[Aside: Yes, my blog has been inactive a while - far longer than three days. I'll speak to that another time.]
So – it started with me cleaning out my office. I found a number (20 or so) of books (Mostly tech/business books) that I wasn’t using any more. Some of them were programming references (HTML, JavaScript, CSS, AJAX, Actionscript and so on), others were business novels (Trust Agents, Six Pixels, Wikinomics) and others were just general reading.
While I could have sold them, given them away or donated them to a thrift store, an idea struck me – particularly for the tech/business books – I’d donate them to the library. After all, the techy/geeky section of the library (Actually, most any library I’ve been in) is always outdated. The books are teaching languages and principals not used since (sometimes) the mid-90s, and the books are often in horrendous shape.
But they didn’t wan’t my books. I was told that all books donated are given to the Friends of the Library, regardless of whether or not they appear in the library, fill a void or could help an aging collection. The FOTL sells the book, then uses the money to help the library. It seems like a great plan, most of the time.
I’ve been told (by the library) that they used to receive over 500 books/week and that the volume, combined with the levels of staff, simply made accepting books impossible. In addition, a great number of those books are in bad shape, are missing pages, are torn or written in. I understand that – and can appreciate how the library needed to take a step back from accepting books – particularly as the city (And, therefore, it’s library) grew.
But this policy, and how it’s implemented leaves me with a pair of questions:
1. Knowing that the Friends of the Library is a volunteer-driven group – why doesn’t the FOTL make a judgement call on if a book is fitting for the collection? This keeps this decision off of the shoulders of the KFPL up front, and the KFPL only sees the book if it passes the FOTL level and meets expectations (Condition, topic, need, whether or not the library already owns a copy).
And more importantly:
2. Why can’t we – the community I was originally trying to support – bypass the library and build or own de-centralized lending library for technology and business books? Books contributed to the library reside at members homes until the next person wants it – then it changes hands and stays at the new location until the next person wants it (After, say, a three week minimum).
I’m interested in thoughts. I’ll be speaking with the library again later this week and making a decision on where my books go. The goal of the donation was to help the other geeks, tech folk and businessy folk in the community – so you, the local community, should dictate where my books go and what I do.
So – what’s the thought, feeling and consensus on this?
Tommy Vallier helps groups, individuals and businesses understand how social media tools can be used to their fullest. He is also a community builder and web developer living in Kingston, Ontario.
I like the idea of a decentralized library.
Thinking of how it could work:
- Users post books they have
- Others post books they want
In order to borrow a book, you have to first send a book out yourself. Here's how it works.
- The site notifies you that someone wants my book
- I ship the book to that person at my own expense
- the person marks on the website that the book has been received
- I can then request a book from someone else, who will ship it to me at their own expense
Shipping books at your own expense is to avoid having to deal with credit cards and memberships. The real trick will be limiting the distance that a book travels as that could get costly.
Hey Will, thanks.
While the idea of a cross-province/country/borders library is neat – the idea was more something I was looking at on a local level. Early thoughts:
1. To join, you must have a book or books your willing to lend.
2. Once you're a member, you can borrow any book from any member. A website is used to track books, and handle requests for books.
3. The person who has the book and the person who ants the book meet up for the exchange – thus encouraging more community members to get to know each-other.
4. The person receiving the book has it for a guaranteed, say, three weeks. Then the book becomes available to the group again.
It eliminates the shipping costs, encourages community exchanges and connections, and helps the local community grow (Maybe something for the KW or London meetups, too?)
Yea, doing it local would be a lot easier. And I think there are a bunch of websites that you could use to do it already.
A quick Google found http://www.borrowme.com/ right away, that looks like it could be good.
We should talk at #pcto10
Not to be a downer, but I think that the biggest obstacle for both of your proposals is that they require a lot of time and energy from people who are either volunteers, or Library Staff who are certainly too busy for extra duties. It certainly makes sense to retain whatever books the Library needs, and a decentralized library may be a viable alternative, but where is the horsepower, and funding going to come from?