MLA 2008 Annual Conference in OC Preconference

I attended a half day preconference on Wednesday, May 14 entitled Book Repair for Every Library. This turned out to be a little more involved than I expected, but I still learned several things that I can share/teach to other staff or volunteers. A few absolute no-nos that I learned: do not use tape to repair pages on any items that you want to keep long-term; do not glue the inner spine of a hardback book to the spine of the cover—there needs to be a hollow area there for flexibility in opening the book; and never use rubber bands to hold a book together because the friction can cause more damage to the book. I’m bringing back a lot of information that I plan to pass on to the branches with history rooms.