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How to open a book and ‘library hand’

I found this via LISNews:

How To Open a New Book

Now I do recall this being part my cataloguing class at L-School in 1978. It wasn’t treated too seriously but I think someone hadn’t updated the syllabus for a while.

It ranks right up there with library hand which was discussed but not taught in my course.

Previous generations of students in m L-School were required to wear white gloves.

Ahhh, history.

Stephen

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Posted on: September 1, 2010, 7:45 pm Category: Uncategorized

4 Responses

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  1. 30 years ago in my first library job I had a colleague in the catalog dept. who did this with every single book she handled before she began cataloging it.

  2. You know, pretty soon kids WILL need these instructions on how to open a real book. And they will also be looking for the “on” button!

  3. Angela s said

    I know this is a lighthearted item but:
    for children I would also include the instruction – look at the cover, what does it tell you about the book?
    look at the index if it has one, will it help you?
    don’t sit on it or hold it down with your knees when you sit on the floor
    don’t let your friends interrupt you [or wrestle over the pages] when you have found a great book
    keep your drink bottles away from a book- on a desk, in your school bag,etc.
    when it rains, remember your school bag is not waterproof
    if a book does get wet, fan it out and put it in front of a fan heater
    otherwise it will go mouldy and if it goes mouldy you will have to pay for a new one
    if you leave food in it , ditto
    ditto means the same thing

  4. I remember being taught to do exactly this at our school library back in the 60’s when we were lucky enough to get a NEW book. Somethings stick – I still do it.