Conservation Handoff Guidelines for Cataloging Staff

Scope: Methods of directing items for treatment in the Conservation department.

Contact: Sara Biondi

Unit: Monograph Acquisitions

Date last reviewed: Nov 11, 2025 

Date of next review: Feb 24, 2026 

When you have an item that meets the criteria for commercial or in-house binding, arrives damaged, or is fragile...
In general, items should be barcoded and labeled before leaving the cataloger. Items should be fully cataloged before proceeding to any kind of binding or treatment. (Consult with Conservation staff if this seems impossible.)

For NON-RUSH items:

1. Consult the commercial vs. Conservation guide

   1. For items going to the commercial bindery

      1. Barcode on final page (not cover) unless cover must be retained. (If cover must be retained, send to Bindery with note.

      2. Flag with buff bind flag (if damaged, write "D" at top of flag)

         1. (If item is part of a classed-together series, use pink bind flag and provide bindery ID number)

      3. Apply label (no stamp or target)

      4. Place on BIND BOOKS truck

   2. For items going to Conservation for binding

      1. Flag with light blue Conservation flag, including your contact information and notes

      2. Label, stamp and target as usual (if item will be pamphlet-bound (pam bound), use binding template to place label far enough in from the spine)

      3. Place on Conservation Review shelves in Bay 10

2. For items with multiple treatment needs (fragile, needs binding, material to insert, etc.)

   1. Insert all relevant flags, attach spine label (still on backing paper) to flags with plastic-coated paperclip

   2. Place on Bindery Review shelves.

For RUSH items:

1. Consult the commercial vs. Conservation guide

   1. For items going to the commercial bindery

      1. Due to long turnaround of commercial bindery batches, item will go to requesting patron unbound

      2. Flag with pink RUSH flag only

      3. Label, stamp and target

      4. In Alma, put a circulation note: "when returned, send to Conservation"

         1. Rush uncataloged items should get note: "when returned, send to Resource Description, then bind"

      5. Place in relevant S&R bin

   2. For items going to Conservation for binding or other treatment

      1. Flag with light blue Conservation flag & pink RUSH flag

      2. Label, stamp and target

      3. Place on Conservation Review shelves in Bay 10

   3. For items that require Bindery Review

      1. Flag with pink RUSH flag

      2. Label, stamp and target

      3. In Alma, put a circulation note: "when returned, send to Conservation for bindery review"

      4. Place in relevant S&R bin

   4. FOR LOOSE-LEAF ITEMS

      1. Contact requesting librarian to determine rush needs, and whether it would be appropriate to bind before circulating

Considerations with commercial binding:

• Commercial bindery will trim spine, so anything on it will be lost, so leaving notes will always inform the decision-making process when an item is sent for review. If there is irreplaceable information on the spine, we don't commercial bind because information will be lost; in this case note that there is information on the spine that needs to be retained on the blue Conservation flag, so that the item can be treated in a different way (typically CoLibri, Digicover, or with an enclosure).

• Loose items that are the same size as their book must go for Commercial binding because we do not do same-size pockets in-house

Materials with special practices (current to FY21):

• Some annual serial titles do not get bound because of yearly turnover (typically the "latest in reference" titles

• Japanese manga get Colibri treatment, regardless of size

• Chinese paperback fiction gets Colibri treatment due to high usage & difficulty in replacement