Book Repair & Processing

9:00 am -2:00 pm
5 hours
Total hours to date: 80.5

Today, I spent a few minutes helping out at the front desk, checked in with Gale in the NC room on the archive project, then went downstairs to talk with Mr. Wilson. I talked with him about the budget process, to clarify my understanding of the approval process as well as state aid allotments, and we also discussed the role of the state library in BCPL's daily functions.

He also had a stack of children's books, in need of repair, that had come from a local day-care on outreach loan, and he wanted me to repair them. Most of the damage was torn pages that needed repair, but there were a few that needed new book jacket covers. There was also one book that appeared to have been painted on the inside cover and along the edges of the cover as well. We determined that since the inside of the book was still in good shape and most of the paint damage would be covered by the new book jacket, we could probably fix the book without discarding it. I was glad because the book was Tuesday, by David Weisner, one of my personal favorites! I was able to remove some of the paint by wiping the book down, so it wasn't as obvious, and the new book jacket made a big difference.

I also had the chance to process a few new audiobooks, including copies of The Hunger Games and The Help. Because I had not processed audiobooks before, this was good experience for me. I had to cut apart the original packaging and fit it into a new plastic holder. I also hand-labeled each audio disc and added a pocket and labels. I spent the rest of the time processing new books by stamping them, adding pockets, spine labels, etc.