Using Thermal Binding to Save Money at your School Library

Paperback books have a hard time standing up the frequent use most school libraries subject them to. Even when students are careful, these books begin to fall apart—especially the more popular ones. Because books are so expensive, finding a way to keep them intact and in circulation can give your library an economic boost. One great way to do this is by investing in a thermal binding machine.

If you have soft cover books that are beginning to fall apart, you can repair them easily with a thermal binding machine. If the book still has glue in the spine, you can try putting the book into your thermal binding machine to reheat the glue and re-adhere the pages. After you remove the book from the machine, drop the book spine down onto a table to settle the pages into the glue before it begins to cool.

Most of the time, reactivating the glue with heat does the job and secures the book’s cover to the pages. Sometimes, there is simply insufficient glue on the book block to use this method. When you find yourself in this situation, you will need to re-bind the book using a thermal glue binding strip. You can purchase these in strips that are one inch wide and twelve inches long. They are easy to customize by cutting them to size with scissors. Make sure you cut the strip to find the inside area of the spine. If you cut it to fit the outside, it will be a little bit too big. After you cut the glue strip to just the right size, place it in the cover and onto the book’s spine. Set it into your machine and let it do the work of melting the glue and securing the pages. Again, when you remove the book from the machine, tap it (spine side down) onto the table to settle the pages into the glue to secure them.

Of course, there are many options when it comes to machines for repairing your soft cover books. For your school library, the standout winner is the Coverbind 5000. This machine can handle books up to two inches thick. Many other models can only accommodate books one inch thick or smaller. This machine is engineered to reach higher temperatures than others do. This is especially important for repairing trade paperbacks in your school library.

Fortunately, this machine is available for under $700 and will not take up a lot of room (It’s about the size of a printer). This lightweight device is easy to use and will pay for itself as you use it to repair books you already have instead of having to buy new books. You can take comfort in the fact that it requires no maintenance, is simple to operate, and offers a safe solution to your book binding needs. You are also covered by a one-year warranty.

The Coverbind 5000 allows you to take control of the bookshelves and the budget by repairing books instead of being forced to replace them. Now you can use those budget dollars to buy new and different titles instead of just replacing the same ones again and again.