[Publib] Just Between Us

[Backwage at aol.com]

I buy a lot of books online from discount sellers.  Many of these  books, 
perhaps half, originate in public libraries.  Most recently I paid  ten bucks 
for a biography of union leader Clinton Golden; today I also bought  three 
other books written by him and I'll bet you a dollar that some of those  
came from public libraries, and if they didn't, they are from college  
libraries.
 
Of course, libraries must trim their stock.  On the other hand it is  
always interesting to note that they do so in a most inefficient and wasteful  
way.  My local libraries usually attempt sales; after this they simply dump  
the books off at the Salvation Army or some similar place.  From there  they 
get snapped up by book hawks who sell them at considerable markup.   Right 
now a hardbound book goes for two bucks at the Salvation Army--unless they  
are having their half-off sales, which come frequently.  
 
[my local Salvation Army used to hold lots of books from area  libraries.  
But then it happened:  some patrons of those libraries  became outraged at 
the presence of many culled books in fine condition that had  been given away 
for nothing.  I'm not talking donations nobody wanted, but  really fine 
books.  My favorite little gem is Selma Lanes' Down the  Rabbit Hole, which I 
discovered along with a lot of other children's  classics--nobody at this 
particular financially stressed library thought they  would bring a dime!  And 
now the Salvation Army in Pasadena shifts the  books obtained locally to 
other places so as not to have customers find the  contents of their library on 
sale for a buck and change.  The manager of  the store told me this when I 
asked why no more of them good books.]
 
Every time I bring up this subject somebody writes that a library can't do  
this or that.  They can't buy used books at discount; can't shop for  
bargains; can't attempt to make a profit off what they discard.  Can't,  can't, 
can't.  Won't, won't won't.  Meanwhile people  are making a living off the 
discards of public libraries.  It seems to be  possible for somebody--just not 
your library.
 
If I won the lottery I would found and run a library stocked entirely with  
books obtained through discount sources--not that it would prove anything 
to the  libraries.  When you're an addict, you learn first to accept your own 
 untruths.  I don't suppose anybody has ever laughed at the disparity  
between what a library charges for a lost book and the fact that the same book  
will be tossed out for pennies at the annual Friends sale?  
 
Next time you are about to toss a particular book in good condition,  go 
see what it fetches on the online market.  Hey, and then take the thing  and 
sell it yourself.  You deserve the money; what the heck, the library  isn't 
interested.  But I bet they'd fire you for theft if you sold a book  they 
were going to discard anyhow!
 
M. McGrorty
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