Municipal Book Bindery a Success
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HOOKS HEADY KOK TIIK SHELVES
l'hoto tiy a Stuff ArtlBt.
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jfc Jl.l not f,ll few huvv been uwuru of
IV I "' '"""'dpal hook bindery has
nccomo an established feature of
public activity in many of our
pilHhinK American cltloii VVIih
iih. however, the iiiiinu Ipal book bindery
Is limited by lb,, conditions mil of which It
Iiuh developed. It U not. us might bo pop
ulurly supposed, an Institution whero the
citizen limy take bin books mid magazines
to be dressed In banilsniue covers anil re
turned to him for bis private use free, of
cost; it is not an institution bidding for
business ir turning out volumes to com
pete, with those wiih whhh private enter
prise Ihods th - market; It Is not an expe
riment in hoi lallsui put forth us a f. eler
to make way for the municipal bakery or
the inuiilt Ipal depart nl store. Hut it Is
none the less a reality owned and operated
by tho municipality and engaged In bind
ing books and periodicals right through the
year, while its output of books Is freely ac
cessible to all the citizens and residents
entitled to participate in the benefits ac
cruing from progressive local government.
This municipal book bindery Is a manufac
turing concern i perilled in connection wiih
a free public circulating library, devoting
its oneirics exclusively to the rejuvenation
of much utilise.) vol nmifi thut nu instru
ments of entertainment and Instruction pass
from hand to hand umong those whoso
book desires outrun their resources la buy
hooks of their own.
(Julie a number of municipal book bind
i rli s are in active operation In t his count ry.
chief among them that have been called to
my attention being found In the public li
braries In llontnii, I'lttsburg, Cleveland,
Milwaukee. Newark. I'eorla. Kansas City
and Omaha. Some of them have been main
tallied for many years, but 1 am going to
describe only tho last named, because by
reason of having Just successfully com
pleted Its first yenr. It offers fresh and exaci
figures relating to tho cent of Installnt'on
UKNKItAL VIEW OK TIIK W'UIIK ROOM
IUIII..HK expends and work performed that
may servo for general observation and con
clusions. Willi no spcciul advantages iu
lis favor ami no special obstacles to over
come, I believe it may be taken us a fair
typ.' of tho municipal book bindery, whose
experience will be valuable for other grow
ing public libraries.
Tho Omaha public linrui-v i. . ....
preaching the point lt3 career that
maiks lis twenty-fifth anniversary. It
began in a very small way In 1077. when die
remnants of a circulating librury sup
ported by subscription wus bequeathed to
tho city by un expiring library association.
Its growth has been slow but steady. Its
meager resources were, utilized under eco
nomic muii.igcuit ut io minislir to the
Increasing demands of the reading public
Iu a rapidly expanding western city. Not
until it found itself eight years ugo housed
in u inagnilleeni new library building
elected with the ussUiuuce of a g nerous
druft drawn upon the future did even
those most Intimately Idem lib d with It
realize to what proportions their public
librury had attained.
Any one who will examine tho budgit of
a public library, and more particularly of
a public circulating librury, will tlud that
disregarding the cutlay for bulurics uud
mulnlcnance of building the most striking
of tho tteudily recurring Items, outside of
tho cost of new books an. I Iter toil i, ii lu In
tbut for binding mid rchinding. The book
borrowers literal!)' c. iisume the books. Tho
popularity of the volume may be fairly
tcBtcd by the rapidit) with which its life
Is worn away. Its life when exposed to
dangerous disinlcgialien may be saved or
prolonged only by a vigorous treatment
amputation, vivisection, grafting of bet
parts or complete renewal of lacerated ex
terior tegument. I'ni.ss the binder comes
to the rescue the book s usefulness is com.
paratlvely soon outlived and if the de
fi r It ci n'lnuos it must be replaced
OK TIIK MUNICIPAL III XI Klt Y l'hoto by a Staff Artist.
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with a new volume at still greater ex
pense. The cost of rebindlng is a bur
den to be borne Just as legitimate us the
original purchase price and the same Is
true of the binding of the host of periodi
cals whoh. completed volumes nn.t hi.tr vol
umes are constantly recruited from the
Hies of the reading room.
Although the Increasing length of binders'
bills nrrestrd attention from time to time,
the question cf expense was not the must
troublesome problem presented. Cmbr
agreements in force with local book bind
ers in Omaha the public library could send
books to any cue of three or four estab
lishmenls, which ns a mark of special favor
and evidence of public spirit would consent
to undertake the work at profitable com
mercial figures. Of course they were Im
bued with the idea that they were greatly
aecomm, dating the library by coining i i
its rescue at all ami explained that at the
prices fixed ihcy could not possibly profit
except for the fact that library binding wus
u-ed to fill in between other orders. That
this was literally true was constantly evi
denctd by the fact that books sent out to
be rebound were returned only after a
lapse of from thr.e to six months' time,
while the character of the work was fre
quently cf an Indifferent variety. As the
year's binding bills began to exceed $l.r,00,
it was repeatedly suggested that better
workmanship, quicker time und grenter
general satisfaction could be obtalmd by
Installing a bindery for the librury than bv
continuing the contract system. Notwith
standing correspondence on the subject
several times with other public libraries
binding their own books, action had been
deferred from the fear that the number of
v::umes regularly calling for repair might
not sulllee to keep a bindery busy with even
the minimum number of employes. Dut at
last patience ceased to bo a virtue; tho
delays and shortcomings of the outside
binders made self-protection a necoRlty
uud the directors of the library reluctantly
and with some misgiving gave the order for
the machinery und materials that were to
install a municipal plant rtady to com
mence operation January 1, laoi. Wheu
tho bills were added up the outlay on bind
ery account for the year was:
Machinery 0 W
Material (one year) 3-d.63
While this gave a total nearly $!iU0 above
tho original estimates furnished by sup
posed experts, it was by no means alarm
ing. Ample space In tho basement of the
librury building afforded a convenient loca
tion without additional expense. One head
binder hud been employed at $13 a week
and one womun assistant at J9 a week
throughout the year and one assistant
binder at $11 a week for about a month to
catch up with back work, these wages be
ing gauged by the scale of tho local book
binders' union in force throughout the
city. The outlay on falary account was
therefore $1,386.05, which added to the cost
of materials and deducting $t!2.76 as the
value of materials on hand raises the total
i tirrent expense of the bindery for the year
1!HI2 to $1,704.82. The output of the bind
i ry with the prices that would have been
iharged under antecedent contracts was:
. .. , . Cost Under Old
. Minding. l: l: Contract.
...Itired bulling at ,")0 cents $l,1'.'.t.OO
LKTTEIUNU TUB BACKS OK HOUND
VOLUMES l'hoto by a Stall Artist.
Hon of plant, so we may say that tested
sjlely by the financial exhibit no apprecia
ble difference can be discerned.
The advantages ot the municipal bindery
are, nevertheless, ral und tangible. "1
would not advise giving up our own bin
dery under any ordinary circumstances,"
eays our libraiian. "The lii;ui,s for ih
cost do not show the benefits gained. When
we sent the books out to bo bound It took
us on uu average of four months to get
them back and during all that time they
were nceessuitly out of circulation and out
of our reach. A book out of circulation or
removed from the shelves ia Just the same
as a book out of the library; it might as
well bo lost or destroyed. On tno other
hand, Bince we have been doing our own
work the books rebound have been off th
shelvts ou uu average only two weeks, and
volumes in active demand can De recov
ered uud repaired in half that time under
stnss. I am eutlslied, too, that we are so
curing a much better grade of binding. The
outside binderies not only used library books
to fill in slack time, but they were tempted
all tho time to use odds and ends of leather
and boards for our books. Between In
ferior materials and inattentive workman
ship the libiary'a books naturally suffered
severely. In our own bindery our books
have the best materials and most careful
work, no other orders have preference over
them, rare volumes requiring special hand
ling are readily protected ami all tne num
erous vexations of slighted work avoided.
If it cost us more to bind our books our-
oll-aa lhan 4.. I .1 ...
. 1 " Mini ineiii oui8.dt It would
' i.77..ai " ueuer 10 muinia n our own bindery
al number of books bound :t i?x ... ... uiuuery.
.'") magazines nt 7.7 cents
Job canvas at 70 cents
2M new backs, no sewing
cents
27 full sheep at $1 .:
11 newspapers at $2
64 halt-morocco nt $2.2.7
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219.20
71.00
to.'iO
2-'.00
121.50
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Total number of books bound
.wcragc cost per volume
The difference in favor of the municipal
bindery figures out about $75, while reduced
to the average cost per volume It Is 63.6
cents, as against 65.9 cents that would havj
been demanded by the private blnderiej.
The $75 doubtless n presents no more thau
the interest on investment and deprecla-
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tlou need b3 felt In pronouncing the munic
ipal bindery established In conectlon with
the Omaha Public library a success. And
what it can achieve In this field can be
accomplished by any progressive public cir
culating library with Ml.ono volumes or
more and annual resources approximate--ftn,n
VICTOR KOSKWATKH '
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MAC.AZ1NE K1I.E UOOM - MATERIAL UEAUV KOIt UINDEll 1'bu'o Ly a Staff Art.st.
t'KEI'AKIN,; TO I'UT ON THE CoVKKS
l'hoto by a Staff Artist.
