Book Handling: Things Missing from Books

In a previous post, we spent time discussing things found in books. Now let's take a moment to consider the opposite issue.

Patrons return incomplete books often. Sometimes we receive books that have a single word cut out of a page, a paragraph may be missing or a page ripped out. Art and illustrations inside our books disappear and sometimes entire chapters are sliced right out. There have even been a few instances where the entire textblock went missing while the cover was still returned. Though we are happy that our books are being found useful, it makes it very difficult for the next person to enjoy a book that is missing some of its key components. Many times, the Preservation department can restore these items but sometimes the issue isn't caught until it is returned by an innocent and unsatisfied patron.

Image courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/vblibrary/

What You Can Do to Help:

• Contact the Copy Shop located in Memorial Library at Minnesota State University, Mankato for information regarding photocopying.
• Ask the Reference Desk librarians if there are any digital copies of the book that you could read and print out.
• If that doesn't work, contact the Reference Desk for help regarding use of our scanners on first floor to make a digital copy of your desire page(s). 
• Buy your own copy of the book. Check out ours first but if you need it for long term reasons, why not see if you can order it online or at a local bookstore?
• And, most importantly, tell the Circulation staff that parts of the book are missing so we can get it replaced for the next person. **Please do not try to repair books yourself!* And don't forget to tell your friends to do the above steps if you see them attempting to take pages out of books.

Of course, sometimes books just fall apart. It is often times uncontrollable as books age and they may go beyond wear and tear. Let us know so we can resolve the issue for you. The Circulation Office does a wonderful job working with those who have damaged books. Call today at (507) 389-5759.

Take care of your library books so the next person can enjoy them too!
Image courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/83633410@N07/ 

How do you take care of your books? Comment below!

Jamie Dalbey is a Preservation and Government Documents Technician at Minnesota State University, Mankato.