let the district rep in your area know about your interest.
Thanks,
Heather South