Query: Selling Rare Books from a General Library Collection
Dates: 2/16/02,6:30 PM through 3/12/02,10:16 AM (17 postings)
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Query: Selling Rare Books from a General Library Collection
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FROM: Molly Williams <[removed]@adelphia.net>
REC'D: 2/16/02, 6:30 PM
We have a copy of _Alfie the Christmas_ Tree by John Denver, which
is listed on ABEbooks for $160-300 per copy for Very Good to Near
Fine condition; because ours would be x-library, we might get $100
or so for it, I'm guessing. Do libraries have policies, written or
un-, about selling a rare book to buy more books for the collection?
This book has been checked out 11 times in 22 months.
Is it worth it/ethical/right to sell a library's "valuable" books?
Will this eventually result in out-of-print books being removed from
the public domain and in the hands of private owners/dealers?
If you think it's a good idea to sell the book, please suggest how I
might go about it -- eBay? asking the one local dealer around here
whether he's interested? querying Maine booksellers by email about it?
We have other books in our collection that might also sell for a few
hundred dollars, so this is not an isolated instance.
Thanks --
~ Molly Wms.
--
Volunteer, Waterboro Public Library (Maine)
daily library weblog: http://www.waterboro.lib.me.us/blog.htm
[removed]@adelphia.net
FROM: MaryKay Bird-Guilliams <[removed]@wichita.lib.ks.us>
REC'D: 2/17/02, 3:38 PM
"Comedy is tragedy, plus time" Carol Burnett
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
Coordinator of Collection Development
Wichita Public Library
[removed]@wichita.lib.ks.us
FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 2/18/02, 10:54 AM
I am not a public librarian, but as an academic librarian (and a heavy
user of public libraries), my view is that it would not be ethical/right.
As a sometime book scout in a small way, I also suspect your estimates
of the value of an ex-library copy is far too high. If a book in
very good to near fine condition is priced at $160 to $300 (which of
course does not mean it will necessarily sell at those prices), I'd
guess an ex-library copy with the usual markings (pockets, stamps,
etc.) would probably go in the same dealer's catalog at around $25,
possibly $50 tops. If you sold your copy directly to that hypothetical
dealer, you would be lucky to get one-third of that. If you sold
directly to a collector via eBay or the like, well, it only takes one
enthusiast and all bets are off--but it would be a very unusual
collector who would pay you $100 for such. (Ex-library status
*drastically* reduces the value of all but the scarcest of books.)
Dennis Lien / University of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
FROM: Linda Manfre <[removed]@suffolk.lib.ny.us>
REC'D: 2/18/02, 11:24 AM
Linda Manfre
[removed]@suffolk.lib.ny.us
Selden, Long Island, NY
FROM: Molly Williams <[removed]@adelphia.net>
REC'D: 2/18/02, 11:34 AM
Thanks for your comments.
Re the valuation, this is just one instance. We have other books
that are listed on ABEbooks for prices over $100 WITH library
markings, so I know that some of our books are worth enough to
enable us to buy 4 or more new books and that this situation will
come up again for us. That's why I'm asking now.
I'd like to hear more about why you (and others) think it's not
ethical to sell these books.
~ Molly
Dennis Lien wrote:
> At 07:22 PM 2/16/02 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>I have a question of librarians everywhere --
>>
>>We have a copy of _Alfie the Christmas_ Tree by John Denver, which
>>is listed on ABEbooks for $160-300 per copy for Very Good to Near
>>Fine condition; because ours would be x-library, we might get $100
>>or so for it, I'm guessing. Do libraries have policies, written or
>>un-, about selling a rare book to buy more books for the collection?
>>
>>This book has been checked out 11 times in 22 months.
>>
>>Is it worth it/ethical/right to sell a library's "valuable" books?
>>
>
> I am not a public librarian, but as an academic librarian (and a heavy
> user of public libraries), my view is that it would not be ethical/right.
>
> As a sometime book scout in a small way, I also suspect your estimates
> of the value of an ex-library copy is far too high. If a book in
> very good to near fine condition is priced at $160 to $300 (which of
> course does not mean it will necessarily sell at those prices), I'd
> guess an ex-library copy with the usual markings (pockets, stamps,
> etc.) would probably go in the same dealer's catalog at around $25,
> possibly $50 tops. If you sold your copy directly to that hypothetical
> dealer, you would be lucky to get one-third of that. If you sold
> directly to a collector via eBay or the like, well, it only takes one
> enthusiast and all bets are off--but it would be a very unusual
> collector who would pay you $100 for such. (Ex-library status
> *drastically* reduces the value of all but the scarcest of books.)
>
> Dennis Lien / University of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
>
FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 2/18/02, 4:42 PM
You must have an incredible collection if it contains several books
so rare that even ex-libs will fetch over $100. But that's by the
by.
I'm not sure why, other than a gut feeling, I'm bothered by the idea
of a public library withdrawing a rare book and selling it to earn
money to buy several new and cheaper books. I do realize that, for
instance, art museums do comparable things sometimes with pieces
that don't fit their collection scope, and perhaps if the books in
question are not suitable to a local public library this would be
the same sort of issue (although you said the specific example in
hand had been checked out several times in last two years, so
someone seems to be using and presumably enjoying it). I guess I
would feel better if one were withdrawing such books to sell them
to other libraries (large public, special, academic, whatever) that
had collections where they would get more intensive use, rather
than selling them to individual collectors (and I say that even
though I'm a fanatical book collector in some areas myself). But
presumably other libraries aren't where the money is likely to be.
Partly it seems to me a slippery slope sort of thing: if you can
sell one rare book for the money to buy four new (and presumably
common, even if not locally otherwise held) books, do you then
decide next month to sell another one for the money to buy three,
and then two, until your collection contains nothing out of the
ordinary? (And if the four books in question are popular fiction
or extra copies of recent bestsellers that may be dead on the
shelf a year from now, and eventually get withdrawn and sold for
next to nothing at a Friends of the Library sale, what have you
eventually to show for it all? Of course, if you keep the rare
book instead, and it's really as rare as all that, it may get
stolen in short order anyway, leading to the same question.)
Uniformity bothers me; unlooked-for treasures delight. I'm the
sort of person who finds himself often checking out books that
no one else seems to have looked at in thirty years, and who
with rare exceptions makes a point of ignoring bestseller lists
on the assumption that if a book is all that popular, there must
be something wrong with it. But you obviously can't run a
public library long catering to atypical grumps like me, so
all I can fall back on is my first statement that my gut feeling
says the idea bothers me. And maybe it's just me.
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
(by the way, I've heard scuttlebutt--probably just a librarian
Urban Legend--of one local Friends of the Library group that is
so strong that it's been able to pressure the public library in
question into withdrawing a number of books the staff didn't
want to, just so the Friends' bookstore could keep up a high
level of stock--and these are books selling in the bookstore
for two or three dollars at most, not a hundred....sigh.)
FROM: Molly Williams <[removed]@adelphia.net>
REC'D: 2/18/02, 7:25 PM
Thanks very much for your coherent and thoughtful reply. I very much
appreciate it, as it articulates feelings I was having about the
whole thing.
~ Molly
Dennis Lien wrote:
> At 12:04 PM 2/18/02 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>Dennis,
>>
>>Thanks for your comments.
>>
>>Re the valuation, this is just one instance. We have other books
>>that are listed on ABEbooks for prices over $100 WITH library
>>markings, so I know that some of our books are worth enough to
>>enable us to buy 4 or more new books and that this situation will
>>come up again for us. That's why I'm asking now.
>>
>>I'd like to hear more about why you (and others) think it's not
>>ethical to sell these books.
>>
>>~ Molly
>>
>
> You must have an incredible collection if it contains several books
> so rare that even ex-libs will fetch over $100. But that's by the
> by.
>
> I'm not sure why, other than a gut feeling, I'm bothered by the idea
> of a public library withdrawing a rare book and selling it to earn
> money to buy several new and cheaper books. I do realize that, for
> instance, art museums do comparable things sometimes with pieces
> that don't fit their collection scope, and perhaps if the books in
> question are not suitable to a local public library this would be
> the same sort of issue (although you said the specific example in
> hand had been checked out several times in last two years, so
> someone seems to be using and presumably enjoying it). I guess I
> would feel better if one were withdrawing such books to sell them
> to other libraries (large public, special, academic, whatever) that
> had collections where they would get more intensive use, rather
> than selling them to individual collectors (and I say that even
> though I'm a fanatical book collector in some areas myself). But
> presumably other libraries aren't where the money is likely to be.
>
> Partly it seems to me a slippery slope sort of thing: if you can
> sell one rare book for the money to buy four new (and presumably
> common, even if not locally otherwise held) books, do you then
> decide next month to sell another one for the money to buy three,
> and then two, until your collection contains nothing out of the
> ordinary? (And if the four books in question are popular fiction
> or extra copies of recent bestsellers that may be dead on the
> shelf a year from now, and eventually get withdrawn and sold for
> next to nothing at a Friends of the Library sale, what have you
> eventually to show for it all? Of course, if you keep the rare
> book instead, and it's really as rare as all that, it may get
> stolen in short order anyway, leading to the same question.)
>
> Uniformity bothers me; unlooked-for treasures delight. I'm the
> sort of person who finds himself often checking out books that
> no one else seems to have looked at in thirty years, and who
> with rare exceptions makes a point of ignoring bestseller lists
> on the assumption that if a book is all that popular, there must
> be something wrong with it. But you obviously can't run a
> public library long catering to atypical grumps like me, so
> all I can fall back on is my first statement that my gut feeling
> says the idea bothers me. And maybe it's just me.
>
> Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
>
> (by the way, I've heard scuttlebutt--probably just a librarian
> Urban Legend--of one local Friends of the Library group that is
> so strong that it's been able to pressure the public library in
> question into withdrawing a number of books the staff didn't
> want to, just so the Friends' bookstore could keep up a high
> level of stock--and these are books selling in the bookstore
> for two or three dollars at most, not a hundred....sigh.)
>
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
>
FROM: "BookBitch" <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 2/18/02, 9:53 PM
It has always been my feeling that a library is where the rare books belong,
so that the public has access to them. If libraries start selling off rare
books to buy more copies of say, the new Grisham (which is really awful, by
the way), than the only ones to have access to the rare books will be the
collectors themselves. And that would really suck.
As for the Friends, they need to re-examine their priorities and their
purpose. Or someone ought to do it for them.
Dennis, I enjoy patrons who seek out those "dusty" books or those that
aren't on the bestseller list. I wish there were more of you. You are a
rare breed.
Stacy Alesi
Southwest County Regional Library
Palm Beach County Library System
I am the BookBitch
www.bookbitch.com
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free [removed]@yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
FROM: Kim Rutter <[removed]@lvdl.org>
REC'D: 2/19/02, 8:47 AM
Kim Uden Rutter
Head, Technical Services
Lake Villa District Library
Lake Villa, IL
"If I went west, I think I would go to Kansas."--Abraham Lincoln
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Lien [[removed]@tc.umn.edu]
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 10:50 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Re: Query: Selling Rare Books from a General Library Collection
At 07:22 PM 2/16/02 -0500, you wrote:
>I have a question of librarians everywhere --
>
>We have a copy of _Alfie the Christmas_ Tree by John Denver, which
>is listed on ABEbooks for $160-300 per copy for Very Good to Near
>Fine condition; because ours would be x-library, we might get $100
>or so for it, I'm guessing. Do libraries have policies, written or
>un-, about selling a rare book to buy more books for the collection?
>
>This book has been checked out 11 times in 22 months.
>
>Is it worth it/ethical/right to sell a library's "valuable" books?
I am not a public librarian, but as an academic librarian (and a heavy
user of public libraries), my view is that it would not be ethical/right.
As a sometime book scout in a small way, I also suspect your estimates
of the value of an ex-library copy is far too high. If a book in
very good to near fine condition is priced at $160 to $300 (which of
course does not mean it will necessarily sell at those prices), I'd
guess an ex-library copy with the usual markings (pockets, stamps,
etc.) would probably go in the same dealer's catalog at around $25,
possibly $50 tops. If you sold your copy directly to that hypothetical
dealer, you would be lucky to get one-third of that. If you sold
directly to a collector via eBay or the like, well, it only takes one
enthusiast and all bets are off--but it would be a very unusual
collector who would pay you $100 for such. (Ex-library status
*drastically* reduces the value of all but the scarcest of books.)
Dennis Lien / University of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
FROM: MaryKay Bird-Guilliams <[removed]@wichita.lib.ks.us>
REC'D: 2/19/02, 9:50 AM
OK, now I'm confused. I came into this issue the back way - by wanting a
copy, any copy of a young adult title called "Witch of the Glens" by Sally
Watson. I have yet, in over 5 years, to see a copy offered to me by any
used book seller, for less than 150 dollars. Now its kind of my barometer
of what older fiction, no longer in print, never a bestseller, and only
valuable to someone who remembers the story for some intangible reason,
can be worth on the open market.
At a seminar on rare books I altered my thinking a little more to realize
that "rare books" and what I am talking about are two very different
creatures.
Our first responsibility is to our patrons. Keeping the books that are
still loved is done, with adequate copies, and binding if that is the best
course for an old cloth copy to keep it available. Libraries however,
typically carry multiple copies of these older books, and if weeding
criteria are met, keeping the library adequately supplied with a
particular title, or if this one is not circulating and has not in a
consierable amount of time - well we as a public library cannot keep all
those titles.
I don't ever think we should personally contract the sale of these items,
but I do think its quite ethical to pass them along to a volunteer to do
so with some safeguards on their participation.
Now I put notes in the books which I find value for of an ex-library copy
if I can find a listing, lowest if I can't. And if its worth more than
$5.00 (fish feed to rare book dealers, but quite a hike more than the
average friends book sale) I set it aside. Most I find are in the 10$-$50
dollar range. Being new at this, I have yet to figure out the pitfalls of
actually offering them for sale. So this thread interests me a great
deal, but I sense a lot of mixed feelings regarding our older collections.
I agree with Dennis Lien that eyeing our collections as potential value is
unethical, but weeding and dispersing that judicious weeding in the best
manner to benefit the public library is not the same as that. It is no
more ethical to weed out books based on professional standards and then
just not look as the friends group sells them 4 for a dollar.
If I am reading the trends correctly, this is as far removed from the
traditional rare book industry as the library is from the bookstore. A
tired library book can belong to a reader who will treasure it for its
content, not its collectible value. And will pay not excellent, but good
money for it.
"Comedy is tragedy, plus time" Carol Burnett
Mary K. Bird-Guilliams
Coordinator of Collection Development
Wichita Public Library
[removed]@wichita.lib.ks.us
FROM: "Donna Jo Atwood" <[removed]@olatheks.org>
REC'D: 2/19/02, 9:50 AM
Donna Jo Atwood
Reference Librarian
Olathe (KS) Public Library
-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of BookBitch
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 9:49 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: RE: Query: Selling Rare Books from a General Library Collection
I am troubled by this, and by Dennis's comment about the Friends pressuring
the library to withdraw books so they may be sold.
It has always been my feeling that a library is where the rare books belong,
so that the public has access to them. If libraries start selling off rare
books to buy more copies of say, the new Grisham (which is really awful, by
the way), than the only ones to have access to the rare books will be the
collectors themselves. And that would really suck.
As for the Friends, they need to re-examine their priorities and their
purpose. Or someone ought to do it for them.
Dennis, I enjoy patrons who seek out those "dusty" books or those that
aren't on the bestseller list. I wish there were more of you. You are a
rare breed.
Stacy Alesi
Southwest County Regional Library
Palm Beach County Library System
I am the BookBitch
www.bookbitch.com
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free [removed]@yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
FROM: "Laura McCaffery" <[removed]@acpl.lib.in.us>
REC'D: 2/19/02, 11:37 AM
You must have an incredible collection if it contains several books
so rare that even ex-libs will fetch over $100. But that's by the
by.
I'm not sure why, other than a gut feeling, I'm bothered by the idea
of a public library withdrawing a rare book and selling it to earn
money to buy several new and cheaper books. I do realize that, for
instance, art museums do comparable things sometimes with pieces
that don't fit their collection scope, and perhaps if the books in
question are not suitable to a local public library this would be
the same sort of issue (although you said the specific example in
hand had been checked out several times in last two years, so
someone seems to be using and presumably enjoying it). I guess I
would feel better if one were withdrawing such books to sell them
to other libraries (large public, special, academic, whatever) that
had collections where they would get more intensive use, rather
than selling them to individual collectors (and I say that even
though I'm a fanatical book collector in some areas myself). But
presumably other libraries aren't where the money is likely to be.
Partly it seems to me a slippery slope sort of thing: if you can
sell one rare book for the money to buy four new (and presumably
common, even if not locally otherwise held) books, do you then
decide next month to sell another one for the money to buy three,
and then two, until your collection contains nothing out of the
ordinary? (And if the four books in question are popular fiction
or extra copies of recent bestsellers that may be dead on the
shelf a year from now, and eventually get withdrawn and sold for
next to nothing at a Friends of the Library sale, what have you
eventually to show for it all? Of course, if you keep the rare
book instead, and it's really as rare as all that, it may get
stolen in short order anyway, leading to the same question.)
Uniformity bothers me; unlooked-for treasures delight. I'm the
sort of person who finds himself often checking out books that
no one else seems to have looked at in thirty years, and who
with rare exceptions makes a point of ignoring bestseller lists
on the assumption that if a book is all that popular, there must
be something wrong with it. But you obviously can't run a
public library long catering to atypical grumps like me, so
all I can fall back on is my first statement that my gut feeling
says the idea bothers me. And maybe it's just me.
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
(by the way, I've heard scuttlebutt--probably just a librarian
Urban Legend--of one local Friends of the Library group that is
so strong that it's been able to pressure the public library in
question into withdrawing a number of books the staff didn't
want to, just so the Friends' bookstore could keep up a high
level of stock--and these are books selling in the bookstore
for two or three dollars at most, not a hundred....sigh.)
Laura Hibbets McCaffery
Readers Services
Allen County Public Library
900 Webster Street
Fort Wayne IN 46802
260-421-1200x2303
This is my opinion and mine alone. The
views, opinions, and judgements
expressed in this message are solely
those of the author. The message
contents have not been reviewed or
approved by the Allen County Public
Library.
FROM: "Eric M. Battaglia" <[removed]@SLS.LIB.IL.US>
REC'D: 2/19/02, 2:26 PM
Those "_______ Public Library" stamps and the card pockets, not to mention the
wear and tear of shelf and circulation life, are factors that drastically
diminish a book's value. We've some books in our collection that would
otherwise go for $100-$125. Now they're worth just below their cover price.
That's why some book collectors hate libraries.
Eric M. Battaglia
Adult Reference Librarian
Forest Park Public Library
Quoting Donna Jo Atwood <[removed]@olatheks.org>:
> If the book in question is as rare as it's reputed to be, should it
> even be
> in a library's circulating collection? And if not, does the library
> have
> the facilities to house something that valuable? Should it not be in
> an
> archival type setting and be subject to security and other safeguards?
>
> Donna Jo Atwood
> Reference Librarian
> Olathe (KS) Public Library
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
> [[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of BookBitch
> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 9:49 PM
> To: Fiction_L
> Subject: RE: Query: Selling Rare Books from a General Library
> Collection
>
>
> I am troubled by this, and by Dennis's comment about the Friends
> pressuring
> the library to withdraw books so they may be sold.
>
> It has always been my feeling that a library is where the rare books
> belong,
> so that the public has access to them. If libraries start selling off
> rare
> books to buy more copies of say, the new Grisham (which is really awful,
> by
> the way), than the only ones to have access to the rare books will be
> the
> collectors themselves. And that would really suck.
>
> As for the Friends, they need to re-examine their priorities and their
> purpose. Or someone ought to do it for them.
>
> Dennis, I enjoy patrons who seek out those "dusty" books or those that
> aren't on the bestseller list. I wish there were more of you. You are
> a
> rare breed.
>
> Stacy Alesi
> Southwest County Regional Library
> Palm Beach County Library System
>
> I am the BookBitch
> www.bookbitch.com
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free [removed]@yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
FROM: "Eric M. Battaglia" <[removed]@SLS.LIB.IL.US>
REC'D: 2/19/02, 2:37 PM
Those "_______ Public Library" stamps and the card pockets, not to mention the
wear and tear of shelf and circulation life, are factors that drastically
diminish a book's value. We've some books in our collection that would
otherwise go for $100-$125. Now they're worth just below their cover price.
That's why some book collectors hate libraries.
Eric M. Battaglia
Adult Reference Librarian
Forest Park Public Library
Quoting Donna Jo Atwood <[removed]@olatheks.org>:
> If the book in question is as rare as it's reputed to be, should it
> even be
> in a library's circulating collection? And if not, does the library
> have
> the facilities to house something that valuable? Should it not be in
> an
> archival type setting and be subject to security and other safeguards?
>
> Donna Jo Atwood
> Reference Librarian
> Olathe (KS) Public Library
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
> [[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of BookBitch
> Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 9:49 PM
> To: Fiction_L
> Subject: RE: Query: Selling Rare Books from a General Library
> Collection
>
>
> I am troubled by this, and by Dennis's comment about the Friends
> pressuring
> the library to withdraw books so they may be sold.
>
> It has always been my feeling that a library is where the rare books
> belong,
> so that the public has access to them. If libraries start selling off
> rare
> books to buy more copies of say, the new Grisham (which is really awful,
> by
> the way), than the only ones to have access to the rare books will be
> the
> collectors themselves. And that would really suck.
>
> As for the Friends, they need to re-examine their priorities and their
> purpose. Or someone ought to do it for them.
>
> Dennis, I enjoy patrons who seek out those "dusty" books or those that
> aren't on the bestseller list. I wish there were more of you. You are
> a
> rare breed.
>
> Stacy Alesi
> Southwest County Regional Library
> Palm Beach County Library System
>
> I am the BookBitch
> www.bookbitch.com
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free [removed]@yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
>
FROM: Sherri Lazenby <[removed]@dallaslibrary.org>
REC'D: 2/19/02, 8:23 PM
Of course these are just my opinions.
Sherri L. Lazenby
[removed]@dallaslibrary.org <[removed]@dallaslibrary.org>
Branch Manager
Audelia Road Branch Library
Dallas Public Library System
10045 Audelia Road
Dallas, TX 75238
(214) 670-1350
(214) 670-0790 FAX
FROM: Bradley A Scott <[removed]@juno.com>
REC'D: 2/25/02, 12:16 AM
"IT BELONGS IN A LIBRARY!!!"
Bradley A. Scott
(with a tip of the inevitable brown fedora)
________________________________________________________________
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FROM: Molly Williams <[removed]@adelphia.net>
REC'D: 3/12/02, 10:16 AM
Most people thought it was wrong to sell a book that's being
circulated regularly (whatever "regularly" means for the specific
library), no matter how much money it would bring in to buy new books.
Of those who thought it was OK or who didn't express an opinion on
the ethics of the situation, e-Bay was far and away the most
suggested method of selling such a book. Book dealers might not pay
top dollar for an ex-library book (although based on ABEbooks, some
ex-library books are being listed at over $100), but non-dealers do.
A few people were concerned with how to treat a rare or valuable
book -- should it circulate, should it be treated archivally, etc.
We don't have this option at our library, esp. with a children's
read-aloud book.
Of particular usefulness was several people's suggestion to look at
_The CREW Method; Expanded Guidelines for Collection Evaluation and
Weeding for Small and Medium-Sized Public Libraries_, which
specifies these criteria for weeding books from the collection:
M=Misleading--factually inaccurate
U=Ugly--worn beyond mending or rebinding
S=Superceded--by a new edition of by a much better book on the subject
T=Trivial--of no discernible literary or scientific merit
I=Irrelevant to the needs and interests of the library's community
E=Elsewhere--the material is easily obtainable from another library
Based on "E" alone, you have an argument for keeping rare books,
since they are not easily found elsewhere.
Thanks for all responses! (We're keeing John Denver's _Alfie The
Christmas Tree_.)
~ Molly Wms.
P.S. Don't forget to read out daily weblog for library and book
news! http://www.waterboro.lib.me.us/blog.htm
--
Molly Williams, Volunteer, Waterboro Public Library (Maine)
daily library weblog: http://www.waterboro.lib.me.us/blog.htm
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