[Publib] library materials being sold by Amazon

[Philip Cheney]

Lease plan books from Baker & Taylor occasionally are mailed back to libraries that originally
leased them when they were new, B&T having sold them without removing the libraries' names.  Obviously, books are sold to new owners by all sorts of organizations and I, for one, don't begrudge paying the folks that make it happen. Having books become raw materials to be recycled as paper or dumped in a landfill is a lot worse to my way of thinking.
 
Philip Cheney
South carolina> Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:19:49 -0500> From: jstoltz at pewaukee.lib.wi.us> Subject: Re: [Publib] library materials being sold by Amazon> To: brown.patricia.m at gmail.com> CC: publib at webjunction.org> > In my previous life I was a bookseller and we dealt with new as well as used books. While trying to find specific books for our customers we often would run across "library copy" or "library edition" along with the types of stickers found on the book, etc. in the description. It's not a new thing probably just more widespread and obvious with Amazon and eBay.> > I know that in my 12+ years as a librarian we have always had book dealers purchasing materials at our FOL booksales. It is inevitable. And now the dealers can come in with their handheld Blackberries and scan the ISBN and see whether or not a book has value - how efficient.> > It is a shame because libraries are probably selling a lot of books/materials at a fraction of their worth but libraries barely can keep up with simply helping their patrons with their normal services, I'm sure very few could afford the staff time it would take to value all the materials they are weeding and discarding. Possibly if you have a dedicated FOL group.> > One last little related story - I remember wanting to replace a seriously worn children's book in my former children's collection. It wasn't necessarily a classic but a book that I had loved as a child and liked to recommend. I thought I'd see if I could purchase a used copy on Amazon. ALL the copies available were withdrawn library copies and this regular old picture book was going to cost minimally $30 to replace in just good, not even very good, condition.> > Jennie J. Stoltz, MLIS> Director / eco-Librarian> Pewaukee Public Library> Pewaukee, Wisconsin> (262) 691-5670, ext. 20> (262) 691-5673 fax> > Help us to save our environment by printing this document only if it's necessary> > GoodSearch for the Pewaukee Public Library.> > Raise money for the Library just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!> > ----- Original Message -----> From: Patricia Brown <brown.patricia.m at gmail.com>> Date: Friday, August 22, 2008 2:41 pm> Subject: Re: [Publib] library materials being sold by Amazon> To: publib <publib at webjunction.org>> > > > We recently had the same thing happen with a few old library books. A> > patron purchased some books from Amazon and they had discarded or library> > stamps on them. He was concerned about it and mentioned it to me. I > > wasn't> > aware that it was a larger "issue". He also asked if the libraries were> > doing this or people were buying them from the book sales then turning> > around and selling them.> > > > Patricia Brown> > Atglen Library> > Atglen, PA> > > > On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 2:37 PM, Cathy Ahern <cahern at russell.lioninc.org>wrote:> > > > > Hi, I am writing on behalf of a concerned patron. He has purchased > > three> > > music CDs via Amazon within the past 6 months or so that have all been> > > marked as being either discarded from a library or had some type of > > library> > > designation on them. As they were all fairly new > > recordings(although fairly> > > obscure artists) in excellent condition he is wondering if anything> > > unscrupulous is going on here. One library did reply that indeed > > the item> > > had been discarded and had been for sale at the library book store.> > >> > > Apparently Amazon does note in it's description of books for sale > > if the> > > material came from a library collection, the patron says that > > sometimes this> > > happens with CDs but not usually. He is wondering if there is a > > concern in> > > the library world about this. As we often put discarded materials > > of all> > > types out during our Friends of the Library booksales I am not > > quite sure> > > what can be done about this. The sales do raise money for the > > library, if> > > the purchaser then turns around and sells the material that is out > > of our> > > hands. Obviously stolen materials are another matter.> > >> > > Thanks, just musing on behalf of this concerned library user.> > >> > > Cathy Ahern> > > Russell Library> > > Middletown, CT> > >> > >> > >> > > _______________________________________________> > > Publib mailing list> > > Publib at webjunction.org> > > http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib> > >> > >> > > > > > -- > > brown.patricia.m at gmail.com> > > > _______________________________________________> > Publib mailing list> > Publib at webjunction.org> > http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib> > > > > _______________________________________________> Publib mailing list> Publib at webjunction.org> http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib> 
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