My daughter was using this new clear Contact paper to cover some of her books so I started thinking....

Would it be okay for me to use the contact paper (again, clear) on my paperback copies if I plan on trading them on PBS when I'm finished with them?  I kinda think worst case scenario the covers of the books would be more durable. I did read the PBS guielines and I didn't find any info. Did I miss something?  Would love any input!

I have received ex-library books that are coated in something similar and I had no problem with it. I've also never seen anything in the help docs that prohibits it. 

With that said, I'd probably not use it unless it was an older book that had become fragile. You just know that there are people out there that would complain about plastic on the book, permitted or not.

I once got a snotty comment over a small Goodwill price sticker on the spine of a book I sent. They didn't RWAP, but they certainly let me know how unacceptable such a thing was to one so discerning as themselves. 

personally I would not unless the contact states it is acid free. using just regular contact can cause the pages to yellow quicker.

the stuff from libraries is made for libraries, I've used it and it is usually a certain ph level and more durable then contact.

LOL, Lisa thanks for the chuckle. If you had removed the sticker there may have been sticky residue. Of course you can remove sticky residue w/ peanut butter#^$__but that is a whole other issue, ie: smell or peanut allergies, hahaha

I received an ex-lib dressed up this way and I wasn't happy. It's very difficult to read the book with covers as hard and unbendable as wood. I eventually requested and received another copy of the book which was more comfortable on my hands.

I'm not sure I'd be  happy with a book with something wrapped around it, even if it makes the book more durable. It probably wouldn't be a valid reason for RWAP'ing the book, either, which would make for a bad transaction for me.

Gail

Our library is using the newer rigid covering on paperbacks, no idea how it's applied but the corners can be sharp.  The contact paper type isn't rigid or uncomfortable to read, but I would also caution people to use only the products specifically for books for those books you might swap on PBS.  Some of the regular contact paper bubbles, lifts, shrinks, or other undesirable behavior on your book covers.

I bought several fragile, OOP paperbacks that I wanted to be able to read without having the covers flake apart in my hands. So I bought some of that removable clear laminate that you can use for pictures, paper, etc. I tested it out on a few of my unpostables. (Order an unpostable from me and it will probably be laminated!) It worked fine to protect my fragile covers. And it was too soft to noticeably stiffen them. However, it's not sticky enough to adhere to the spine while you read so it puckers. I ended up putting a second piece in the spine area (sticky side down) so that it wasn't sticky against the spine. This way it didn't even try to stick. I hope that makes sense. If not, try it on an unpostable and you will see what I mean. You could avoid covering the spine and just laminate the covers I suppose, but I had fragile paper on the spines as well so I wanted to do something to protect that area too. Also be aware that every little air bubble, dog hair, cat hair, eyelash, etc will want to find a way to get trapped under that laminate. Just about drove me crazy trying to get 2 books covered! Course, I am ultra type A, so if you are not, this may not bother you so much.  Overall, IMO it's probably not worth the effort to protect the covers of your average paperbacks. But I did use the leftovers it to make some really nice PBS bookmarks!

There is a certain trick to applying a clear laminate to books.  It does take some trial and error to get a good technique down.

To make it adhere better to the spine, try heating it up a bit with a blow dryer.

I wouldn't do it as a normal practice for my paperbacks but it is a good idea for fragile books.  I wouldn't care if I received a book that'd been laminated.  It's not against the rules.  Probably a good idea for kids paperback books since some kids aren't very careful with them.

When I taught, I would use contact paper whenever I got a new set of paperback books.  Other teachers didn't.  My books lasted years longer than theirs.