Library Sales - I Give Up!

Htn963.DeleteThis@peoplepc.com (Htn963) wrote in message news:<bcef0661.0407181431.3567c8a8.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>...
 > shebadog.DeleteThis@optonline.net (Art Layton) wrote in message news:<3d156562.0407180438.2d5fff8e.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>...
  > > Went to a Library sale yesterday in Westport, CT. 60,000 books and
  > > dozens of dealers. After spending an hour there and finding nothing
  > > even remotely interesting, I have decided to give up on libarary
  > > sales. It seems like I see the same books at every library sale.
 >
 > Sad but true, but I've noticed that the sale selections are far
 > better at the libraries located in more prosperous cities and towns
 > (many more high-valued business and technical works for instance), so
 > you might try frequenting the relative equivalent of a Beverly Hills
 > in your area.

<snip> Good point; the library sale at Westport, CT where i went is a
very affluent area, but just a bunch of crap. I never see any books by
Tobias Wolff for sale at library sales. I collect him, and always
look, but never see his books. Anyone else have a similar experience?


Art Layton
Stamford CT<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

Htn963.DeleteThis@peoplepc.com (Htn963) wrote in message news:<bcef0661.0407181431.3567c8a8.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>...
 > shebadog.DeleteThis@optonline.net (Art Layton) wrote in message news:<3d156562.0407180438.2d5fff8e.DeleteThis@posting.google.com>...
  > > Went to a Library sale yesterday in Westport, CT. 60,000 books and
  > > dozens of dealers. After spending an hour there and finding nothing
  > > even remotely interesting, I have decided to give up on libarary
  > > sales. It seems like I see the same books at every library sale.
 >
 > Sad but true, but I've noticed that the sale selections are far
 > better at the libraries located in more prosperous cities and towns
 > (many more high-valued business and technical works for instance), so
 > you might try frequenting the relative equivalent of a Beverly Hills
 > in your area.

<snip> Good point; the library sale at Westport, CT where i went is a
very affluent area, but just a bunch of crap. I never see any books by
Tobias Wolff for sale at library sales. I collect him, and always
look, but never see his books. Anyone else have a similar experience?


Art Layton
Stamford CT<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 02:20:13 GMT, "Jonathan Sachs"
<llm040609.RemoveThis@earthlink.net> wrote:

>Seriously, folks... Pleasant Hill has one of the best sales in a region that
>has a lot of good ones. But you have to admit that the bodies get kind of
>thick in that room to the left of the entrance, where the humor, history,
>cookbooks, etc. are found.
>

Taken in jest, as mine was supposed to be received. San Jose and Palo
Alto have some pretty good sales on occasion.
And PH really could use a much bigger space.

Dave
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

 >The sale books should
 >be available on a first come, first serve basis to those
 >willing to get off their lazy duffs and transport themselves
 >in person to the library store and do their own scouting.
 >

Bill,

I agree with most of your statements. However, as I work in a FOL bookstore I
constantly see our shelves behind the desk full of books being held for
customers who came into the store and didn't have enough money with them to pay
for their purchase and asked us to hold them for a day or so. Soem have been
there for weeks because the buyer never came back. We try to reshelve these,
but time is limited.
Les<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

palmer.william.RemoveThis@sbcglobal.net (Bill Palmer) wrote in message news:<13ea6e3a.0407210058.6f396531.RemoveThis@posting.google.com>...
 > Htn963.RemoveThis@peoplepc.com (Htn963) wrote in message news:<bcef0661.0407181431.3567c8a8.RemoveThis@posting.google.com>...
 >
 > [...]
  > >
  > >
  > > *Albeit I got there a bit late, as in 5 minutes after those aggressive
  > > Scoutpal-cell-phone-armed dealers have torn through the place during
  > > the "preview" sale for Friends of the Library. BTW, many libraries now
  > > also have ongoing sales, i.e. there's always some shelf or two of used
  > > books available for purchase when you walk in; the prosperity meter
  > > also applies here.
 >
 > Your area must be behind the times.

And I plan to fully enjoy this backwardness for as long as it
lasts.

 > In San Diego County, every
 > library and branch I have been in now has its own bookstore,
 > either in a room of its own or in a portion of a larger room.

And are the prices comparable to the local used bookstores?

There is one downtown library here that has a coffee shop --
which I think is a great idea. It sells withdrawn ex-library book at a
$1.00 a bag and unmarked donated books from $1-$5.

 > (Some of my observations on this appear in a post I made a few
 > hours ago, with specific regard to the notion of libraries
 > competing with used bookstores.)

Which I might comment indepth therein later when I have more
time. But for now, let's just say that I'm against the practice of
libraries also acting as used book stores; the practice has the
potential for many abuses -- one of which is the early retirement of
still decent, shelved books for profits (which may or may not go
towards making more or better books available to the public).

 > Your comment about cellphone
 > types

I actually don't have anything against Scoutpal users (I was
thinking of signing up later this year) as it is a timesaving tool;
it's those greedy hoarders who tie up cases of books to cherry pick
that give the rest of the dealers a bad name.

 > reminded me of another peeve--the volunteers at my local
 > branch actually cater to pushy cretins who want to scout the
 > library store by telephone now! I happened to be browsing
 > in the store recently when the volunteer actually walked
 > around the store with her phone and read off the titles of
 > new book donations. The volunteers set aside, upon request
 > of the telephone "scouter," books for the caller to pick up
 > later, meaning those books will be suddenly unavailable to
 > the other patrons who might want to buy them. How cozy
 > for the local used bookstore hustlers--they can sit
 > comfortably behind the store counter and scout the local
 > library store (which may be many miles away) at the same time.
 > Plainly, I think this a bad practice.

That did sound shockingly brazen and pushes my button at first.
But then I think perhaps these might be regular big spenders important
to the library's fiscal health (but perhaps these volunteers are just
inexperienced or are idiots). You might want to voice your objection
to the FOL organizers and see how they justify it.

 > The sale books should
 > be available on a first come, first serve basis to those
 > willing to get off their lazy duffs and transport themselves
 > in person to the library store and do their own scouting.

Oh, I agree that this is the way it should be...in a just, fair
world where money is not an important concern.

--
Ht<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

"BookEditions" <bookeditions RemoveThis @aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040721150205.04587.00000118@mb-m27.aol.com...

 > I agree with most of your statements. However, as I work in a FOL
bookstore I
 > constantly see our shelves behind the desk full of books being held for
 > customers who came into the store and didn't have enough money with them
to pay
 > for their purchase and asked us to hold them for a day or so. Soem have
been
 > there for weeks because the buyer never came back. We try to reshelve
these,
 > but time is limited.

The "... never came back" part is inexcusable, but I think that an avid
reader whose eyes are bigger than his wallet is very different from a dealer
who wants the store to take a bunch of books out of circulation while he
decides which ones to buy. It is commendable for a store to accommodate the
reader, but accommodating the dealer is unfair to everyone else -- readers
and other dealers equally.

I would establish the following policy. We will hold books for a reasonable
time, on request, regardless of number or type... but if you do not return
when promised and pay for ALL of them, we will never let you do it again.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

On 21 Jul 2004 23:09:03 -0700, Htn963 DeleteThis @peoplepc.com (Htn963) wrote:

snipped
 > Which I might comment indepth therein later when I have more
 >time. But for now, let's just say that I'm against the practice of
 >libraries also acting as used book stores; the practice has the
 >potential for many abuses -- one of which is the early retirement of
 >still decent, shelved books for profits (which may or may not go
 >towards making more or better books available to the public).

Early retirement of books is not an issue of profit but in our case to
maintain State accreditation (ie. funding) the books are to be changed
out with in a set time. Under new guidelines being drawn up, a
library's complete catalog could be turned over in as little as from
3-5 years depending on how frequent a item is checked out. The library
will have to report this "weeding" rate annually.


********************************************************

"The fox knows many things, but
the hedgehog knows one big thing."

Archilochus
675 - 635 B.C.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

"John A. Stovall" <johnastovall.DeleteThis@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:2navf0pdrkiva4jlu38t211hbg11vufscd@4ax.com...

 > Early retirement of books is not an issue of profit but in our case to
 > maintain State accreditation (ie. funding) the books are to be changed
 > out with in a set time. Under new guidelines being drawn up, a
 > library's complete catalog could be turned over in as little as from
 > 3-5 years depending on how frequent a item is checked out. The library
 > will have to report this "weeding" rate annually.

That's incredible. Perhaps this explains why, although I am mad about books,
I have not borrowed a book from a public library since about 1967. Frankly,
I think that any library which follows such a policy is wasting tax money,
and should be defunded.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

> Early retirement of books is not an issue of profit but in our case to
> maintain State accreditation (ie. funding) the books are to be changed
> out with in a set time...

Just for perspective, stock brokers are entrusted with management of their
clients' funds, much as public agencies are entrusted with management of the
public's funds. When a stock broker turns over a client's holdings
unnecessarily it is called "churning," and is grounds for disciplinary
action.

For another perspective, I _have_ recently considered getting a library card
again, in order to research a rather obscure aspect of politics in the
run-up to World War II. If I find that my city's library follows this
practice I won't waste my time; I will know that my chances of finding
anything useful would be nil.

Speaking as a literate citizen, for whom life without books is
inconceivable, I say that it is precisely the old, obscure, rarely borrowed
books that make a library worthwhile. If I wanted to read one of last year's
best sellers I could more conveniently borrow it from a friend, or pick up a
copy in a used book store. And I think that the "typical" library patron
would benefit from being able to use the library this way, too.
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

"John A. Stovall" <johnastovall.RemoveThis@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:2navf0pdrkiva4jlu38t211hbg11vufscd@4ax.com...

 >
 > Early retirement of books is not an issue of profit but in our case to
 > maintain State accreditation (ie. funding) the books are to be changed
 > out with in a set time. Under new guidelines being drawn up, a
 > library's complete catalog could be turned over in as little as from
 > 3-5 years depending on how frequent a item is checked out. The library
 > will have to report this "weeding" rate annually.


But presumably this is the lending stock.

You also presumably have more permanent reference stock. Which in
UK libraries at least, holds the best material.

Also in the lending non-fiction field, presumably there's loads of
material which simply isn't replaceable. In the field of biography
for one. You're surely not suggesting that standard(ish) biographies
in excess of 3-5 years old, are to be dumped as a matter of policy
are you ?



michael adams


 >
 >
 > ********************************************************
 >
 > "The fox knows many things, but
 > the hedgehog knows one big thing."
 >
 > Archilochus
 > 675 - 635 B.C.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

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 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up! 

"Jonathan Sachs" <llm040609 DeleteThis @earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<0BPLc.11684$Qu5.1584@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net>...
> > Early retirement of books is not an issue of profit but in our case to
> > maintain State accreditation (ie. funding) the books are to be changed
> > out with in a set time...
>
> Just for perspective, stock brokers are entrusted with management of their
> clients' funds, much as public agencies are entrusted with management of the
> public's funds. When a stock broker turns over a client's holdings
> unnecessarily it is called "churning," and is grounds for disciplinary
> action.
>
> For another perspective, I _have_ recently considered getting a library card
> again, in order to research a rather obscure aspect of politics in the
> run-up to World War II. If I find that my city's library follows this
> practice I won't waste my time; I will know that my chances of finding
> anything useful would be nil.
>
> Speaking as a literate citizen, for whom life without books is
> inconceivable, I say that it is precisely the old, obscure, rarely borrowed
> books that make a library worthwhile. If I wanted to read one of last year's
> best sellers I could more conveniently borrow it from a friend, or pick up a
> copy in a used book store. And I think that the "typical" library patron
> would benefit from being able to use the library this way, too.



Not all libraries are the same. This collection development issue was
endlessly debated while I was getting my Master's degree in Library
Science at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Most public libraries aren't geared toward in depth research of any
one subject (exceptions being major cities-- NY, Detroit, Etc.).
University and research libraries on the other hand do strive to keep
older, less common titles on the shelf. The goal of the library is to
serve their users, for the basic public library, not having copies of
the latest John Grisham would be more of a disservice than discarding
an obscure WWII history that nobody has touched in ten years.....


David
 >> Stay informed about: Library Sales - I Give Up!