Quote:
Originally Posted by natasha_fawn
This librarian http://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.p...e-library.html suggests that the average lifespan of books at her(?) library is about 35 loans, and that appears to include academic books. I wouldn't be surprised if it is shorter for novels. (Novels are read all the way through more often than academic books are.) People are not nice to books they don't own. They get tossed around, shoved in bags, and generally spend more time out and about than a privately owned book that lives on a bookshelf. |
As Jann comments under that article (refering to the pictures);
"Do you think this has more to do with the way the books are handled, or the way they are constructed? Seems to me that pages used to be sewn into hardcover books, whereas now they are frequently glued."
The books we sent to libraries
were stiched together with the spine cover attached to the cover, not the pages.
We didn't handle paperback book for libraries but I recall that the library I used from '58 - '70 had the paperback books rebound.
See
Library binding.
"Library binding is the term used to describe the method of binding serials, and re-binding paperback or hardcover books, for use within libraries. Library binding increases the durability of books, as well as making the materials easier to use. A lower cost and in-house alternative to library binding of paperbacks is the stiffening process."