Toronto Library Buying Used Books to Reduce Wait Lists

[Laridae]

Is this the wave of the future?
Is it a good idea?
Not surprisingly, some authors and publishers are not happy!

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...212743081.html

[frahse]

I love used books. Many times, cheaper than eBooks.

And come to think of it, heavily discounted books, overruns, etc.

[speakingtohe]

Being Canadian I find this interesting. My experience has been the opposite in that Canadian Libraries do not want to put donated books in the library system even in the Northern Territories where most communities do not even have a store selling books.

I think they could achieve the same or perhaps better results by a fine forgiving program and/or offering $2 per book.

Still a great opportunity for the enterprising unemployed. Find out what they are looking for and buy them in thrift shops for less and sell them to the library.

Helen

[Barcey]

It seems like a lot of fuss over 20 used books in a month. They're still buying lots of books and indicated that this is only for best sellers that have developed very long waiting lists. I heard an interview on CBC that the library typically buys one extra copy for every 6 people on the waiting list so they must be buying lots of books that get loaned less than 6 times.

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Being Canadian I find this interesting. My experience has been the opposite in that Canadian Libraries do not want to put donated books in the library system even in the Northern Territories where most communities do not even have a store selling books.

To be fair, that is a somewhat different situation since the TPL is requesting books which are in high demand while northern communities are often the victims of book drives. While those book drives may be well intentioned, and the books may be excellent, they rarely reflect the needs or interests of the community and the volume exceeds the community's ability to properly manage them (e.g. no dedicated librarians or the only librarian may be a children's librarian).

[rollei]

No difference if the used books are in good condition.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by frahse

I love used books. Many times, cheaper than eBooks.

And come to think of it, heavily discounted books, overruns, etc.

I typically read the used and or cheap book once and then donate it back to Goodwill.

The exception is when I deliberately buy it to use as a source for my own writing. Those I mark heavily and stuff with book marks that are annotated.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

To be fair, that is a somewhat different situation since the TPL is requesting books which are in high demand while northern communities are often the victims of book drives. While those book drives may be well intentioned, and the books may be excellent, they rarely reflect the needs or interests of the community and the volume exceeds the community's ability to properly manage them (e.g. no dedicated librarians or the only librarian may be a children's librarian).

I have never encountered a book drive in the north, not to say they don't exist. Food drives held by libraries are fairly common though.

To be clearer and fairer, most remote communities I have been in accept all book donations and often house them in a separate room. Sometimes this area has more books than the library and often operates as a book exchange as well.

The books aren't catalogued, but some libraries go to great lengths to shelve them by categories and/or authors especially in the school libraries. (I have only seen one non school library that circulates donations) It is a great community service and probably not in the librarians job description.

Helen