=Magazine Binders=
It has long been one of the library traditions that magazines used in
the reading room should be put into stiff and heavy temporary binders
as soon as received, and so arranged, usually on racks holding them
vertically, that they can all be seen at once. It is now permitted
to doubt the wisdom of this proceeding. The binders are expensive;
the best of them soon get a worn and dingy look, even if they hold
together for a long time; the racks with their contents are usually
not ornamental and are often quite the reverse. The space taken by the
racks can ill be spared, especially when the area needed by browsers in
front of them is included. If the number of periodicals taken is quite
large the display space needed for them is quite out of proportion to
the use made of them. Recent back numbers of most journals, as well as
the last numbers, should be made accessible to readers, and for this
there is no provision in the vertical file arrangement. There seems no
better reason for exposing to the casual reader of the reading room the
full fronts of all the journals the library takes than there is for
making a similar display of all the books the library buys.
To the display of all journals on terrace tables most of the
objections just noted are also applicable. A careful consideration of
the relative value of current numbers of periodicals in a library and
of space, time and energy that should be put on their presentation to
the public, will lead one to the conclusion that the best way to handle
them is to lay them in alphabetical order on plainly labeled ordinary
book shelves wide enough to hold the larger ones, set about six inches
apart, that the numbers for the past six months may be kept together.
The thin journals which are most read, like "Puck" or the "Scientific
American," may well be slipped for a week into an inexpensive binder
like the one called "Cleveland" in the list which follows. Magazines
much read, like the "Century" and "McClures," can be so reinforced in
a few minutes, as described below, that they will keep quite neat for
several months.
This method is economical of space; keeps the journals easily in
one alphabetical series; makes six numbers accessible instead of
one; eliminates the question of binders; saves the assistant's time,
relatively to the service given to the public; and asks the public
simply to remember their alphabet and to read the shelves.
Binders that require the punching of holes through the backs of
magazines should be looked on with suspicion; though in spite of its
expense the binder of this type, with flexible metal strips in place
of strings and with polished sides containing actual covers of the
magazine within, has had much use. It wears well, is put on about as
quickly as any, exposes the date and name along the magazine's back,
and looks more attractive than any other binder when perched in rows in
vertical racks.
All other binders may be divided into three kinds: The Clip, the Bar
and the String.
The Clip is based on the Ballard clip idea. The Johnston is a good
example. A spring in the back grips the sides of the magazine and holds
the binder on. It tends to make a magazine less easy to hold open. It
pleases a good many.
The Bar has for its main feature one or more strips of steel, which run
down the back of the magazine and are fastened to the binder by a hinge
at one end and a hook at the other. Of all of this kind the best for
the money is, perhaps, the New Haven.
The String uses a string or elastic band to hold the magazine. In the
one called the Springfield, first used in Los Angeles in 1890, the
string passes through the magazine, between sections, and through three
holes in the back of the binder in a binder's stitch.
The Newark Library has tried many kinds of material for binders. Thin
book cloth soon wears out. Heavy and strong cloth soon gets soiled.
Full leather is very expensive, unless the leather used is light and
poor, and then it soon wears out. Good leather backs outwear sides of
any cloth. A Cleveland binder made for "Harper's Weekly," with heavy
cowskin back and keratol sides, was in constant use for 30 months and
looked well nearly all that time. It costs 70 cents. The few binders
now used in the Newark reading room are made in this style.
Covers of strong paper pasted to the outsides of single copies of
magazines to protect them during reading-room use or for lending, the
Newark Library has not found satisfactory. We reinforce the covers of
single magazines for this purpose as follows and find the method quite
satisfactory:
If the original cover is loose, take it off and paste on again
carefully. Line the cover with thin, white bond paper, pasted on all
over and lapping a half-inch onto the magazine itself. Press for ten
minutes in a copying press. Paste a strip of thin dark-colored book
cloth down the back on the outside. Put under moderate pressure until
dry. Write the name and date of the magazine on the strip of cloth with
white ink.
Sew large magazines like the "Ladies' Home Journal" into covers of
stout paper. A strip of paper an inch and a half wide placed in the
center of the section through which the magazine is sewed keeps the
sewing from tearing the paper.
Single copies of magazines can be bound for lending, at about 15 cents
each, in this manner: Take off covers; trim; remove table of contents
if it faces the cover; paste strip of strong cotton cloth down the
back, and extending about an inch over the sides; staple this on with
at least three staples in the same line with the staples which hold the
magazine together, or sew with stout thread through five holes; cut
covers as for an ordinary binding; paste them to the strip; cover all
over with art vellum; line covers with paper (this lining can be put
on all over as the first step in the process, and pasted to the covers
after they are on, thus forming the end paper); paste the front cover
of the magazine on the front in such a way that the date line down the
back comes on the back of the new cover. This is neat, convenient and
quite durable.
A few of the more popular binders are listed below. The material used
to cover them can be endlessly varied.
1. The New Haven Binder, designed by Mr. W. K. Stetson, Librarian of
the Public Library of New Haven. A solid back of metal. A metal rod
hinged at one end passes through the middle section of the magazine.
The free end of the rod is formed into a hook which, being slipped
under a metal loop attached to the back of the binder, holds the
magazine firmly in place. Costs from 85 cents to $1.15. A simpler
binder, also designed by Mr. Stetson and made on the same principles,
sells at 55 cents.
2. The Johnston Binder, made by William G. Johnston & Co., Pittsburgh,
Pa., has a round steel spring back which grips the magazine. Costs from
75 cents up, according to size.
3. The Boston Binder, made by the Office, Bank and Library Co., 157
Summer St., Boston. A rounded wooden back supports the binding device
which consists of two bars of steel pivoted at one end and fastened at
the other with a pin. Costs from 75 cents to $2.00 according to size
and material used.
4. The Torsion Binder, made by the Barrett Bindery Co., 180-182 Monroe
St., Chicago. Two flat steel wires are hinged to the binder at the top
and fitted with knobs at the free ends. These pass inside the magazine
and a slight pressure on the knobs sends the free ends of the wires
into an inclined slot. Costs from 95 cents to $4.50 according to size
and material used.
5. The Springfield Binder has a strip down the back of a simple cover
or case, with three holes punched therein through which the magazine is
laced in by strings. Shoe strings or tape may be used. Costs from 25
cents up.
6. The Chivers Binder, made by Cedric Chivers, Bath, England, and
Brooklyn, N. Y., is like the Springfield cover, but with a separate
flat brass rod around which the magazine is sewed into the cover.
7. The Weis Binder, made by the Weis Co., Toledo, Ohio, has metal
grooves in the back which hold the magazine.
8. The Buchan Binder, made by Buchan Mfg. Co., Newark, N. J., has a
steel back which consists of a hinge regulated by a screw. One or more
magazines may be kept in the binder. Good for magazines that are poorly
put together.
9. The Roedde Magazine Binder, made by the Flexible Back Looseleaf
Ledger Co., Buffalo, N. Y., varies somewhat from the Torsion and
Boston Binders, but is built on the same principle. Costs from $1.10
to $8.00.
10. Cleveland Binder, so called because much used in the Cleveland
Library. A simple cover or case in the back of which are holes half an
inch from the top and bottom; through these a piece of narrow elastic
is sewed. The magazine, opened at the middle of a section is slipped
under the elastic. Recommended for weekly journals.
11. Klip Binder, made by H. H. Ballard, Pittsfield, Mass. A simple
cover attached to the magazine by a pair of steel clips, put on with
keys. Price of klips, 50 cents per box of 10.
12. The Philadelphia Binder, made by G. D. Emerson, Philadelphia, Pa. A
rod passes through the magazine and springs into hooks at each end of
the back.