My Book Your Book
August 23, 2005
The "Online Librarian is Overwhelmed" headline is a bit misleading (as far as I can tell, there’s no librarian involved here), but this online book exchanging system sounds interesting. I still don’t see how it is better than the public library, though. Perhaps it would be most useful in remote locations where there aren’t libraries, or areas that can’t afford a public library. Any thoughts from the my readers on this one?
August 24th, 2005 at 8:46 am
I don’t think it is necessarily better than libraries. The programming and browsing at public libraries are important features of the library. However, it offers the convenience of getting the book shipped to your home, which is an invaluable service for those experiencing chronic time-crunch.
August 25th, 2005 at 6:32 am
Not to mention the convenience when you live in an area poorly served by public transport. The postman comes right to your door (or at least the end of your driveway); the bus comes every half hour, give or take 15 minutes unless it breaks down and you have to wait for the next one. A subset of the chronic time-crunch, perhaps …
September 2nd, 2005 at 9:04 pm
I belong to two book trading websites, sf-books.com and PaperBackSwap, both of which are free to join, although the latter may have a membership fee sometime in the future. I have a bunch of books I’ve bought over time, usually from the discount or sale racks, and I don’t necessarily want to keep them (i.e. worn mass market genre fiction paperbacks). These swap sites don’t replace my local library, but they do allow me to trade my books for other books I want to read. In a town without a bookstore, this is a pretty good deal. Postage for one book costs about a half a gallon of gas, and it takes four gallons or so to get to the nearest bookstore, used or otherwise. For me, the convenience is having books on my shelf ready to be read whenever I want to read them and not have the pressure of a due date. I still go to the library sometimes, but I have a bookcase of unread books at home that demand more of my attention.
December 20th, 2005 at 8:16 pm
There’s also ReadItSwapIt, another UK-based book swap site but unlike the one you mentioned it’s totally free
the url is http://www.readitswapit.co.uk
December 20th, 2005 at 8:16 pm
There’s also ReadItSwapIt, another UK-based book swap site but unlike the one you mentioned it’s totally free
the url is http://www.readitswapit.co.uk