The main problem with paperbacks is the way some of them are bound.
If they are constructed with gatherings which are sewn together prior
to the soft covers being glued on, then libraries generally *will*
buy them and some even send them out for "permabinding" with plastic
(etc.) or standard
rebinding in hard covers before adding them to their collections.
Both methods re-use the paper covers incorporating them into the hard covers.
But paperbacks with so-called "perfect binding", where there are no
sewn gatherings and every leaf is loose and glued together into a text block,
are an anathema to librarians - they are extremely costly to rebind
and usually do not last very long in their original bindings or rebound!
A second concern is the quality of the paper used in softcover books.
I must say that this has generally improved over the years, and most
trade softcover books as well as those of scholarly interest now are
being printed on good, even acid-free paper. B'shalom,
Bernard Katz, former head, Special Collections and Library Development
McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph
author, descriptive bibliog. of L.M. Montgomery's books (in progress)
treasurer, Association for Canadian Jewish Studies / Association
d'Etudes Juives Canadiennes
Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL
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