REPAIR Lab: FAQs

Please bring any damaged item you find to the Main Circulation Desk on the 2nd Floor. Circulation desk staff will send it to the REPAIR Lab to be evaluated.

Yes, of course, you can borrow a damaged book!

We prefer that you have the items you need for your work first. We will repair it after it is returned to the University Library. Most of the time, a damaged book will be held together with rubber bands. Please bring it back rubber banded together. Never use tape to attach loose pieces. 

If the book was noted as damaged at the time you borrowed it, you will not be charged for the damage.

Use rubber bands to hold the pieces together. Do not attempt to reattach the pieces. Please return it to the Main Circulation Desk rubber banded together after you are finished using it.

We cannot always purchase new copies of damaged materials. Libraries face three main problems when replacing items:

1. Outrageously absurd pricing.
   • Libraries must pay "institutional pricing", so our base price is usually higher than individual consumers.
   • For example: An individual may buy a DVD for $20, but the library's institutional price will start at $250.
2. Publishers infrequently reprint backlist titles. 
   • Backlist titles are books printed prior to the current year. Publishers say they are not usually as profitable to reproduce.
   • New books printed in the current year are "frontlist" titles. Since publishers typically profit more from frontlist sales, their money, time, and effort go into producing, promoting, and selling new releases. 
3. The secondary market's mercenary sellers. 
   • Used print textbook supplies have decreased. It drastically reduced even more when one of the largest publishers of U.S. textbooks stopped making print textbooks in 2019. Used textbooks became more expensive as resellers exorbitantly marked up prices on used copies. 

In addition to the above, there is another situation peculiar to academic and research libraries. Academic libraries usually have older works considered to be "subject classics" as well as newer publications.

How do we replace these subject specific classic texts that are still copyrighted and now out of print? Well, we hope that the copyright holder is alive and reachable.

Here's a recent example:

CARDS received a repair request for a Course Reserves aerospace textbook. The book was highly damaged, but still "fixable". Since it was a course textbook, we decided to replace it instead of fixing it. That plan failed. The Bronco Bookstore was told that publisher could not obtain permission from the deceased author's copyright designee to reprint the textbook. 

Therefore, to maintain continued access for the CPP community, CARDS makes every attempt to fix out-of-print and difficult to source materials.

We do buy e-books. Although the University Library recognizes the importance and value of e-books and other e-resources, we also need to advocate for the permanent retention and growth of physical collections. E-books are not and cannot be an all-encompassing replacement for physical materials for many reasons. 

These are some of the most common problems with e-books and other e-resources:

1. Cost.
   • The prices that libraries pay to buy access to e-books and e-resources is much higher than what individuals pay.
   • Pricing is tiered based on student enrollment. It increases when the number of full-time students enrolled at the campus increases.
2. Vendor platform downtime and other technological impediments.
   • Our e-books and e-resources are accessed on the vendor's site. Any problem on their end makes those materials inaccessible to us.
   • No internet service also means no e-books.
3. Unavailability.
   • Some e-books cannot be purchased by the library because of publisher agreements and licensing contracts. 
4. Technology.
   • Not everyone has the appropriate technology to access these e-resources. 
5. Market availability.
   • As a teaching institution focused on promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, the University Library strives to house materials from many different countries. Unfortunately, not all countries have a robust online publishing environment. Some countries simply do not have the infrastructure for it. 

The REPAIR Lab is part of CARDS' Acquisitions & Materials (A&M) Unit. All A&M staff and student assistants work in the REPAIR Lab.

• Ping Nakkeow, Acquisitions & Materials Management Coordinator, leads the A&M Unit and coordinates the work and provides assessments of REPAIR Lab student assistants.
• Melissa Corrales, Acquisitions & Materials Specialist, is a REPAIR Lab co-trainer.
• Marsha Lange, Acquisitions & Materials Processing Specialist, is a REPAIR Lab co-trainer and specializes in monographs.
• Thuy Nguyen, Acquisitions & Materials Processing Specialist, provides REPAIR Lab backend support and specializes in periodicals.

Our student assistants span academic disciplines--Apparel Merchandising & Management, Engineering, Theatre, Liberal Studies, Computer Science, and Music. All student assistants work part-time. The number of student assistants vary by year.

To schedule a REPAIR Lab visit, please contact Ping Nakkeow, Acquisitions & Materials Management Coordinator, via e-mail at vpnakkeow@cpp.edu.

PolyX is an acronym for "Signature Polytechnic Experience". PolyX is an experiential learning program designed to take students beyond the classroom by allowing them to see real world opportunities and challenges and develop solutions to them. The challenge our student assistants are trying to resolve is how to make fiscally reasonable, sustainable, and practical decisions to ensure maximum longevity of the University Library's physical collections. 

To be a PolyX program, our co-curricular program must have seven elements:

• Intense Mentorship
• Dissemination Beyond the Classroom
• Creativity, Discovery, and Innovation
• Diverse and Multidisciplinary Perspectives
• Community and Global Engagement
• Collaborative Learning
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

To learn more about these elements, visit PolyX Definitions & Rubric.