Place books on trucks in an upright position with no other materials stacked on top of them. If a shelf of a truck is only partially full, keep books vertical with a book end or with a group of books laid flat to support the others.

Do not place books on their fore edges (the front edge of the text block) even for a short period of time -- as for example when arranging them in call number order -- since this can cause the body of a book to come loose from its covers.

The picture below shows an example of books placed on their fore edges. It is best NOT to do this:

Unbound materials with some rigidity can receive proper support through use of Princeton files or book ends. Unbound materials with little rigidity would easily fall over or down even if conveyed in such files or with book ends; they should be placed flat in small neatly stacked piles in order to prevent them from easily slipping off the truck. Large folio volumes should be placed flat.

Two other important points to remember when loading a book truck are not to overload it and to evenly distribute the weight. Do not jam books too tightly on the shelf. Even, balanced distribution and normal sized loads make the truck easier to manage and prevent it from tipping over.