Sometimes the service costs of working with a vendor are not fully taken into account. For example, to prepare a paperback monograph for commercial binding requires that a decision be made on the form of binding; the decision be documented on an instruction slip for the binder; the library's circulation record be changed to reflect the location of the book; and on return from the bindery the work be inspected and the circulation and binding records be changed. The time taken to perform these functions should be accounted for (see RESOURCES).
If paperbacks are instead to be stiffened in house, the work is performed with minimal preparation (see Treatment of Collections: Paperbacks). In this case, decisions are made purely on a format basis with no instruction slips, and all paperbacks are stiffened. The work can be turned around in under 48 hours, so no adjustments to the circulation record are needed. Paperbacks can be bound in house at less than it costs simply to prepare them for commercial binding. Paperback stiffening does require some capital equipment investment (a power paper cutter and a gluing machine), but the equipment is easy to maintain, the technology stable, and the process simple enough that staff can be quickly trained.
In contrast, periodicals may be much more suitable for commercial binding because of the need for sophisticated machinery to fasten the loose leaves together. In many industrialized countries, much mass binding equipment is automated, and it is not always possible for libraries to purchase and maintain it because of problems of scale and the fast rate of obsolescence. Moreover, vendors favor working with a large volume of uniform items, since processing is more predictable and staff training and wages minimal. As a result, the number of processing options offered by vendors is few. (See Decision-Making Guidelines: Commercial and In-House Alternatives.)
Vendors are rarely able to offer major remedial conservation treatment. For such treatment, staff have to be professionally trained and experienced. The work itself covers an extremely wide range of treatment options, which are not amenable to mass production. Moreover, libraries and archives are extremely reluctant to move rare and unique research materials off the premises, beyond direct control.
There is also a more subtle reason why the major treatment of rare and unique materials is generally not treated by commercial vendors. Periodicals, new pamphlets and monographs, and rebinding must be processed routinely to properly maintain the library and its services. Thus funding is usually automatically allocated on an annual basis to deal with these categories of research materials. The treatment of rare and unique materials however, is much less likely to have budget lines set for vendor work, despite the cultural significance of the materials as treatment can more easily be deferred because of relatively low use. For this reason and many others, in-house treatment is to be preferred.
