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One book I ordered this semester is a loose leaf book (3-hole punched) that I'm currently keeping in a binder. Problem is, the pages are quite thin, and tear very easily near the hole punches. What can I do to help prevent this?

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3 Answers

up vote 21 down vote accepted

You could take the book to a copy shop, and have it binded properly (e.g., hot glue, hardback, etc.). Here in the Netherlands, that costs about 3 euros for a simple but effective glued back.

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Time-wise, this is definitely the best solution. Your university book store can likely do this for you very quickly. – eykanal♦ Aug 24 '12 at 11:56
Hadn't even thought of that, thanks! I'll head down there today to see what kind of options they have. – nickbadal Aug 24 '12 at 16:13
up vote 10 down vote

Find someone who has access to a document scanner and scan it. Our departmental copier/printer can also scan (I think the spec is 100 ppm), so 2000 pages will take a while, but not forever.

EDIT: Have you contacted the author to see if an electronic version is available?

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Coincidentally, this version actually came with an e-book version. But since I had to pay for the physical pages, I personally feel like I should make use of them. – nickbadal Aug 24 '12 at 16:12
up vote 8 down vote

In the olden days, you could buy little sticky circles that you'd place around the holes and this would prevent the pages tearing out of the binder.

Another approach is to put the whole thing in a box.

Or maybe scan the document and carry it around on your iPad – that's probably the modern solution.

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Putting it in a box, I'd be afraid the pages would get out of order, or be lost. The sticky circles would work, but for a thousand pieces of paper x 3 holes each sounds like a big pain - as does scanning 2000 pages. – nickbadal Aug 24 '12 at 8:00
My only other suggestion is a bad one. Put the book on a shelf and don't use it. (Perhaps seal it first in perspex.) – Dave Clarke Aug 24 '12 at 8:03
3  
You know that there are scanners/copiers that can load automatically separated sheets of paper, don't you? Often your library or department has one. – Federico Poloni Aug 24 '12 at 10:46
2  
My experience with reinforcement rings was that their primary effect was to create much larger tears in the paper very shortly after the unreinforced sheet would've ripped anyway. – Dan Neely Aug 24 '12 at 12:46
Met too. But that was a while ago. – Dave Clarke Aug 24 '12 at 12:54

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