The day I accidentally ordered a book from Follett...

The other day my teacher librarian approached me and asked me about as strange invoice she had received from Follett. As she knew that I was working on my library courses she deduced that maybe the order was made by me. She was only a little mad at me. It seemed that I had accidentally ordered a book through Follett. I have been on the website trying to compare Follett Titlewave with ULS and trying to compare prices including processing and cataloguing. It seems that in my attempts to find complete pricing information I accidentally placed an order with Follett Titlewave. On Friday afternoon I noticed a package in the mailbox of our teacher librarian (as she actually only works three days week she hasn't been in to see it yet). I was so curious but I had to open up the package and see what it is Titlewave sent us. 

With great glee I opened the cardboard packaging to find a copy of "Adventures in the Middle Ages" by Linda Bailey, in hardcover with the flyleaf cover which had been encased in a mylar sheet and labels that  had been included in the package (though they were not affixed to the book itself.)

 In our library all hardcover flyleaf's are put through the laminating machine before they're  attached to the book itself. The Library assistant often cuts the laminate too close to the edges and then it later peels, so it may be that the mylar sheeting is a better choice. The Mylar sheeting is more similar to what I've seen in public library hardcover books. The Mylar itself seemed very thin and because it is separate from the flyleaf cover it  may be only another piece that could be lost by students if they do not treat their books carefully. The price for this processing was under one dollar for this book. It seems to me that if a book is already in your union catalog and can easily be replicated into your own system, that having a service such as Follett do the processing is ideal for those librarians who are strapped for time. Unfortunately it represents a compromise in terms of budget. You may be able to purchase fewer books overall if part of your budget is dedicated to paying for processing services. However if books are in the cupboard not being processed and therefore not being circulated among your students you may be better off purchasing fewer books that get processed in a timely manner. I really liked the condition in which the processed book came from Follett Titlewave I'm now thinking maybe I should on purpose order some books from ULS in order to compare the price and quality of the processing that they provide. Even for books in my classroom library it might be worth it to me to spend the money on the processing through ULS as students often use those books, and care is not necessarily taken for them. In order to ensure a longer shelf life of those bucks maybe it is worth it to me to spend out of Innovex Germany for something that will last and will not need to be replaced. 

Now I only have to figure out how to pay Follett Titlewave.