When you send materials to a vendor for archival digitization or microfilming, it may be the furthest thing from your mind to consider that the original material may need, in some way, to be altered prior to capture. While these occasions are rare, it can happen. But, we promise – this isn’t the first chapter of a librarian’s horror story.
What is it and why do it?
Disbinding is the process of loosening the binding and/or dismantling the text block of an item in order to facilitate capturing the content for digitization, microfilming, or some other collection management goal. Sometimes, disbinding only means removing the cover. Other times, it requires slicing the spine away from the book block with an automatic paper cutting machine, or ‘guillotine.’ There are a variety of methods we can use at Backstage to do this and the specific procedure is chosen based on the needs of the material and its capture requirements.
When we have need of disbinding, it’s because we’ve encountered one of the following situations:
- Brittle pages: Have you ever tried to turn the page of a book that is very old or has become very dry? Pages like this are more likely to tear or separate messily from the book block when turned and pressed down. Rather than risking these uneven tears through core content, it is sometimes safer to preemptively separate the pages with a clean, initial cut before scanning begins. We see this often, for example, with older bound volumes of newspapers.
- Tight Binding or Thin Gutters: Tight binding, or binding that is too close to the edge of the gutter, can obstruct a technician’s ability to capture a clear shot of content on the page. Sometimes, we can get around this problem by holding the book open to 90-degrees as we scan. This is not always enough, however, and in such instances, we may cut the binding strings in order to reveal more of the page. We encounter this occasionally with documents that were bound after they were written or printed – that is, created without consideration for the space required to bind the pages without content obstruction.
- Glossy Pages: Similar to the problems found with thin gutters, very glossy pages are more likely to glare. An example of this would be yearbooks, especially those which have photographs that extend into the gutter or beyond, into the stitching.
Ultimately, the decision to disbind an item is only made when it would otherwise be impossible or consume a detrimental amount of time to get a clear capture of content. It’s our commitment as stewards of heritage materials to use the least damaging method of disbinding for every item that requires it for capture, and to prefer not disbinding; we train our technicians to prefer the least invasive method and only ever at the express permission and understanding of the collection’s caretaker.
Disbinding Methods
Heavy-duty paper guillotines are not the first choice, or only choice, for disbinding materials. In fact, we have six options that are ordered from the least destructive to the most with separation of the spine by guillotine being the final measure.
- Cover removal: In order to loosen the text block or capture oversized volumes, the front cover alone is removed.
- Staple removal: Books bound by staples can be separated easily to open the pages more freely. This is a technique that comes up the most frequently in relation to tight bindings or glossy pages.
- Cutting strings: This process is more common, and successful, with library or commercially bound volumes (specifically, oversewn). Our team uses a utility or paring knife to cut the binding strings. This isn’t as simple when working with publisher’s bindings (specifically, bound signatures sewn through-the-fold) and, in those instances, we’d continue down the list to an alternate procedure.
- Sectioning: We use a utility or paring knife to cut the book block, regardless of how it is bound, into sections. This can be helpful for capturing brittle and tightly bound items; it is very effective for capturing thick items.
- Hand-disbinding: The binding structure is removed using a variety of techniques, besides guillotining, with the thought in mind that the materials may be eventually rebound or restored. Although the binding isn’t saved in the process, the signatures and gatherings are preserved as much as possible for future reconstruction.
- Guillotining: The guillotine comes into play when staple removal, string cutting, and other methods have been ineffective in making materials more easily opened for capture. A technician uses a knife to separate the text block from the case of the book (which allows the case/cover to remain intact), and then, depending on the thickness of the text block, it is cut into quarter-inch to half-inch sections. Each section is guillotined, and the sewing, glue, staples, etc. are removed in one clean cut. Our typical practice is to cut 1/8th of an inch to 1/16th of an inch on the inner margin of the page when disbinding this way. This is our frequent recommendation for extremely brittle items.
Philosophy of Disbinding Best Practice
Disbinding is never, and should never, be the go-to method of digitizing complicated materials. Where possible, our team will use an alternate workflow. For example, if the volume has tight margins where the text is close to the binding – but importantly, not sewn into it – we might be able to facilitate capture with a 90-degree or 120-degree cradle that minimizes the curve of the gutter. This is just one method of several, and the key to finding the best practice for a given collection is simply communication.
Are the original materials being retained following the project? Could they be rebound after the project is completed? If you have a project in mind but have been concerned about the brittle nature of your materials or how they may be handled, call us at 1.800.288.1265 or send an email anytime to info@bslw.com with your questions.
