Donald Vass works at restoring a book at the King County Library System’s central service center in Issaquah. Public libraries’ automated sorting machines, whirring conveyor belts and hard bins can break a book and shorten its life. Vass has spent the past 26 years mending and tending to books for the county library system. (RUTH FREMSON/NYT)

Source: Issaquah bookbinder among handful at libraries nationwide still operating a ‘mendery’ | The Seattle Times