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portal: Libraries and the Academy 3.1 (2003) 171-172



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Book Repair: A How-To-Do-It Manual, Kenneth Lavender. 2d ed. (How-To-Do-It Manuals for Librarians, no.107) New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2001. 269 pp. $49.95 (ISBN 1-55570-408-5)

One of the most comprehensive book repair manuals published in many years, Book Repair: A How-To-Do-It Manual, 2nd edition, by Kenneth Lavender, is a significant expansion of the original edition in breadth and scope. Lavender is curator of the Rare Book and Texana Collections and the chief conservator at the University of North Texas Libraries. While the previous edition (Neal-Schuman, 1992) was intended for a school and public librarian audience, this edition shifts focus by expanding the number of repairs and incorporating more advanced techniques not usually published in repair manuals. Lining documents, hinging torn pages, repairing split textblocks, encapsulation, and matting are some of the added areas/techniques.

Removed from the new edition are the instructions for dry mounting and lamination—long considered unsound preservation practice. In their place are several methods of encapsulation, which serve the same purpose: to protect delicate, deteriorated flat collection items (documents, manuscripts, maps, etc.) from damage by heavy use. This edition contains even more illustrations, 112 drawings and black and white photographs, which aid in understanding the more difficult repairs. The section covering hinge and spine repair now includes an overview of binding structures.

An excellent addition is a section on "Treatment of Water-Damaged Books and Papers and Removal of Mold and Mildew," which should help institutions deal with wet collection materials. This section condenses a large amount of information into a mere 16 pages—perfect for inserting into the procedures section of an institutional disaster plan. If the disaster is too large or dangerous, as in the case of a large mold outbreak or large-scale emergency, one can consult the list of disaster recovery companies on the last page of this section.

An introductory section covers some aspects of decision-making; however, further detail would be useful. It is not clear which repairs are for general collections and which are intended for more valuable collections—book repair versus book conservation. For example, more difficult conservation [End Page 171] treatments, such as lining documents, are mingled with directions for repair using heat set tissue, a quick and easy repair for short-term retention items in circulating collections. The introduction lists a set of criteria for decisions: importance of the item, condition, and time, money, and personnel available. The last criterion, available expertise, seems to skirt the issue of whether or not untrained persons should be attempting some of the more difficult repair procedures. There has long been a distinction between items that circulate and items that are retained for their inherent or artifactual value. The author does not clearly address this issue, but does mention three principles of conservation treatments: harmlessness (using quality materials and techniques), durability (treatments should last the life of the item), and reversibility (ability to remove the repair if necessary). There is no discussion of commercial library binding as a cost- effective option for damaged circulating volumes. The text lacks an in-depth discussion of statistics and estimating the costs of the different treatments options.

Book Repair is most effective as an encyclopedia of repairs. It covers everything from mending small tears to creating complicated clamshell boxes. It will prove very useful to those librarians who are well versed in preservation issues, highly skilled at some of the more advanced repair techniques, and want to learn a wider range of treatments. It may also assist collections conservators with staff training and be used as a repair staff reference tool.

 



Tina Mason
Southeastern Library Network
<tmason@solinet.net>

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