1. A method for quantitatively evaluating fiber tear associated with removal of a cover that was adhered to a spine of bound pages of a book, the method comprising: optically imaging for each book the spine from which the cover was removed and generating a corresponding at least one digital image; processing the at least one image using a tangible processor executing image processing software; and determining, using the tangible processor and based on the processing, a percentage of a selected portion of the at least one image associated with a selected level of fiber tear, where in the selected portion is the entire at least one image or a part of the at least one image.