At my unpaid job, I have a few books in need of repair. The issue is, I don't know how to do a quick but sturdy job repairing, so if anyone has any experience or suggestions, please let me know.

The majority of my issues can be answered by solving the following situation (unless one of you happen to have a few Barney Halloween picture books lying around, then NM me and we'll talk.)

I have at least one book that is coverless and whose spine is split into two. How would I go about repairing the spine well enough that it will stay together, be able to go about being read without difficulty, and will not allow for pages falling out or it falling apart after the first few reads? Subsequently, how would I go about making a functional cover for the book (i.e. what materials would I use)? Finally, how would I go about firmly attaching handmade covers to books in a sturdy fashion?

If you can answer any of those questions, I would really appreciate it. And I should mention that I don't have money to do anything really expensive, so the cheaper the better.

For the simpler problems, find some good binding tape. I'd ask a librarian where to get some if you don't know. They come in different colours and keep the book together really well. I taped the spine and the inside covers of one of my Tolkien Bestiary (which is a very large book) about ten years ago, and there haven't been any problems since. I don't know about the other ones. Ask the librarian while you're there about binding tape.