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Greetings all, [Plus a not on slipcases...] As someone who has been personally and institutionally collecting photobooks for some time now, this dust jacket conversation has been very interesting. The function of the dust jacket as a protective wrapper on a book, a conceptual envelope around bound ideas, a pretty bow on a plain box, etc. and so on, is seldom discussed in depth. Good for us to do so. We are also constrained by financial and staffing concerns and do not save all jackets. Anna Fishaut, the Assistant Librarian, and I make the thumbs up/thumbs down decision on a case by case examination of every title. We tend to privilege the following: 1) Major exhibition catalogs, catalog raisonnes, major museum collection catalogs -- the gold standard of the literature we all collect. Pretty easy to sort out. 2) Where the flaps contain information on additional titles in a series, by a publisher, by the author(s), thus functioning as a sort of "discovery environment" that will lead the reader to additional literature. There, I've used one required buzz-phrase. Fairly easy to sort out. No, we do not save jackets just because there is author info on the flaps. 3) Where the jacket is part and parcel of a clearly well articulated overall design strategy by the authors/editors/publishers. This requires some attention to detail and close examination of the piece. No, just because the jacket is pretty is not reason enough, on its own, to merit retention. 4) Sometimes the jacket itself is part of the presentation of the thesis or content of the publication. Remember the 1998 Varnedoe catalog on Pollock, where the dust jacket and end pages of the publication were composed of stills from Namuth's film of Pollock painting, shot up through the glass plate as Pollock painted? Varnedoe's basic premise was that Pollock's reputation, the myth, had obscured our understanding of Pollock and his work. As one flipped from the front dust jacket cover through the front end pages of Namuth's images, Pollock becomes more and more hidden behind the web of paint. It is only on the dust jacket that we see Pollock clearly, the myth barely developed. Perfect. Figuring these out is a pleasure. 5) Finally, a mercenary consideration. Is the title being purchased on an endowed fund where we might actually need to show the books to the donor or the donor's family. Those jackets are saved. Countering all these considerations is the very clear and pressing realization that we can not afford -- in material costs or staff time -- to save all the jackets we would like. We regularly dispose of many dust jackets after we have exhibited them at our New Book Shelf, and later on a large (4' x 12') bulletin board that changes quarterly. Finally, thoughts on slipcases. Same processes, plus, the desire to protect larger, folio sized volumes that do circulate. We figure the slipcase may protect the binding of the book as it bounces around in student backpacks and bike racks. Best to all, Peter -- Peter P. Blank Head Librarian Art & Architecture Library 102 Cummings Art Building Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305 - 2018 [log in to unmask] 650.725.1038 Voice 650.725.0140 Fax artlibrary.stanford.edu ----- Original Message ----- From: "Linda Martin-Schaff" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 1:00:22 PM Subject: Re: [ARLIS-L] Fw: [ARLIS-L] Book Covers: To remove or not remove... The reasons that Ellen lists are also factors for the Philadelphia Museum of Art Library. Our discarded jackets are given to the Education Department and they're used for various student art projects. Linda Linda Martin-Schaff Librarian for Technical Services Philadelphia Museum of Art P.O. Box 7646 Philadelphia, PA 19101-7646 215-684-7655 Fax 215-236-0534 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: ARLIS/NA List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ellen Chapman Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 2:53 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [ARLIS-L] Fw: [ARLIS-L] Book Covers: To remove or not remove... In my univ. library it was for space-saving and cost-saving. The thickness of book jackets (not to mention plastic covers) can reduce space available on many shelves. Plastic covers obviously cost something and leaving jackets without plastic covers would result in torn covers that would have to be discarded eventually anyway. Most removed jackets are sent to respective subject departments in the library where they are often used for displays. Most jackets from art books are then sent to the campus Art Dept. where students use them in a wide variety of ways. |((| Ellen Chapman |))| University of Hawaii at Manoa Library On Fri, 18 Feb 2011, Sheila A. Cork wrote: > I think that this is an interesting discussion. I have an additional > question - why are the covers taken off the books? Does anyone remember > when that started to happen? > > Sheila A. Cork > Librarian > New Orleans Museum of Art > City Park > 1 Collins Diboll Circle > P.O. Box 19123 > New Orleans, LA 70179-0123 > > 504-658-4117 > [log in to unmask] > > > --- On Thu, 2/17/11, Anna Bigazzi <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > From: Anna Bigazzi <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: [ARLIS-L] Fw: [ARLIS-L] Book Covers: To remove or not > remove... > To: [log in to unmask] > Date: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 2:28 PM > > I sent this message to Jillian' e-mail address, but see that > many respond on the list, so I am forwarding a copy of it in > case someone else has interest... > From: Anna Bigazzi > Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 11:48 AM > To: Jillian Kehoe > Subject: Re: [ARLIS-L] Book Covers: To remove or not remove... > > Hi Jillian, > > In the past at our library we almost never kept the covers on the > books. We did not have the funds to cover the expense for the plastic > sheets and the manpower for the process. However, when we had a > branch library at the Art School (we transferred to the expanded and > "wired' main library in 1989) > we had a big bulletin board in the reading area and pinned on it the > new book covers in the neatest arrangements our art students may > conceive. The covers would stay up there for a few weeks, then after > we substituted them, the most interesting or beautiful ones would be > mounted on boards and go to enrich our circulating collection of "Art > Plates." > > After the move we lost the exhibition board, so the better covers > still were used for plates and the others discarded or used as folders > or colored paper for book repairs. This went on for another 15 years > or so until the book collection was integrated and the Art Librarian > (=me) was "integrated" too as Reference Librarian. Right now the > Plate Collection still exist, but is not updated for lack of time and > manpower. I still collect gorgeous covers > which most likely will end at the Art School for the students to > adopt. In the meantime we updated the "New Books" shelves leaving the > covers on as long as the display lasts, and created a circulating > "Leisure Collection" of literature, where the covers stay on without > protection as long as they are decent. Art books do not often park > among the "New Books" because of their size. Also if requested by > faculty they go to the stacks immediately after cataloging. We have a > special section of the online catalog to signal the accession of new > books. I am not so sure that anybody looks at it... > > Thanks for asking... > > Anna Bigazzi > Art Reference Librarian > Mortensen Library, Art Library > University of Hartford > 200 Bloomfield Avenue > West Hartford, CT 06117 > > Tel.: 860 768-4397 > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > > From: Jillian Kehoe > Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 10:26 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [ARLIS-L] Book Covers: To remove or not remove... > > Hello ARLIS > > > > I'm curious to see what others schools do concerning book covers. > Currently, we are putting plastic on the covers, covering our new > books and putting them on display. After a few months, they get > removed from display and placed into the stacks. We haven't been > removing the covers. What is your practice concerning book covers-do > the covers get removed when the books get placed in standard shelving? > > > > Thanks in advance for your help and opinions. > > > > Jillian Kehoe > > Librarian > > Art & Architecture Library > > New York Institute of Technology > > Old Westbury, NY 11568 > > (516) 686-1269 > > [log in to unmask] > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about > joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send > administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to > [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription > maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list > owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Anna Bigazzi > Art Reference Librarian > Mortensen Library, Art Library > University of Hartford > 200 Bloomfield Avenue > West Hartford, CT 06117 > > Tel.: 860 768-4397 > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~