Reinforcing Paperback Books With Commercial Clear Plastic Covers
Many library supply companies sell self-adhesive clear plastic cover
protectors to protect and reinforce paperback books. These plastic cover protectors may be a good solution for maintaining a paperback collection.
Remember that these covers are basically large pieces of plastic tape and should not be used on materials that cannot be replaced. The book cover cannot be bound into the volume at a bindery once a plastic protector has been applied.
Look for cover protectors that are very flexible. This is very important as the added stiffness of the cover can put a great deal of stress on the glue between the spine and the text block. Too much stress at the hinge can cause the cover to separate from the text block.
Many of these manufactured covers come with special tape used to reinforce the attachment of the cover to the text block. Again, any material used to reinforce the cover hinge needs to be very flexible. If this tape is not flexible, the first page of the book will not turn freely. If that page doesn’t turn freely, the page will crease along the edge of the tape and fall out.
