Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1992 05:20:32 -0500
From: Donald J Morton PhD <dmorton@UMASSMED.UMMED.EDU>
Sender: "SEREDIT: SERIALST Editors" <SEREDIT@UVMVM.BITNET>

Those who reiterate the foolish consistency to NEVER OVERSEW
evidently didn't learn to qualify this dictum.

Our library's raison d'etre is its INFORMATION and the frequent
need for such is why our journals receive rough treatment.  When
a suitable user-friendly electronic format becomes available,
we'll be glad to say goodby to ALL types of binding.  Meanwhile,
oversewing is the ONLY process available from our binders that
under our stressful environment keeps the pages, i.e. INFORMATION,
from falling out and becoming unavailable.  If no pages, then no
margins or pristine conditions to worry about.

One recent critic of oversewing even attested to this trait by
suggesting that oversewn pages are so tightly held together that
they'd be more likely to part at the oversewing seam than to fall
out.  Thankfully, this hasn't happened to us yet, probably because
our journals are usually bound on industrial strength paper, but
EXACTLY!!!

Don Morton
UMASS Medical Library
dmorton@umassmed.ummed.edu