Re: Pulling Serials/Binding Priorities October Ivins 23 Sep 1992 15:08 UTC
At LSU we had one half of our binding budget of $150,000 cut 6 weeks into FY 87/88; it would be harder to do it later in the year. At the same time, we lost one of our binding unit positions. Here's what we did immediately: SERIALS -- Assign quotas to each area that sent material for binding based on their percentage of total binding in the previous year. We tried to avoid returning material if locations went over quota by using left-over space from another area. This was announced to areas in a memo I ghost wrote for the library director. -- Suspend binding for most foreign language periodicals, particularly non Roman alphabets. We just left materials on the current shelves since we had no room to store. (We keep "current year and two previous years", bound and unbound, in the Serials Display area) -- Change composition of binding units to bind more issues in a volume. For example, if we had been binding two years of a semi-annual, we went to three years if the spine thickness was under 2 inches. -- Government documents are second in volume to Serials Display, but they are in closed stacks, so we backlogged them. MONOGRAPHS -- We had one high level support staff member, who is responsible for in house repair, review all new monographs. Only the 10% anticipated to have very high use were commercially bound. Others were "stiffened", a process of applying posterboard to the inside covers and reinforcing the spine. We set the "circulation" flag in our online system (NOTIS) for these so Circulation staff could examine volumes being discharged and route them for repair. We had few problems. ONGOING CONCERNS/OBSERVATIONS -- SERIALS Our budget has remained depressed; it was initially cut from $150,000 to $75,000; it is now $85,000. We have gotten several supplements to help catch up with Display titles, but still have a backlog. This creates associated problems of incomplete binding units, etc, which we do store and note in our OPAC. (We caught up non Display areas first; Documents is still somewhat backlogged too.) MONOGRAPHS -- Stiffening worked, but we have replaced it with Easy Cover, a commercially produced mylar cover. At a cost of about $1 per volume, it is cheaper in terms of material plus labor than stiffening. We now commercially bind very few books-- mostly oversize and art books. Easy Covers are very popular for high use reference titles which will be superseded and not permanently bound as the original cover can be viewed. We do more commercial re-binding for older books as a form of repair than new binding of monographs.At some point we need to study a sample of volumes and determine how they're holding up. -- THESES and DISSERTATIONS We too charge students. The requirements are enforced by the Graduate School who collects the money and deposits it into our account. We charge $10, too (I think) and our binder will also do personal binding which is mailed directly to the patron but picked up with library shipments. -- GATHERING FOR BINDING We have been so far behind, until this semester we just had students bring in what was overflowing from the Display shelves. We are now resuming our old system of having check in staff fill out a form noting what can be bound when the first issue of a new volume or new binding unit arrives. Our old system also bound immediately on receipt of a new issue, leaving only one issue on the shelf. I had many complaints from faculty and students in the sciences with some of those 2 per week titles. We now wait until the newest issue of a binding unit is 3 months old before binding. I am considering changing this to two months. We have an ad hoc "rush" binding list that has been created as we receive complaints and holds, but it too could use some work to be more effective. Best wishes on surviving your cut, and let me know if I can help more. October Ivins, Head, Serials Services, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge LA