Preparing Materials
Cleaning and Housing
Materials must be cleaned and appropriately housed before they are transferred to the ReCAP facility. All items should be brushed or vacuumed to remove loose dust or debris. Items that have fragile edges or contain loose materials must be in storage enclosures approved by the partners preservation offices.
Records Preparation
ReCAP does not maintain a bibliographic database of its holdings. Partner libraries are responsible for maintaining a suitable bibliographic record and associating that record with the barcode placed on the item. ReCAP will associate that barcode with the item's location and management information, so that barcode serves as the common key between the systems used at ReCAP and the Partner libraries. ReCAP regularly sends each partner library a manifest of all barcodes accessioned so that mismatches can be identified and reconciled.
This practice ensures that bibliographic data is created and maintained by staff with appropriate expertise in the prevailing metadata standards and practices and the research needs of their library users. Likewise, information about storage locations and operational details are restricted to ReCAP's operational team.
Barcode Placement
| Container Type | Recommended Barcode Location |
|---|---|
| Bound materials | 
Upper left corner, approximately 1/4" from the edge |
| 4-flap folder/portfolio |
Upper left corner, approximately 1/4" from the edge |
| Phase box |
Upper left corner, approximately 1/4" from the edge |
| CD & DVD Jewel Case | 
Back of case, upper left corner. |
| Audio Discs [LP album covers] | 
Upper left corner. |
| Audio Tape Cassettes including DAT | 
Front, top (short end) |
| All Open Reels stored in boxes stored on edge | 
Adjacent sides of a box in the upper left corner |
| Video cassettes | 
Upper left corner |
| Microfilm boxes | 
Top or bottom edge of box |
| All Open Reel film in cans(stored on edge) | 
On the edge |
| Document boxes [legal or letter size, 5" or 2.5" wide] | 
Adjacent sides of a box in the upper left corner |
| Standard Box [Paige/Record cartons] These are stored directly on shelf, no tray. | 
Adjacent sides of a box in the lower right corner |
| Flat box/pizza box. Other terms used to describe such a box: clamshell, telescoping, newspaper. These are stored flat directly on shelf. | 
Adjacent sides of a box in the lower right corner |
Packing Material for Transport
Carts
Carts are preferred for delivery of large quantities of materials. For bound volumes, books should be shelved upright with the spine facing out, or laid with the spine facing down, against the shelf. Oversized bound volumes should be laid flat on their back cover. Boxes and containers should fit entirely within the perimeter of the cart and the cart should be stretch wrapped to ensure the contents are secure during transit.
All carts must be labeled with the customer code of the depositing library. When multiple libraries are included on a single cart, place separators between each group of materials, label the sections according to the depositing library, and include a drawing with the cart showing how the depositing material is arranged on the shelves. For example:
| Customer Code 01 | Customer Code 02 | |
| 02 cont'd | ||
| 02 cont'd | Customer Code 03 | |
| 03 cont'd | Customer Code 04 | Customer Code 05 |
| 05 cont'd | ||
Bins/Totes
ReCAP facility materials may also be sent in totes with a closed lid that can be secured with a zip tie. These should be packed with high-density foam on the bottom and all four sides, and should not exceed forty (40) pound in weight. The ReCAP facility’s totes used for physical delivery (see below) are an example of this.
Customer Codes
All incoming materials must be clearly labeled with a customer code from the depositing library. This information must be displayed on the shipping container or cart so that ReCAP staff can sort materials for intake and verify that materials are associated with the correct customer to set their use conditions. For questions about customer codes contact [email protected].
