Paperbacks in Public Libraries

Citation

Duckett, B. (2000), "Paperbacks in Public Libraries", Library Review, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 40-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2000.49.1.40.4

Paperbacks in Public Libraries is a report of research originally undertaken as a dissertation for a Master’s qualification, which has been revised and expanded for publication. The report comprises four pieces of research.

First, there is a look at the publishing sequence of hardback and paperback versions of the same title: the time intervals between formats and the price differences. Traditional wisdom is that paperback versions follow on some 12 months after the first (hardback) version. This appears not to be the case in most of the categories studied. The price differentials are also less marked than might be supposed. The categories chosen are general fiction, genre fiction, biography, large print, and medicine.

The second area of study concerns public library practice in the UK of acquiring, reinforcing, cataloguing and displaying paperbacks. Previous work is considered and then the results of a survey questionnaire sent to the 208 public library authorities in the UK, for which there was a 71 per cent return. Among the topics featured are the paperback purchasing of different book categories, policy guidelines for paperbacks, the cataloguing of paperbacks, displaying fiction paperbacks, reinforcing and the shelf life of paperbacks. It would seem that wallets do best.

The third area of research concerned paperbacks and public library users: their preferences for paperback and hardback formats. A survey was made of 200 adults in Cambridge Central and Peterborough libraries. Reasons for choosing paperbacks included “easier to read in bed”, “felt they can he treated with less respect than hardbacks”, and “had better stories”. Reasons for choosing hardbacks included “stay open better”, “easier to read in bed” (!), and “looks like a proper book”. Other questions asked were about print size, library layout, format selection, condition of stock, and user’s own book purchasing.

The fourth area considered the durability and cost‐effectiveness of paperbacks. These included the performance of different paperback reinforcing methods in terms of issues and shelf‐life.

A concluding section relates the four sets of findings and presents them in a form intended to be of practical use to public library staff who make decisions about paperback provision. A particularly interesting statistic was the 1.6 price factor: where the hardback is less than 1.6 times the cost of the paperback, the hardback is more cost‐effective. The problems of anticipating publishing formats, durability, user preferences between fiction and non‐fiction and policy documents are all considered. The findings should interest publishers, booksellers and library suppliers as well. There is a bibliography and appendices relating to the surveys. Once again LISU is to be commended on producing hard evidence on a matter of widespread practical relevance. They are also to be commended on bringing to the light of day the work done by students, much of which is innovative and interesting, and generally ignored. Having said that, though, this book does have the limitations of a student project. Not that the revision and expansion is not well done – the content and presentation are excellent – but the study is rather limited. The numbers of people and libraries surveyed are too small to justify anything more than suggestions. Two libraries, l00 titles (for the durability test) and 200 people in similar location (for user reaction) are not enough. The parameters are very limited too. Popular lending function is assumed and only medicine was featured as a serious non‐fiction subject. The yellowing of paper was not considered, nor reference use of paperbacks. The book is a useful prompt for further thought and action, though, and libraries providing fiction and popular non‐fiction will find much of interest.