FOR AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THIS ISSUE, PLEASE READ THE E-MAIL AT
THE END OF LEE'S POSTING, BELOW:
On Mon, 13 Dec 1993, Lee Warthen wrote:
> In the June, 1992 CRIV Sheet, West responded to a request for higher quality
> bindings and announced the following replacement policy: "Some of our
> customers have had a problem with the premature failure of the bindings in
> some West volumes. Our experience indicates the problem has occurred on a
> random basis and is isolated to some volumes published between 1982 and 1984.
> If you have experienced such a problem, please write or call us at
> 1-800/328-4880 to arrange for replacement at no charge."
>
> Has anyone had experience in contacting West for replacement volumes under
> this policy?
>
> After repeated calls and letters over the course of the last year, we have
> not been successful in getting any volumes replaced and are returning several
> of the defective volumes so West can see for themselves.
>
> We have also concluded that the current binding product coming from West is
> not manufactured with C-grade cloth, that they do not have durable sewing
> structures, and that glues have not been properly or adequately applied.
> Binding failure is also not limited to isolated cases or any given years
> after West's abandonment of cloth bindings in 1982. We have asked West to
> adopt the LBI standard so that our books can survive the heavy use they are
> expected to receive.
>
> We are not holding down costs, contrary to Mr. Newpowers response to CRIV, by
> accepting the greatly inferior product that West is supplying. Utah is
> facing the possibililty of having to rebind whole sets, such as the Pacific
> Digest, received as recently as the fall of 1991. Replacement copies of the
> same inferior quality are also not the answer if they are also going to fall
> apart in two years. West is giving us a clever imitation of hard binding--we
> are actually getting better service in many cases from perfect-bound
> paperbacks.
>
> Lee Warthen
> University of Utah Law Library
> WARTHEN@ADMN1.LAW.UTAH.EDU
>
Lee [et al.]---
West's poor quality bindings has been an *academic* law library
problem for YEARS-- at least since Jan. 1990. In the minutes of the March
9, 1990 TALL (Texas Assoc. of Law Libraries) there's mention of the
problem in association with the Texas Diges 2nd volumes. Jim
Hambelton, then Vice-President of DALL (Dallas Assoc. of Law Libraries) and
Jane Olm are also associated with trying to get this problem resolved with
West since that time. In the November, 1990 CRIV sheet of our AALL
newsletter, there's a letter to West from Jim Hambelton and Directors of
16 Texas law libraries about this topic.
West's Jerrol M. Tostrud wrote a letter (of which I have a copy)
dated Jan. 3, 1990 to Jim, saying "Our examination of the volumes confirms
that a high level of sustained use may cause premature failure of the
bindings. This is as unacceptable to West Publishing Company as it is to
you." --- the letter goes on and discusses West's then-current replacement
policy and states West "will provide replacement volumes for rebound
volumes, but we will not reimburse the original binding costs." --- this
letter regarded Texas Digest 2d ---
I hope this brings everyone up to speed as far as history of the
problem. If I have mis-stated some info, please inform law-lib
members.
That's all I can contribute about the issue of West's poor quality
binding. I suspect that academic law libraries do *not* represent a
terribly great share of Wests sales of their bound publications, because
if it did, West would probably have responded by now. Our collective
voices thus far have not been strong enough to create a significant desire
within the West corporate structure to affect a change in the binding
standards.
If they went with a Class A buckram binding, you probably should expect a
considerable increase in the per volume costs of the bound publications.
Are you willing to bear the extra costs? I believe nearly all academic
law libraries would rather have a long lasting bound volume at the
outset, than to have their volumes reach the point where many (especially
the famous-case volumes, or associated state materials volumes) need to
be re-bound at the library's binder. Firms and state and county law
libraries probably don't have the degree of problems with sustained use,
like the academics do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brian D. Striman Internet: brians@unllib.unl.edu
Head of Technical Services Bitnet: brians%unllib@unlvax1.bitnet
Catalog Librarian Office: 402-472-8286 // Fax: 472-8260
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marvin & Virginia Schmid Law Library // University of Nebraska-Lincoln
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The above statements are entirely my own and have
absolutely nothing to do with the U. of Nebraska.
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