Michael,
The College of the Holy Cross has greatly reduced its binding in the last few years for the same reasons as mentioned before. Here are some of our general guidelines for binding titles:
1. Unique title held at few national libraries;
2. Title does not have a way to be easily shelved unbound (avoiding boxes for long term shelving);
3. Journal title comes in regularly (e.g. quarterly): irregular titles are almost impossible to bind;
4. Title is part of a complete run and is important (e.g. like The Atlantic);
5. The online version of an important title is too expensive;
5. The online version of an important title is not permanent access (e.g. license is for access for term of the subscription or something temporary);
6. Some local titles (published at the College)
Unfortunately, some or all of the above are used in combination in making a decision. Also, we laminate some titles if the cover looks sturdy enough to stay upright on the shelf. I use this a lot for irregular titles (of which there are many).
Finally, this last year has been a challenge as some binderies have closed. We are rethinking bindery since it seems possible that we will be shipping elsewhere for the future. The additional shipping costs will be taken into account. Alas, all of this is liable to change.
I hope that this helps,
Judith
--
Judith Nagata
Content Strategist Librarian
Dinand Library
College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, MA 01610
p: 508-793-2639