Too Big for Their Britches: Books That Can’t Keep Their Covers On
If you’re around books a lot, you know there are certain titles that just have a hard time keeping it together. I’ve found that the worst offenders have:
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- High page counts
- Glossy pages
- Large trim sizes
Which kinds of books have all of these? Your Guinness, your Ripley’s, your LEGO.
Add in frequent circulation and you have a perfect spine-breaking storm. Pictured above is The Smart-O-Pedia – a great book that has reached its breaking point more than once.
How do you handle this? Take preventative measures? A particular binding that’s unbreakable? Book acupuncture?
Filed under: Articles
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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Pre tape it and then post tape it. Then tape it again!
I’m 70 now, retired librarian, and started as a library page when nearly 14. After school I shelved books and then moved into the workroom to mend. Do you all still mend the way we did? That book above should have all surfaces that shouldn’t be exposed brushed with white glue, and then the secret is waxed paper tight up into the binding so no glue touches where it shouldn’t. Close book tight with rubber bands and wait until “after school” the next day. Then do all the preventive taping you want.
Bound to Stay Bound! If they come apart, they will replace for free!
We still mend books as much as possible! Glue and tape still work great and I love the book mending glue. It makes many a book just like new. Hate the spiral bound books. We avoid them.
Really good glue from Demco has helped with this problem.