Greetings,
Here are some responses as to how you deal with spineless catalogues
on your shelves...thanks to everyone who replied! It seems that
archival boxes are the popular choice...followed by binding for those
who can afford it.
"We have a large collection of annual reports which are thin and of
various sizes. We place them in magazine/pamphlet file boxes that
sit on the shelves. You can get them from library supply sources
like Gaylord or home stores like The Container Store or Ikea. Most
of them have a slot for a label, so you can group them as you choose
and then label them for easy
retrieval."
"Until recently I worked at the Tate Library in London and we had a
reasonable solution to this problem - archival quality boxes that
stand on their ends - but this all depends on how you are organizing
the spineless items. I presume most are exhibition catalogues?
We had a sequence of solo ex cats, filed alphabetically. The group ex
cats sequence was broken down into the country where the exhibition
was held, followed by the city, and then the gallery name. The class
mark was USA-NEW-MUS (USA, New York, Museum of Modern Art). Not all
galleries had their own boxes, some were mixed, and some cities were
mixed. It is quite hard to explain, without seeing it.
Anyway, we put most catalogues in the boxes, unless they were
hardcover, whereby they would sit on the shelf beside their respective box.
I have seen other institutions file their spineless items in magazine
file boxes, at least it keeps them together, but I have always found
they are less protected in that medium."
"Here are some of the solutions we've taken in the past:
* Formerly - items were boxed (flip-top, archival) with others from
the same institution. They were indifferently cataloged. Lately, we
have been pulling these out and outsourcing the cataloging and
binding. This project has been stopped until we find more soft money for it.
* Some items in the collection (of the same vintage as those above)
were selected out from boxes and bound.
* Some items were placed in an artist vertical file - leaved by
artist into hanging files.
* Serial catalogs were generally bound together, if complete. If
incomplete, they were usually put into a box or four-flap enclosure.
Currently, we are dealing with these materials from three streams -
current dealer catalogs we would normally receive; materials from our
artist vertical file and file boxes that we are reviewing for more
complete treatment (mainly ten to twenty years old); and a gift of a
large number of dealer catalogs, published over the last thirty years
(or more). With the numbers involved, we have neither the staff nor
the money to individually bind them. Plus we have a serious space issue.
Our solutions, at least today, are:
* Very small items (i.e. broadsheets or bi- or tri-fold items) are
going into the artist vertical file, where applicable.
* Larger items are cataloged and processed for offsite storage. If
they are small, old, fragile or at risk in some other way, they will
go into archival envelopes. Otherwise, they will be sent to our
offsite facility as is. The thought is that they will be at optimum
conditions (low temperature and humidity) and touched only when
needed, so they do not need the protection that binding offers.
* Selected items (important? large? taste and judgement - and
seredipity - will be involved) will be bound as before and will remain onsite.
I believe that binding is the best long-term solution for most of
these materials. There will always be some that don't lend
themselves to it (tri-fold brochures or items no inner margin or
catalogs reproducing art on individual loose sheets, for example),
but the binding gives them sturdiness and protects them from ordinary
bumps and abuse.
What's the best solution? It depends upon staff time, money and
usage. At a public library with open stacks, these items may be
shifted enough to warrant binding. If they are offsite or otherwise
only lightly accesible, archival enclosures may be enough."
"With respect to spineless catalogs, what I do at MOCA is put them in
acid free folders and shelve them with the rest of the books. They
have extra support and are browseable for staff. I purchase the
folders from Metal Edge, a local company. See
http://www.metaledgeinc.com/Products.tpl?cart=11930740481645150&id1=15&id2=451&startat=1&--woSECTIONSdatarq=451&--SECTIONSword=ww&ran=7475
. They come in two standard sizes, which fit most documents."
"Hi Joel. Depending on their significance to the collection and the
amount of use they get, as well as their thickness, I either put them
in "pamphlet binders" (with or without envelopes, depending on their
size) Whether with pamphlet binder or without, I type up the title and call
number on archival labels and affix to the "spine", such as it is.
Use an underline mark at the beginning and ending edge of the label as a
mark for where to place the label:
_ GEORGES ROUAULT : GRAPHIK AQUARELLE _
GEORGES ROUAULT : GRAPHIK AQUARELLE
I also type it so that, on the items with stapled biding, the fold shows
the title on each side, making it easier to read on the shelf.
Hope this makes sense.
We don't have the money to send things out for binding. Besides, they
don't get than much use as a public library might. Hope this makes
sense and that it helps."
"Here at the Crafts Council Research Library our spineless stock is
placed ina plastic A4 sleeve and stored in numbered magazine files at
the beginning of each catalogue code. That's all very well and good
when the books fit...they often don't! I'd be interested to hear of
the responses that you get - although we certainly don't have the
quantity you are dealing with, a great proportion of our collection
is made up of spineless publications."
Thank you all again! Look for a special gift in the next posting!
Joel J. Rane
Author and Librarian
http://www.joelrane.com/
Read the Book at: http://www.screamatthelibrarian.com/
Read the Screed at: http://www.californialibre.com/
___________________________________________
Take a tip from your protoplasm and get in a little riotous
living. -- Advice to an uptight biologist on "Hawaii 5-0"
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