CALENDAR

Information on all workshops,
conferences, etc. are posted on the
bulletin board by the second floor
Staff Lounge in Library West.

IMPORTANT DATES

January 8-11,1990
UF Employee, Late and Transient
(Non-Degree) Registration for 1990
Spring Semester. Forms are
available in the Library Personnel
Office.

January 19, 1990
Timecard Workshop for library staff
who approve timecards, 2:30-3:15
p.m. 420 Library West. Prior
sign-up is required.

January 19,1990
Systems Forum, 11:00 a.m.-noon in
420 Library West. See page 6 for
details.

January 22-23 and 25-26,1990
Dates of interviews for two
candidates for Assistant Director for
Technical Services position. The
first candidate's presentation to all
interested staff is at 10 a.m. on
January 22 (location TBA); the time
of the second candidate's presenta-
tion will also be announced.

January 29-30,1990
Orientation for new library
employees, as pre-arranged by
departments, 9:00 a.m.-noon both
days, with a noon luncheon on
January 30, Library West
Conference Room 273.


NEWSLETTER

THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA


LIBRARIES


VOLUME 6, NUMBER 1


JANUARY 1, 1990


CATALOG DEPARTMENT RECEIVES PRODUCTIVITY AWARD

he Cataloging Department has received a Davis Productivity Award for
1988-89. This award program is part of Partners in Productivity, a
public/private initiative sponsored by The Florida Council of 100, Inc.
and Florida Taxwatch, Inc.

The Certificate of Commendation reads "In appreciation and recognition for
your efforts to measurably increase performance and productivity in providing
state government services to Florida taxpayers." This is the introductory year
of the program, which is made possible through the generosity of J. E. Davis
and A. D. Davis, both co-founders of Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. A total of 236
nominations were received, citing individuals or work units who increased the
efficiency and effectiveness of state government. A total of $50,000 was award-
ed to individuals and work units.

The nomination of the Cataloging Department, submitted by R. Max Willocks,
was for increasing the cataloging output by 18% (from 45,506 titles and 52,909
volumes to 53,778 titles and 63,344 volumes) by developing a more efficient
workflow and innovative procedures, by installing an automated spine label-
ling system, and improving staff training.

The benefits of the productivity improvement are many the University bud-
get benefited by increased productivity from the same number of staff, but
most of all, the faculty and students benefited by having many more volumes
ready for their use. Also, the number of volumes in the arrearage collection,
which has only limited access, has been reduced. Through the efforts of the
Cataloging staff, more books are available to more people throughout the state
and on a more timely basis.

The UF Libraries are very proud of the Cataloging staff and appreciate their
dedication and hard work in creating ways of improving their performance
and productivity over the last three years. Their commitment to excellence is
to be commended and serves as a wonderful example to all of us. Congratula-
tions for this well-deserved recognition!




O






January 30,1990
CMS E-mail training session,
10:00-11:00 a.m., Room 420, Library
West. Call Suzy Shaw of Systems
(2-0796) to sign up.

OTHER DATES OF INTEREST

January 8,1990
Beginning of Spring Semester classes of-
fered by School of Library and Informa-
tion Science at University of South Flor-
ida in Tampa. Schedule of classes is
posted on bulletin board.

January 18,1990
"How to Deal with Difficult People,"
CareerTrack Seminar, Gainesville, $48.

January 19,1990
"How to Provide Excellent Customer
Service," SkillPath, Inc., Gainesville,
$99.

January 31,1990
Deadline date for applying for Visiting
Research Fellowships at the American
Antiquarian Society for research in
American history and culture through
1876.

January 31-February 2,1990
MacAdemiasm Southeast '90, sponsored
by Florida universities and colleges
with support of Apple Computer, Inc.,
Daytona Beach. Registration by Janu-
ary 9 is $25, onsite is $50.

February 6,1990
"Project Management," a Fred Pryor
Seminar, Gainesville, $195.

February 13-16,1990
Resource Management Institute, a new
OMS workshop from ARL for library
managers, Washington, D.C., $450.

February 19-20, and 21-23,1990
Society for Applied Learning Technolo-
gy conferences, "Interactive Instruction
Delivery," Learning Technology in the
Health Care Sciences," and 'Venture
Capital for IVD Projects," Kissimmee,
Florida. Registration is $450 before and
$500 after February 7 for non-members.

February 23,1990
"How to Supervise People," National
Career Workshops, Gainesville, $69.


LIBRARY ORGANIZATIONS

In this issue we continue our series on library organizations.

SEMINAR ON THE ACQUISITION OF LATIN AMERICAN
LIBRARY MATERIALS

S ALALM (Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materi-
als) is the oldest professional library organization devoted exclusively to
a geographical area, predating African and Asian-area library groups by
many years. SALALM first met in 1956, and its formation was a direct
consequence of the famous Farmington Plan of the Second World War, and the
realization that the Plan was inadequate to meet the needs of American academ-
ic institutions in the post-war decades.

The Farmington Plan (so-named for the Connecticut site of one of the original
meetings) was a scheme to assign areas of bibliography, based on subjects or ge-
ographical areas, to individual institutions, to ensure that the widest possible
coverage of the "bibliographic universe" was achieved by American academic li-
braries. Born of necessity on the eve of the Second World War, the Farmington
Plan was formally adopted by the ARL in 1947 as a voluntary agreement under
which sixty American libraries accepted special responsibility to collect foreign
published materials as a means to increase the nation's total research resources.
In practical terms, Latin America was divided up among eleven libraries: Arizo-
na, UC Berkeley, Cornell, Duke, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Syracuse, Texas, Tu-
lane, and Virginia. The original Farmington plan also made provisions for sub-
ject responsibility, but it was geographic responsibility which shaped Latin
American collections across the country. The University of Florida Libraries
were assigned the Caribbean under the original plan, the genesis of the distin-
guished collection now held by the LAC today.

The realization that the Farmington Plan needed tinkering, and the growing
field of Pan-American studies and its attendant need for systematic acquisition
of library materials led directly to the creation of SALALM. The theme of the
seminar was briefly stated at the first meeting: to consider the problems in-
volved in finding, buying and controlling library matters relating to Latin Amer-
ica. The three tasks of the Seminar were: how to know what has been or is being
issued; how to get what is needed for the particular library; and how to process
and preserve the material acquired. In the thirty-three years since its first meet-
ing, SALALM's size has grown, but its mission has remained basically un-
changed although changes in academic librarianship, library technology, and
the book trade have expanded the scope of "controlling library matters" to a con-
siderable degree.

The first meeting was hosted at Chinsegut Hill, Florida and had twenty-six par-
ticipants; in 1989 SALALM had over three hundred individual members, and
over one hundred and fifty institutional members. Never affiliated with the
American Library Association, SALALM has an almost absolute monopoly on
all activities pertaining to Latin American librarianship in the United States; the
pioneering members of SALALM wanted the organization to be part of the ALA,
but there was no interest in the 1950s in Latin America within the organization;
accordingly, SALALM was never part of ALA and remains separate to this day.

The University of Florida has been particularly prominent in SALALM from its
inception. Stanley West, former director of the Libraries, was a co-founder of SA-
LALM; Irene Zimmerman, Latin American librarian at Florida for many years,
was one of the Seminar's original participants; Rosa Mesa, current Latin Ameri-
can bibliographer, was president of the Seminar in 1973-74. Florida plays a par-
ticularly important role in the Intensive Cuban Collecting Project and the Cuban
bibliographic subcommittee of the Seminar.
continued on next page






The first SALALM seminars were small-scale affairs, concentrating on acquisi-
tion and preservation. In the 1950s collecting Latin American library materials
was a disorganized, almost haphazard affair. National bibliographies, if they
existed at all, were issued irregularly; there were no approval plans, no ven-
dors. Members at the first SALALM meetings attempted to define the outline of
their particular bibliographic universe, identifying the structure of the book
trade in Latin America, the leading periodicals, government documents, and ac-
ademic publications. The first sessions also quickly delineated some of the criti-
cal needs of the profession: the cooperative filming of official gazettes, newspa-
pers, and periodicals, and the compiling and publishing of an adequate index to
selected Latin American periodicals. The former resulted in the formation of
the Latin American Microfilming Project (LAMP), and the latter, some seven-
teen years later in the publication of the first volumes of the Hispanic American
Periodicals Index, or HAPI. In 1960 the Seminar went so far as to employ a roam-
ing book agent, whose job it was to travel throughout Latin America buying
books for libraries participating in the plan.

Gradually, SALALM grew in both size and structure. Permanent committees
on acquisitions, bibliography, policy and research, constitution and bylaws
grew. In the spirit of the age, SALALM "let a thousand subcommittees bloom":
subcommittees (many of them ad hoc) on Cuban library materials, on biblio-
graphic activities, etc. By 1968 SALALM was incorporated as an educational in-
stitution; by 1972 the Secretariat had been moved from the OAS in Washington
to a university library, where it has remained, being sited at various times at the
universities of Massachusetts, Texas, Wisconsin, and New Mexico.

By the late 1960s, it became apparent that SALALM meetings were acquiring
general themes and topics specific to each annual gathering, and this is a trend
which has continued. SALALM, like ARLIS (Art Libraries Society) and MLA
(Music Libraries Association), is a subject-specific library group; most of its
members, besides having an MLS, possess advanced degrees in Iberian lan-
guages or Latin American studies. SALALM meetings are always a mixture of
the professional and the academic; besides the business meetings, focusing on
the acquisition of materials, there are sessions where papers are read, some bib-
liographical, others exploring themes or ideas reflective of the seminar's partic-
ular topic. Past sessions have focused on art, masses and minorities, new re-
search technologies, collection development, emigres, local and national
cooperation, new writers, etc. More and more the bibliographers within SA-
LALM have come to dominate the organization, and many in the non-public
service field feel that their needs and contributions are neglected. Nor has the
organization's isolation from the ALA necessarily been entirely beneficial in
professional terms.

Nevertheless, the contrast between SALALM's beginnings and its present state
of development is impressive. The wild and wooly "bibliographic universe" of
Latin Americana, while not completely tamed, has been domesticated to a sig-
nificant degree. Roving book buyers are no longer needed: each year between
twenty and thirty Latin American book dealers travel to SALALM, to talk face-
to-face with their customers, trim or expand approval plans, handle problems
and complaints, and display new publications and services. (At this year's
meeting, the first dedicated CD-ROMs on Latin American bibliography were on
display.) Increasingly, member libraries pool their information on acquisitions,
expenditures, and bibliography; cooperative ventures have been a feature of
SALALM from its earliest days, and clearly will be even more important in the
future in an era of academic recession. The LAMP, or Latin American Micro-
filming Project, is a particularly successful example of inter-library cooperation,
having preserved on microfilm thousands of periodicals, government docu-
ments, and other marginalia since its establishment. The "finding, buying, and
controlling of library matters" pertinent to Latin America remains the prime
business of the Seminar, and will continue to challenge its members as the
organization nears both the Columbus quincentenary and its own fortieth year.
Peter Stern


February 26,1990
"How to Handle Multiple Priorities,"
Fred Pryor Seminars, Gainesville, $59.

February 27-28,1990
"Fundamentals of Telecommunications,"
sponsored by Management Develop-
ment Foundation, Jacksonville, $595.

February 27,1990
"Time Power," Charles R. Hobbs Corpo-
ration seminar, Jacksonville, $165.

March 1-2,1990
"Acquisition Budgets: Strategies for Se-
rials, Monographs, and Electronic For-
mats," sponsored by University of Okla-
homa at Norman, $75.

March 11-14,1990
"Issues for the New Decade: Preserva-
tion, The Serials Dilemma, The Role and
Effectiveness of the Public Library, and
The Legislative Agenda," sponsored by
Florida State University, Tallahassee,
$200.

March 13,1990
"Powerful Business Writing Skills," Na-
tional Seminars Group, Gainesville, $98.

March 14-16,1990
EDUCOM's National Net '90, 'The Na-
tional Research and Education Network:
A Strategic Alliance," Washington, D.C.
Registration fee is $295 before, and $345
after February 16.



SUCCESSFUL HOLIDAY PARTY

The following staff worked long and
hard to make last month's annual holi-
day party a success:

LeiLani Freund, Sonia Tergas, Beth
Senn, Mary Harris, Carol King, Beth
Alexander, Mildred Neal, Jeanette
Marks, Diane Warfield, Tim Jones

Our appreciation is extended to each of
them and to all the others who contrib-
uted to such a festive occasion with
wonderful food, decorations and ambi-
ence!







PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS I FROM THE DEPARTMENTS


Colleen Seale presented a talk on the role
of new technologies in the dissemination
of information at the American Studies
Association International Convention in
Toronto in November 1989.


TRIP REPORTS

This report was recently added to those
available through the Library Personnel
Office.

John Freund, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Workshop on Care and Management of
Photographic Collections," New York
City, December 4-6, 1989


PEOPLE

PERSONNEL NEWS

LIBRARIAN

New Appointment
Razia Nanji Instructor Librarian, H&SS
Reference

USPS

New Appointments
Debra Berard Sec'y Spec., Administration
Tom Caswell LTA II, Documents
Connie Cook Spy. LTA II, Acquisitions
Robert Lauriault Archivist I, Archives
Wilfredo Milendez Sec'y Spec. (substi-
tute), Latin American Collection
Mark Stawson LTA I, Circulation West
Erica Werner LTA II, Documents

Retirement
Willie Robinson LTA II, MSL

Reassignment
James Combs LTA I, from Circulation to
Documents
Kathy Scott Sec'y Spec. (substitute), Ad-
ministration

Departure
Teresa Keppel Clerk Spec., Circulation
East
4


ACQUISITIONS

In the Acquisitions Department, we have three new employees:
- Barbara L. Mattson started on November 20 as a Secretary Specialist.
- Pam LaFrentz started in Gifts and Exchange on November 20 as an LTA II.
- Connie Cook will start in the Searching Unit on January 10 as an LTA II.


AFA LIBRARY

The AFA Library welcomes new employee Michele Tennant, LTA I. Michele's
experience includes over two years' work at the Hamcock Marine Biology &
Oceanography Library at the University of Southern California, as well as a
year at the University of Miami Law Library. She has a B.A. in Biological Sci-
ences and is currently completing her Ph.D. in biological sciences from Wayne
State University with minors in art history and chemistry.


HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER LIBRARY

Asbestos Update
We expect that asbestos removal will begin on the 3rd floor of the Library dur-
ing the first week of January. That means that all journals published before
1982 will be inaccessible for a minimum of six weeks. If patrons need an arti-
cle from one of these journals, they may check at the VA Library (Room E-420,
8:00 AM 4:30 PM Monday Friday). Patrons may ask to see a listing of VA
Library journals at the Information or Circulation desks. VA journals do not
circulate but the library does have ample photocopying facilities.

Sometime in late February or early March, we will have to close the Library
for at least two days to move the 2nd floor monographs out to the Student
Study Center. We had hoped that our closing date would coincide with
school vacations but delays in the contractor's work schedule have made that
impossible. We will try to move the necessary materials and have them avail-
able again as soon as possible.

If you have questions about our asbestos removal project or have special prob-
lems with our contingency plans, please call Lenny Rhine at 2-4014 or Esther
Jones at 2-4018.

Informatics Laboratory Moves
The Informatics Laboratory will be closed January 8-10,1990 in order to move
to its permanent home in Room C2-20 in the Student Study Center. The La-
boratory will be open for business on January 11, 1990. The entrance to the La-
boratory will be at the extreme west end of the Study Center. The best direc-
tion we can give you at this point is to take the elevator to the 2nd floor, turn
right, go through the double glass doors, turn left and follow the signs!

The Laboratory will continue to offer access to MEDLINE on CD-ROM Mon-
day through Thursday 9:00 a.m. 9:00 p.m. and Friday from 9:00 a.m. 5:00
p.m. Come see us!


Library Newsletter Staff: Editor, Colleen Seale; Editorial Committee, Cecilia Botero, Mona Mosier, Carl Van Ness; EditorialAssistant, Barbara
Jones; Departmental Liaisons, Elizabeth Alexander, Lynn Badger, Stephanie Baldwin, Elaine Bryant, Suzanne Brown, Channie Christian,
Mary Jane Daicoff, Melanie Davis, Rick Donnelly, Peter Foust, Steve Fuquay, Sidney Ives, Erich Kesse, Barbara King, Chuck Lipsig, Tom
Kinney, Rosa Mesa, Pam Pasak, Bob Singerman, Shirley Snyder, Ed Teague, Carl Van Ness, Priscilla West, Carol Whitmer, Susan Woods.







UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARIES CALENDAR KEEP FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

JANUARY 1990
SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY


1 2 3 4 5 6






7 8 9 10 11 12 13



UF Employee, Lat( and Transient Regis ration for Spring Serr ester Classes
Systems Forum
14 Holiday 15 16 17 18 1 a.m., 420 LIB 19 20
Holiday -
Martin Luther
King Jr.'s Birthday *Timecard Workshop,
2:30-3:15 p.m.,
420 LIB W
Deadline for Interview dates
Ubrary 22ecUbrary
21 rr 22 second day 23 Awards 24 for second 25 26 27
Newsletter of interviews Cemon- candidate for
10 a.m. Presentation for first candl- 10 am-noon, Asst Dir. Tech. Serv.
position (presentation
by Asst. DIr. Tech. date for Asst. Dir. Rare Books Room, esition (presentation
Serv. candidate Tech. Serv. position 5th fl., LIBW schedule TBA)

"Introduction
28 to the 29 CMS E-mail 30 31 Pre-registration for these sessions is required
Libraries' Training Session,
Orientation Pro- 10 a.m., 420 LIB W
gram, 9 a.m.-noon,
273 LIB W, with
luncheon on 1/30






Russian Librarian To Visit


Elena Politova, Head of the Information Center at the Intersectoral
Research & Technology Complex (Eye Microsurgery) in Moscow will
visit the Health Science Center Library in late January. She will be
coming at the invitation of Lenny Rhine who visited the Moscow fa-
cility last spring. Ms. Politova will be accompanied by Elena
Filatova, a scientific worker at the Eye Research Institute. They are
coming to review automated library systems and the use of comput-
ers in scientific research.


MAP LIBRARY

November 19-22, Dr. HelenJane Armstrong attended the annual con-
ference of the Southeastern Division of the Association of American
Geographers in Charleston, West Virginia. She was the planner, con-
vener, and moderator for the Eighth Workshop on Map Libraries of
the Committee on Southern Map Libraries (COSMAL). Many inter-
esting presentations were made on the status of world mapping to-
day. The Head of the U.S. Geological Survey also provided informa-
tive talks. The highlight was the afternoon session/panel on the Role
of Computer Cartography in Research Libraries. COSMAL is the
only Map Librarian group that is part of a scholarly geographic asso-
ciation and provides unique opportunities for its members.

The assistant head of the U.S. National Archives, who is in charge of
the cartographic and photographic records, will visit the University
of Florida Map Library on January 2-3. The National Archives has
serious space problems and is quite interested in our map cases on
moveable carriages. The UF system is the only one of its kind and
has been of interest to a variety of libraries and agencies.

HelenJane Armstrong has been appointed as co-organizer of the
ALA Map and Geography Round Table's new committee on Collec-
tion Management for Research Libraries. The position paper has
been written and the first general meeting will be held at the ALA
Annual Convention in Chicago.


MEAD LIBRARY

Celebration Held for Young Readers
Mead Library celebrated "International Year of the Young Reader"
with a special two day multi-media program for all 3rd, 4th, and 5th
grade classes at P.K. Yonge. To promote reading, two books were
read aloud: Voice of the Wood (about the making of a cello) and The
Weaving of a Dream (a Chinese folk tale).

Famed local radio personality Storm Roberts (station WKTK) gave
the event a special flair by reading the books, and UF student Nathan
Cutler enhanced the reading by bringing a cello and playing along as
the first book was read. The second book came alive with a demon-
stration of weaving on several looms set up in the library by Pia
Brown and Karen Kilgore. Over 180 students enjoyed the stories,
music, and weaving. The event was videotaped by Penny Chou, if
anyone is interested in experiencing the event almost "live."


We mourn the loss of Dr. Ruth Baldwin,
retired Librarian Emerita, who died on
January 5 after suffering a massive stroke
on New Year's Eve. Although Dr.
Baldwin retired from the UF Libraries in
September 1988, she continued her tireless
efforts in developing the holdings of
children's historical literature for the
Baldwin Library.

Dr. Baldwin is survived by two sisters.
Gifts in memory of Ruth may be made to
the U.F. Foundation, Inc. for the Baldwin
Library Purchase Fund.


Congratulations to Melissa Davis, who works in
the Judaica Library as Secretary Specialist for
Special Collections, upon the birth of an 8 lbs., 9
oz., 20 inches long baby girl, Alicia Denise, on De-
cember 23.

Congratulations also upon the birth of a daughter,
Margaret (Maggie) Jean, on January 4, to Alison
Fell, Secretary Specialist in the Administration Of-
fice Maggie weighed 5 lbs., 4 oz. and was 19
inches long.



IN THE NEWS

A picture of Library East and a brief outline of its
planned renovations are included in the "Across
the Nation" section of the December 1989 issue of,
American School & University. This monthly maga-
zine focuses on issues concerning educational fa-
cilities, purchasing and business administration.



HOLIDAYS FOR 1990

The following holidays have been announced for
1990:


NEW YEAR'S DAY
MARTIN LUTHOR KING,
JR'S BIRTHDAY
MEMORIAL DAY
INDEPENDENCE DAY
LABOR DAY
VETERAN'S DAY
THANKSGIVING DAY
DAY AFTER THANKS-
GIVING
CHRISTMAS DAY


January 1

January 15
May 28
July 4
September 3
November 12
November 23

November 24
December 25


PERSONAL NOTES






RLG PUBLICATIONS


The following publications have
been received from the Research
Libraries Group. Copies may be
obtained by contacting one of the
secretaries in the administrative
offices.

1. Press Release: RLG Completes
Pilot Phase of Chinese Rare
Books Project
2.Press Release: RLG Awarded
Grant from Kuwait Foundation
to Develop Arabic Script Capa-
bility in RLIN
3.Press Release: RLG Installs
Larger Mainframe Computer
for RLIN
4.Press Release: Art Museum Li-
brary Consortium Uses RLIN



PARTIAL LISTING OF AC-
TIVE LIBRARY COMMITTEES

This new feature of the newsletter
is designed to provide staff with
current information regarding ac-
tive ad hoc committees. Further in-
formation can be sought from
committee chairs. This listing will
be expanded in coming issues to
include all committees.

- LMG Subcommittee on Standar-
ized Use of Performance Evalua-
tion Forms. Chair: Lynn Badger
Ctte: Rich Bennett, Dot Hope, Jan
Swanbeck



SYSTEMS FORUM

The January System Forum will be
held on Friday, January 19, from
11:00 a.m. to noon in Room 420 of
Library West. Gary Cornwell of
Documents will discuss the recent
load of approximately 200,000 cat-
alog records for U.S. federal docu-
ments into the Libraries' NOTIS
database. All library staff are wel-
come to attend.


New Non-Print Materials Available on LUIS
Mead wishes to announce that, after about a year of joint effort with Nancy Williams
and other Cataloging Department staff, we can now offer LUIS online access to over
100 audio-visual items available in our collection. These materials include videotapes,
sound filmstrips, audio tapes and kits. After you call up your information by author,
subject, or title on LUIS, then you will find that the last line of the call number desig-
nates the type of material (e.g., VT videotapes, SFS sound filmstrip, AT audio-
tape, KIT more than one audio-visual).


NEWS FROM THE PRESERVATION OFFICE

And now, James Bond, Agent 007. Dada-da-da-da-dum.

Agent double-0-seven, James Bond. My parents wouldn't let me watch movies in the
James Bond series as a child. Too much violence. Too much sex. Both were the attrib-
utes of a godlessness totally contrary to their beliefs. Like any death-defying child, I
devoutly saved my lunch money for the price of a movie ticket, and sneaked into a 007
flick pretending to be someone else's child.

The violence in the film was undercut by the instruments of death. They were too tech-
nologically advanced, I was sure, to be more than fantasy. There had to be more,
something underlying it all, something about two forces coexisting within a realm of
intrigue. Finding out wasn't worth the price of another ticket.

I had forgotten about James Bond until recently, when asked about bonded leather.
What is it? And, is it real or fake? My mother always spoke of bonded leather with the
same regard she had for bail bondsmen and, of course, James Bond. The term ap-
peared in none of the Libraries' science, technical or trade dictionaries or encyclopedi-
as. For all I could find out about bonded leather, it might well have been James Bond --
secret agent. Like James Bond, it seemed like just so much skin... but was it real?

The Library of Congress subject heading for bonded leather is "Leather Bonding," not
"Leather, Artificial Welding." In the trade, "bonding" and "welding" mean roughly
"glued." "Glued leather. Huh?" In bookbinding, leather is almost always glued to
something. Research in the literature of the leather trade indicated that bonded leather
might be a form of processed leather, armor-plated as it were with vegetable tanning
products, waxes or glues, that were used to create a tough, durable, water-resistant
leather. But, the literature called this "filing (the leather's pores)" rather than "bonding."

At the point of frustration, knowing I would never be a detective, the answer present-
ed itself in the literature of chemical engineering. "Leather, bonded." One small arti-
cle, in a Slavic language, described what, in layman's terms, could be called "bonded
leather." So, real or fake? "Yes" and 'No." Bonded leather is not technically a wolf, but
man-made substance, in sheep's skin. Bionic leather, as fantastic as 007's instruments of
death. Bonded leather is created of real, "gen-U-ine" leather bonded to an artificial sub-
stance using acrylics or poly (vinyl-acetate). It is supposedly created with the intention
of making a leather product more durable to the wear and tear of bookbinding materi-
al.

The strength of bonded leather is seen in its performance at the book's joints. Imagine
the skin and muscle covering the bones in James Bond's index finger as it bends
around the trigger of a Saturday-night-special. If leather can be bonded to something
that bends as readily as James Bond's index finger, both will survive.

The weakness of bonded leather lies in the limits of the bonding agent, the glue. If
leather and the substance to which it is bonded separate, the book shall rest in decay.
The forces which cause the separation are as common as heat, humidity and cold -
changing, cycle after cycle.

[Thanks to Chuck Lipsig and Ann King for help in the scientific research.]
Erich Kesse