[LMB] OT: AKICOTL: Plastic film for dust jackets?

[Katrina Allis]

>
> On Jan 30, 2008, at 7:00 AM, Joel wrote:
> >  A lot of library books have dust jackets that are covered with a
> > plastic film
> > for durability and protection.
> > I recently bought a roll of what appears to be that kind of material.
> > It's thin, flexible, and self-adhesive; the adhesive is weak enough
> > that
> > I can carefully peel it away from glossy paper if I need to reposition
> > things, until I intentionally compress the layers together to get
> > things
> > to stick.  I've tried a few methods for doing that compression:
> > rubbing
> > with the edge of my thumb, rolling pin, putting inside the cover of a
> > magazine and standing on the magazine. ...  I'm
> > curious about what would be best?


I cover my books at home because I'm vaguely obsessive like that. The
paperbacks get duraseal (which sounds like the plastic adhesive film that
you mentioned) to make them last a bit longer, keep the spines tidier, slows
sun fading and protects against basic cover water damage.  Doesn't do
anything for the inside and does mean that you can't microwave them to dry
them out as one of my friends found out with my copy of _Bedlam's Bard_ [1]
when she dropped it in the bath.

All my hardbacks get a non-adhesive covering and if possible, I try to stick
it to the dustjacket without using sellotape on the dustjacket [2]. I do
order this from an Australasian library supplies site -  and each roll I buy
does tend to last me several years, they are willing sell single rolls to
private individuals.  I get the orange peel finish because it's prettier.
You can buy archival quality non-adhesive covering there, but because of the
cost, I'm not quite that obsessive. 90cm wide 50m cost me about NZ$60, I
think.

I don't know if they ship to the states, but there is bound to be an
equivalent company in the US.  www.raeco.co.nz

As for sticking it on - no helpful hints, I'm afraid.  Patience, I suppose
would be the big thing. If I rush, I tend to mess it up. And having a clean
surface -  I try very hard to avoid cat hairs, but don't always succeed.

Katrina

[1] It now has small black holes over the cover as well as the water damage.


[2] This involves attaching the covering to a piece of paper behind the
dustjacket, essentially creating a sleeve around the dustjacket.