Cory Doctorow has brought the issue of libraries and HarperCollins eBooks (#hcod) to his column in The Guardian. The whole article is well worth the read but this paragraph stood out to me:
Now, in point of fact, many ordinary trade books circulate far more than 26 times before they’re ready for the discard pile. If a group of untrained school kids working as part-time pages can keep a copy of the Toronto Star in readable shape for 30 days’ worth of several-times-per-day usage, then it’s certainly the case that the skilled gluepot ninjas working behind the counter at your local library can easily keep a book patched up and running around the course for a lot more than 26 circuits. Indeed, the HarperCollins editions of my own books are superb and robust examples of the bookbinder’s art (take note!), and judging from the comments of outraged librarians, it’s common for HarperCollins printed volumes to stay in circulation for a very long time indeed.
I’ve taken a class in basic book repair and have been known to fix a spine or two in my time. I don’t consider myself a “gluepot ninja” but I do own a couple of bone folders.
