Collection Maintenance

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• Sad stories (most are true):
• Dog ate it
• Dropped it in the tub
• Rained on it
  
• Bus ran over it
  
• Little brother colored in it
• House burned down
• Food fell on it
  
• Someone vandalized it (mustaches, clothes, writing, etc. with ink, crayon, or marker)
• Someone tore out the part they needed to keep 
• Somebody shot a hole in it
  
• Normal wear and tear:
• Page creases (discourage by providing bookmarks)
• Spine collapse or shredding; back broken so that middle pages fall out
  
• Pencil marks (have kids erase)
• Dirty
• Dirty book covers - try damp cloth first; it's sometimes possible to rub off the cover design (ask me how I know this)
• Dusty equipment
  
• Lamp replacement
• Printer jams and problems
• Batteries: consider rechargeable.  Batteries need a management system of their very own.
  
• Teach kids to take reasonable care of books
  
• Book repair: A resource from Brodart
• Some books are beyond repair, or will look simply awful once repaired (and won't be checked out)
• However, life of some books can be extended dramatically with some simple work and supplies
• Find your happy medium; don't waste lots of time trying to repair every problem
• This is an excellent responsibility for volunteers!
• It's also a great task for when you're too "brain-dead" to do anything difficult
  
• Equipment maintenance and troubleshooting
• Keep a small toolkit on hand: screwdrivers especially; duck/duct tape; WD40; pliers; box cutter (if allowed; keep secure)
  
• Number one guideline: before you remove a lamp or other part, notice carefully how it's placed. Perhaps take a photo.
  
• Keep all manuals filed or bookmarked.
• Online help, official or unofficial, is usually available.
  
• Printers, copiers remain a royal pain - you will spend most of your troubleshooting time on them.  Minimize use as much as possible, because of high cost and high environmental footprint.  Avoid being responsible for copiers if at all possible.  In other words, try to avoid having one in the media center unless it's truly necessary.
• Laminator: carefully formulate policy about who has access. Watch out for burns.
  
• Misc. aspects of keeping the collection healthy and happy
• "Hospital" management - check damaged item into the hospital (check it out to Patron "Hospital" so that it doesn't show up as falsely available
• Recognize the point beyond which an item can't be saved, or further repair is not cost effective
• Kids won't use a book (probably) after a certain amount of mutilation and repair
• I had some success with student artwork (laminated) to rehab old or ugly books.
• Mylar covers may be helpful, and may add to the visual appeal of a book. In some cases, they cause more trouble than benefit.
  

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6340 | Syllabus |  Topics
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http://it.coe.uga.edu/~mfitzger/6340/collection-maintenance.html
MAF: mfitzger at uga.edu; maryannfitz at gmail.com; other contact info on eLC/6340 start-page.