Student Assistant Binding Guide
From UGA Libraries Wiki
The most important thing is to remember that before doing anything that you are unsure of, ASK someone the right way to go about it. Never assume anything. If you are not COMPLETELY certain that what you are doing is correct, always ASK-preferably your supervisor, if they happen to be around. Your assumption could cause a book to be mismarked in some way and therefore lost, possibly forever.
Index
1. Paperbacks
2. Periodicals
3. Serials
4. Rebinds
5. Music Scores
6. Reference & Georgia Room
7. Government Documents/Georgia Gov Docs
8. Science Paperbacks
9. Phase Boxes
10. CD-Roms, Cassette Tapes, and VHS Tapes
Paperbacks
All paperback books should have a corresponding slip with the call number on it. These slips are kept in the boxes on the shelves next to the sorting shelves, near the student desk. These boxes with the paperback slips are labeled “Paperbacks At Bindery” and are dated and in chronological order. The earliest slips should correspond with the books in this week’s shipment. Ideally, these slips should be put in call number order before the shipment arrives on Tuesday afternoon. You may notice that the slips are organized into two different stacks: Main Paperbacks and No Cut/No Trim Paperbacks. Make sure not to interfile these two groups when you are putting them into call number order or else you won’t know which books have Post-Its in them (this will be explained later).
When the paperback books come back from the Bindery, there will be a label on the end of each box of books indicating what type they are. Paperbacks will be packed separately from other types of books coming back from the Bindery and will simply say Paperbacks. As you unpack the books, you must place them on a book cart to be stamped. I find that the easiest way to do this is to put the books on the cart upside down (call numbers up) with the spines facing inward. Only fill up the top of the book cart. Once the cart is full, get a University of Georgia stamp and an inkpad and stamp the bottom and top of each book. If you do it the way I suggested, you can stamp all of the bottoms and when you turn them over to stamp the tops they will be right side up, spines out. If a book is too thin to stamp the bottom and top, then stamp both the inside covers instead. After the books are stamped, start putting the books up on the shelves in a loose call number order. After doing this for a few weeks you will get a feel for how to most effectively space out the books on the shelves. After all of the books have been stamped and placed on the shelves, start matching the slips to the books. As you are doing this, make sure that the call number is printed correctly on the book. If it is not, put it aside with a note on it, and put it on the corrections shelf. As you are matching the books to the slips, you can put each matched-up item onto a cart. Remember that No Cut/No Trim paperbacks will have a Post-It note and a binding slip inside the first few pages that needs to be removed and recycled. Make sure to finish matching all of the books with their slips before you start checking the paperbacks back in.
When it is time to start checking the books back in, you will need to pull up the cataloging module in Voyager. You will need a sign-in for Voyager if you have not already been given one. Your ID will be the first letter of your first name plus your last name (lowercase) and you will choose a password for yourself.
Then click on cataloging and put in your ID and password. To pull up a record by the item’s barcode (which is what you will be doing for the paperbacks), click on Record at the top left hand corner of the page and then click Retrieve By Barcode. (Alternately, if you’re used to using keyboard shortcuts, ALT+R+B will bring up the same dialogue.) Then scan in the barcode in the back of the book and click retrieve. Cataloging should then bring up the item record for that book. Click on the box in the bottom left hand corner that looks like a line graph. This will bring up the Item Status. It should say At Bindery. Double click on At Bindery and the status should then just say Not Charged. When the status no longer says At Bindery, click Save to DB (top center icon with sailboat, indicates Data Base), click OK, then close the window. Then you are done and can begin again with the next book.
After all of the paperbacks are checked back in, the carts can be taken in the staff elevator to the fourth floor where the Shelving department is located. They are the only door on your right when you step out of the elevator.
After the Science books have been matched to their respective slips and checked in, box them up, tape a sign on the box saying To: Science Library Binding Department From: Main Library Binding Department and take them to the mailroom. Tell the attendant in the mailroom that they need to go to the Science Library and ask them where they would like for you to put them.
Periodicals
In terms of unpacking and stamping, the same rules apply to periodicals as to paperbacks. Boxes containing periodicals will be labeled periodicals and will state a specific lot number. The slips for periodicals, however, are quite different. They are the yellow slips found in the boxes labeled “Weekly Lot at Bindery”. Grab the slips with the Lot # that corresponds to the Lot # on the box labels. These slips, too, should be put in order before the shipment arrives on Tuesday afternoon. Instead of call number order, though, they should be put in alphabetical order by title (disregard any articles such as “the” or “an” or “a” or “la” or “die”, etc. if any titles begin that way). The books themselves should also be put in loose alphabetical order and then matched with their respective slip. Be careful to look at the variables on the spine as well as the title and call number to make sure that you are matching the correct book with the correct slip. Match everything up, put them on carts and open up the cataloging module again. You can call the book up by the barcode that is attached to the yellow slip. Check for collation or other errors. When the book is checked back in (you can refer back to the paperback description for the steps to do this), unstaple, unpeel, and attach the barcode on the matching slip to the top center of the inside back cover of the book. Look in the first few pages of the book for a pink slip and gently remove. The yellow and pink slips can be recycled. Finish all and take to Shelving. If there are any extra slips left in the periodicals box DO NOT give them to your supervisor without checking first to see if they are 1) CD-ROMS for serials, 2) reference lot periodicals or 3) Georgia Room lot periodicals. If you find such slips put them aside to later be matched up with the items they belong to. DO NOT forget to match these slips with their respective books! If you leave before finishing your work, please clip these together and leave them on the student desk with a note that explains what they are.
Serials
After the serials have been unpacked and stamped, put them in loose alphabetical order by title (obviously if there are only five, this will not really be necessary). In the Big Red Notebook* find the serials list for the shipment that you are checking back in. If the paper on the end of the Binding box says 32-4 then find the serials list (indicated by the
–4) for Lot 32. Check the serials you have unpacked against the serials list, which will be in alphabetical order by title. Cross the books off of the list as you go. If the book isn’t there, leave it uncrossed on the list. Also, while looking at this list, check each title for special instructions. NO CUT/NO TRIM and PLEASE TRIM PAGE EDGES are notes for the Bindery and you may ignore them. It is important to read each note, though, because some may tell you that there are CD-ROMS that must be matched to the books and where they may be located, or occasionally that the item has been requested by someone here in the library. In the case of the latter, check the book back in and return the book to your supervisor along with the requestor’s name. After checking the books against the list, check them back in by looking them up by their barcodes in the Cataloging module just as was previously explained in the section on paperbacks. Check for slips inside the title pages, recycle. Finish all and take to Shelving
Rebinds
Unpack books and stamp them (if they are not already stamped). Put the books on the shelves in a loose call number order. Find the rebind slips in the rebinds box on the shelf near the boxes for the paperbacks and periodicals’ slips. Match each book to its respective slip (call # and title information will be on the slip), making sure to take out any Post-It notes and binding forms inside the No Cut/No Trim books. Check for title or call number errors. When finished matching each book to slip, you can look up each book by the barcode that is stapled to its slip. Check it back in as usual, but do not close the item record. The thing that makes rebinds different from most other books is that you will have to give them a new barcode. To do this, peel off a barcode from the roll of barcodes and affix it to the top center of the inside back cover. Then, on the item record, at the end of the barcode line (beneath the title and location) click on the little square with three dots inside. A box should pop up that says barcode with a blinking cursor next to it. Scan in the new barcode from the back of the book. The new barcode should pop up in the box below and it should say Active next to it. Click Save and Close. On the item record click Save to DB. The rebind slips may be recycled along with the old barcodes that were stapled to them. Take to shelving.
Music Scores
The music score slips are yellow and also have a slip box of their own on the shelves with the other slip boxes. After unpacking and stamping, the scores should be put on the shelves in loose alphabetical order by composer (or title if none is indicated) and matched with their slip. They should be checked in in the Cataloging module just as you have done with all of the previous book types. Although you may notice that some music scores will have parts in their back pockets that also have barcodes, you needn’t worry about checking those back in too. The parts are not checked out to the bindery, only the score itself. Make sure that the number of parts in the pocket match the number written on the yellow score slip, and also make sure the diacritics printed on the score’s spine are exactly the same as the diacritics printed inside the score, itself. Diacritics are accent marks over particular foreign letters, such as a tilde as in Spanish words and the umlaut as in German words. If you find any discrepancies between the diacritics on the spine and those inside the score, make a note of it on a Post-It and put the score on the correction shelf. The difference with the music scores from other books is that THE SCORE SLIPS ARE NOT TO BE DISCARDED! Once you have checked the piece back in and looked for and removed any extraneous binding slips from the front of the book, put the slip back inside of it and put it on a cart. When all of the scores have been checked back in, take the cart to music cataloging (ask supervisor where this is).
Reference and Georgia Room
Reference and Georgia Room materials are unusual in the way that these types of books may be periodicals, serials, monographs, or rebinds. A shipment of these types of materials may consist of a mixture of all of these types of books. Each must be treated in the way described above depending on what category it belongs to. All of these materials should be crossed off of their lists in the Big Red Notebook. Reference materials are (-2) and Georgia Room materials are (-5). Then, all of the books other than the periodicals may be checked in as if they were serials. All of these items should have barcodes, but if perchance the barcode has been cut out in the binding process, simply look the piece up by its call number (making absolutely sure you get the right item record) and give it a new barcode just as you did with the aforementioned rebinds. Make sure to Save. The periodicals of these groups should have yellow slips just like regular periodicals. These slips will be put in with the other periodicals slips from that Lot number. Match the slips to the books and check them in just like the periodicals directions above indicate. If you are unsure which books qualify as periodicals, it is easy to distinguish them from the others because they have variables in the middle of the spine between the title and the call number rather than variables after the call number or no variables at all. Variables are notations like volume, numbers, months, or years. After all of these books have been checked back in, they do not need to go up to Shelving. Just put them on either the Georgia Room shelf or the Reference shelf depending on what location they are from. People from these departments will come down and pick up these books themselves because they do not circulate like regular materials.
Government Documents/Georgia Gov Docs
Government Documents call numbers may seem strange looking, but have no fear, they are actually the easiest books to deal with. These books need to be unpacked, stamped, checked for errors, and crossed off their list (-3). After that, just put them up on the Government Documents shelf. They do not need to be checked back in (at least by us).
Science Paperbacks
Science paperbacks are to be stamped, matched with their slips, checked for errors and checked back in like the other paperback books. Also remember to check the title pages for No Cut/No Trim post-its. After you have checked them back in, though, they are to be sent to the Science Library instead of taken to Shelving. Pack them up in a box, tape a paper to the box that says To: Science Library Binding Office, From: Main Library Binding. Take this box to the Mail Room, explain to the clerk where it needs to go, and ask him/her where they would like for you to put it down.
Phase Boxes
Any type of book may be in need of a phase box. Phase Boxes are used when a book has become to old and/or weak to be trimmed and bound. Sometimes books are put into phase boxes for other reasons as well. For instance, if the book has extremely narrow margins or additional pieces such as an audio tape that need to be stored with the book a phase box may be needed. Phase boxes are to be treated as whatever type of materials that they actually are (periodicals need barcodes affixed, reference books need to go on the reference shelf, etc.) The only difference is that these materials need to be stamped on the front and back insides (not outsides) of the phase box rather than on the book itself. Also, if the book needs a new barcode, put the barcode on the back inside cover of the box rather than inside the book itself. After you check in the book, take a black pen and write the last 8 digits of the barcode from the book inside of the actual phase box itself.
CD-ROMs, Cassette Tapes, and VHS Tapes
More and more frequently we are receiving mixed media materials for binding. Most of these consist of a book and a CD-ROM, but could also have cassette tapes or VHS tapes. Before we send these books out to the Bindery, we remove these items from the back and put them into envelopes with a slip stapled to it indicating what book it should be matched to. If the book is classified as a paperback, we put the envelopes in with the paperback slips. If it is any other type of book, the envelopes go into the Periodicals slip box. These items have their own separate barcode from the book and should be checked out to the Bindery before they are sent out. In any case, make sure you check to see that it is checked back in before you put it back into its pocket in the book and send it Shelving. Please do not throw the envelopes away. Remove the slip and put the envelope into the bottom of the storage closet right outside the door.
- The Big Red Notebook sits on the shelves across from the student workers’ terminal. In the front of the notebook are packing lists for shipments broken down by type: periodicals (-1), reference (-2), government documents (-3), serials (-4), music score serials (-4), Georgia room (-5). When you open to a tab, the list for the lot that came back should be the first one you see. In the very back of the notebook are the Corrections and Errors lists. Each of those lists should have a date on the bottom indicating the shipment that they went to the Bindery with. The Corrections list for the lot that has returned most recently will be the first page under the Corrections tab.
- A few more things to remember about your Binding job:
There are many jobs for student workers on campus that give students the opportunity to study while they are on the job. Most of these jobs involve tasks such as manning a desk or a cash register. Unfortunately this is not a job that will afford you that kind of downtime. I’m not saying that it will never happen, but probably not very often. The work in this office is cyclical. The Binding office operates on a weekly cycle. Therefore, there is a certain amount of work that will necessarily have to get done within the week. It is your responsibility to see that this work gets done on time.
Since you will be allowed to choose your own work schedule based around your classes, you will be expected to adhere to that particularly work schedule. It is not just a suggestion. If your shift begins at noon then that is when you will be expected. We count on you to be here on time and get your work done. The workflow of every other employee in the office is affected if you fail to meet your schedule. Basically, we expect you not to take advantage of us. For instance, feel free to eat a snack while you work, but do not come in and spend half an hour eating your breakfast and reading the Red and Black before you get to work. We are not hard people to work for, we just expect you to show us as much respect as we show you.
