[goobers]

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a64/m15d3...3bac81e37_o.png

[jtfanclub]

You know, it used to be, long ago, that they had buildings called 'libraries' for this purpose.

Anybody know why they died out?

P.S. I can take my old fantasy books to the local used book store, sell them for 50c a piece in credit, and buy more books for $2.00 or so. Tough for any rental place to compete with that.

[finally17]

jtfanclub, on Feb 15 2008, 01:55 PM, said:

You know, it used to be, long ago, that they had buildings called 'libraries' for this purpose. 

Anybody know why they died out?

P.S.  I can take my old fantasy books to the local used book store, sell them for 50c a piece in credit, and buy more books for $2.00 or so.  Tough for any rental place to compete with that.

As far as I can tell, they died out because someone managed to convince the US public that they need to own everything they use, that sharing things you have only one-time or limited use for is dirty because used things are dirty...something to that effect.

Unfortunately, my local library spends a huge %age of its funds buying DVDs these days, rather than books. The new book selection has dropped rather dramatically and noticeably since that happened.

It is nice however that they have a large selection (if not large quantities) of movies. If I know I want to watch something specific a week or two in advance, I can reserve and watch it, pay no rental fees, and keep it for a week. At my current diminished desire to watch movies this suits me perfectly.

Thankfully they are good at ordering books specifically requested by patrons, but there are serious drawbacks to that, specifically 1+ month waits. I do it only if it's a costly book that I wouldn't want to keep but that I am relatively certain would have some reasonable demand.

As for the used book store, it is useful...but annoyingly enough, these days most of them anywhere near me charge half the cover price, which is 4 bucks for a paper back now. Again that's an awful lot when it's something I have no intention of keeping and I can take your first suggestion. Rather, I use used bookstores for things I would want to keep for the long term but do not care if they're in pristine condition when I acquire them.

[matmat]

hehe... maybe we need a book equivalent of netflix....
"hi, i need brittanica..."

[finally17]

matmat, on Feb 15 2008, 05:29 PM, said:

hehe... maybe we need a book equivalent of netflix....
"hi, i need brittanica..."

For all its inaccuracies, Wikipedia is better than Brittanica ever was.

[dittny2k1]

Newport Beach library buys in bulk the best sellers and rents them out per week. When off the best seller list they sell them-and go there if you ever want to see the best used book store ever.

[Rain]

When I was young I'd rent books (popular fiction type) often. It's like rent-to-own (ugh), cheaper than paying full price to purchase, but ultimately more expensive.

Lots of these rental bookstores in Singapore. Maybe it's a country thing?

It cost about $2/2 weeks of rental or something like that. But you pay like $10 deposit, and after giving book back in good condition, you get $8 back.
(Cost of book if you buy is maybe $16).