Binding Preparation—
Swipe a Barcode, YouÂ’re Done

Paul Parisi

Managing Partner, ABLE Ventures, LLC

Swipe the barcode are you are done.  It is that easy.  First the library swipes the barcode on a monograph, serial, or thesis to bring it onto their binding preparation screen.  All information such as title, author, call number, ISSN, ISBN, volume, month, page numbers, and year is imported from the ILS. The book is added to the bindery shipment.  Once all the books that will be sent on a shipment have been added, a single keystroke (or mouse click) checks them ALL out of the ILS and sends the necessary detail to the binderÂ’s computer.  Several weeks later, when the library bound books return, a single mouse click will check them all back in.  A dream of library efficiency and patron service has finally come true

Thanks to the teamwork between ABLE Ventures, LLC, (a partnership of binders, a software company and a machinery manufacturer) and Ex Libris, (a vendor to libraries), this is now a reality.  Using the Z39.50 protocol, ABLE™ (a bindery preparation module in use since 1985) pulls the MARC record and associated information from the ILS and extracts the information needed to complete the binding record.  Information that remains constant such as serial binding title, position and layout of lettering on the spine, cover color, print color, and binding style is managed by the ABLE™ software—automatically.  Information that changes or is used one time only, such as serial volume, month and year or monograph binding title, author, and call number is imported from the MARCrecord and its adjuncts.  ABLE™ maps the imported data so that it formats exactly as if it had been typed in by hand.   All of this is accomplished with the swipe of a single barcode

When the binding shipment is ready to be sent to the binder, it is “Transferred to Bindery” with a single mouse click and instantly the entire shipment of books is noted as “Checked Out” in the ILS at the same time.  This action is reversed when the bindery shipment returns and the library selects “Receive from Bindery”—instantly checking the entire shipment back into the ILS via the Internet.

Using the ABLE/Ex Libris binding interface, it is possible to automate binding preparation, to eliminate errors and manual re-keying, and to instantly update the status of an entire binding shipment—all via the Internet.

ABLE Ventures, LLC presently has 17 binderies across the UnitesStates and Canada using its software—more than 75% of the market.  Better yet, the data created from ABLE™ can be used by virtually every library binder in the <st1:place>North America</st1:place> since we can read and write both ABLE™ and Lars formats, the two leading systems in use by library binders.  Binders that presently offer the ABLE™ binding preparation software are:

o        Acme Bookbinding                                       (Massachusetts)

o        ICIBinding Corporation 
  Binding Unlimited                                    (Michigan)
  Crawford Bindery                                     (Ohio)
  General Bookbinding Company                 (Ohio)
  Hawaii Library Bindery                             (Hawaii)
  Library Bindery Co of PA                          (Pennsylvania)
  Mid Atlantic Bookbindery                          (Virginia)
  Northwest Library Bindery                        (Washington)
  Southeast Library Bindery                        (N. Carolina)

o        Kater-Crafts Bookbinders                            (California) 

o        Lehmann Bookbinding, Ltd.                         (Canada)

o        National Library Binding Co. of Georgia    (Georgia)

o        Ocker & Trapp Library Bindery Inc.          (New Jersey)

o  Heckman Bindery, Inc.  (Licensee)               (Indiana)

o  Houchen Bindery Ltd.   (Licensee)  
Houchen Bindery                                      (Nebraska)
Everett's Bindery                                       (Louisiana)
University Bindery                                     (Missouri)

o        Mekatronics, Inc.    (Equipment Manufacturer) (New York) 

o        Programming Concept, Inc.  (Software)           (New York) 

Thousands of libraries across North America send millions of periodicals, monographs, theses and other printed materials to library binders every year.  The process of preparing these books for binding has always been labor-intensive, expensive and subject to error.  It involved typing information such as title, author, call number, volume, year, months, pages and more from one automated system into another.  It also involved manually checking books out to the binder, one by one, and—when the bound books returned---checking them back in to let library patrons know that they were available.

This problem has been discussed at Library Binding Discussion Group meetings at ALA for years.  Michael Kaplan, Director of Product Management at Ex Libris USA, Inc., came forward after one of these meetings and offered to work with us.  Shortly thereafter, a binding interface was a reality.

Ted Fons, of Innovative Interfaces, came forward with a similar offer this year.  Following discussions with the ABLE™ programmers, a serials interface that enables the library to automatically create a binding shipment was implemented.  This interface takes the list of serials that are ready for binding, your pick list, and autocreates an ABLE™ <st1:place>Lot</st1:place> with all of the items created and all of the variable information filled in.  The process is completely automated.

The Library Binders share, with our library clients, the dream that every ILS vendor will allow us to interface the ABLE™ binding module with their system.  ABLE™ was the first PC-based binding module released in 1985.  It was the first browser-based system released in 2000.  It was the first binding preparation program to write a seamless barcode driven interface that totally automates binding preparation for libraries. The ABLE™ Binding Interface will work for virtually every library in North America, no matter which library binder they use, but it works much better and with two-way exchange if the ILS vendor works with us.

The time has come for all libraries and library binders to work together to support the shared vision of binding preparation that is as efficient and easy as it should be.  The ILS vendors have everything to gain by supporting their clients—the libraries.  Greater efficiency makes their product more attractive.  Waste of resources and delay in implementing labor-saving systems hurts every player that is competing for limited resources in a challenging economic time.

What is the future of the book?  Is it destined to be a relic in a museum?  What is the future of the research library?  Will Google replace libraries? I donÂ’t think that is a likely outcome.  The book as a preservation tool for the written word and the library as custodian for the collective intellectual/artistic work of mankind are a proven combination.

I propose that all library binders, preservation librarians and automated systems vendors work together to make the ABLE™ Binding Interface a reality for all.   We have demonstrated that this is not a complicated or expensive task, it merely is one that needs to be pushed to the head of wish list items.

Major binderies have adopted the ABLE™ solution for several reasons.  ABLE™ is proven—over 18 years.  ABLE™ is supported by a mature software developer (over 25 years in business) with a broad base of clients in many markets and a deep staff of programmers.  ABLE™ is browser-based, a true Internet application, that requires no local support or installed software.  Binders are moving their library accounts over to ABLE™ for these reasons and because of the interface opportunity that ABLE™ offers. ABLE™ has achieved the critical mass needed to allow ILS vendors to trust this solution—it works for every library.  ABLE™ can use existing tools to achieve the same interface simplicity for your ILS system that is currently working for Ex Libris and Innovative Interfaces.

Anyone who is interested in improving the efficiency of their library binding program   should contact the office of the Library Binding Institute.  We need your help.

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