Re: Binding heavy paper (Claudia Mecham) ERCELAA@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu 19 Jan 1999 15:55 UTC

Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 08:08:25 -0700
From: Claudia C Mecham <mechclau@ISU.EDU>
Subject: Binding heavy paper (Angie Piercy)

Paper which is clay-coated, slick and heavy is a real problem to bind.
Our former binder oversewed the volumes comprised of this type of paper
because the Double-fan adhesive binding did not hold together well.
However, our current binder handles these volumes differently.

Two changes have been made in the processing of our clay-coated paper
volumes by our current binder.  First, and most importantly, the spines
are notched by the binder before the adhesive is applied and this seems
to make all the difference.  We retain the advantages of the Double-fan
adhesive binding, and seldom do we have a volume fall apart or lose
pages.  In addition, whenever possible, we try to limit the thickness
and weight of volumes comprised of the clay-coated paper.  We generally
send clay-coated serial volumes which measure 1.5 to 1.75 inches thick
and weigh no more than 4 lbs.  Monographs, we realize, cannot be limited
in this fashion, but the notching does improve the success rate for
monographs in spite of their thickness and weight.

You might ask your binder to try the notching and see if it helps.
We're very pleased with the results we have seen over the last 3 years.

Hope this can be of some use to you.

Claudia Mecham
Binding Supervisor
Eli M. Oboler Library
Idaho State University