De-bining Books???

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Specializes in None yet.

Hello,

During my pre-req courses most of the books were available in a looseleaf format without any binding and holes pre punched in them for use in a binder, or they were available as ebooks. This made it really easy to just grab what I needed for that week and not have to worry about lugging around several whole books. However this fall I start an ADN program and I just got the book list, most of the books are only in the hardcover format with no ebook either! I would like to go somewhere (if anyone knows where please let me know) and get the covers removed and the pages hole punched so they would be looseleaf texts. Does anyone know where to get this done and how much it costs? Has anyone had this work for them?

Thanks

PS Oops sorry for the typo in the title I meant de-binding lol...

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hey there, i know kinko's does both debinding and hole punching you can also get different spines on the pages if you want to seperate it by chapter or section. you can also check staples / office max, i know some staples locations also provide this serivce. good luck

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Specializes in None yet.

Cool thanks. I will call Kinkos and see what they charge. Did you do this for your books? Did they hold up over the year?

ETA Kinkos will only do this for paperback books

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Specializes in Emergency; med-surg; mat-child.

I did it for a couple of really big volumes and I LOVE it. I got them cheap on amazon so spending the extra bucks wasn't a big deal. They shouldn't have a problem doing it on hardbacks, ime. I had them do it by sections rather than chapters, so it made things a bit cheaper. I didn't lose any pages (spiral binding, fwiw).

Also, I went to a local printer and they didn't give me any trouble about hardback books vs softback.

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I've been hearing more and more about this & I'm thinking about giving it a try once the semester starts. I hesitate only because after spending $1200 and some change on books it seems so wrong to cut them up, lol! I'm going to wait & see if I actually have to lug books to class, if so then I'll probably give it a shot!

As has been said Kinko's will debind a book for you but if you want to save money all you need is a x-acto knife, a hard surface, a steady hand and you could probably cut it out yourself!

Also, when I took my Psychology course the textbook was loose leaf so I invested in some sheet protectors to keep the pages from tearing out so easily.

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As crayolamyworld says, I might do this once class starts if they are just too much to carry. I bought as many books as I could as ebooks on my iPad but I still have a couple of thick heavy hardbacks. I think I'll have mine bound in sections to coordinate with my tests once I get the syllabus if I find myself being weighed down by them.

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I had my books debound at staples ($2 each) because Office Depot will not do it if the book is copyrighted! (makes so sense but okay) ... they will hole punch for a penny a page, but considering I have about 4000 pages, I just bought a $25 dollar hole-puncher and did it myself!

sandan rnstudent

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Specializes in Step-down, cardiac.
Office Depot will not do it if the book is copyrighted! (makes so sense but okay)

That's probably to prevent theft and re-selling books. If a book has the cover missing, a store cannot sell it. A very common thing for crappy bookstore employees to do is tear the covers off books, report them stolen, and then re-sell them themselves to make money. Office Depot is probably trying to prevent being a part of that.

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That's probably to prevent theft and re-selling books. If a book has the cover missing, a store cannot sell it. A very common thing for crappy bookstore employees to do is tear the covers off books, report them stolen, and then re-sell them themselves to make money. Office Depot is probably trying to prevent being a part of that.

Yes, I always see the page at the front of books that say it was stolen if missing the cover but I've never actually seen anyone selling one. I always find myself wondering wouldn't the book "pirate" rip off the page in the front warning you of how it's a stolen book too??:D

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I had my books debound at staples ($2 each) because Office Depot will not do it if the book is copyrighted! (makes so sense but okay) ... they will hole punch for a penny a page, but considering I have about 4000 pages, I just bought a $25 dollar hole-puncher and did it myself!

sandan rnstudent

Thanks for the imfo. How long did it take you to hole punch them yourself?

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if you have a decent power drill in the house, just tie the book snugly with string or lots of elastics, take a piece of three-ring-binder paper, mark the holes on the cover of the book, clamp it to the workbench, and drill them out. then cut off the covers. heck, you could have a party and do a whole bunch of them at once with all your classmates.

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Specializes in NICU Nurse.

I usually take the hardcover binding off myself, use a hole punch and put the book sections I need in a 3 ring binder myself. I've never thought of taking it to kinkos or anything..good thinking! LOL

The only negative I have found is that the pages get ripped out SO easily when they are in a 3 ring binder. Maybe the spiral bound like some of you have mentioned would hold everything together better?

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