Design/readability question

[Jennifer Kraus <jlkraus -at- AMETEKWATER -dot- COM>]

I'm editing a marketing flip book that's been designed for our products by an outside ad agency, and I'm concerned about the readability. But...I want to make sure it's not just me. 

The book is a guide to selecting water filters and filter cartridges, and it's intended to be hung by our product displays in retail outlets and hardware stores. The basic layout consists of 8-1/2 by 5-1/2 pages turned lengthwise and spiral-bound. The front of the guide has tabs that are used to flip to various topics; the layout works so that the "back" of a page serves as the top page of a section, and the "front" of a page serves as the bottom page of a section. So here's my concern...the booklet is set up now so that when you read a section, the text (laid out in four narrow columns) continues from the top of the page OVER the spiral binding, then back up to the top of the page in the next column. Besides the fact that the columns are too narrow to be readable, it seems unnatural to me to have text that continues over a spiral binding.  I would naturally read the top half of the page (above the spiral binding) first, then proceed to the bottom half of the page. 

Does anyone else have an opinion on this?  I could use some back-up if I try to challenge the agency's work on a design issue. 

Thanks!

Jennifer Kraus
(to be known as Jennifer Jelinek after this Saturday, if she survives the last few days of wedding planning. Everyone pray for a sunny day in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday :))
jlkraus -at- ametekwater -dot- com   

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