Nice people thread 2 - now even nicer

tomterm8

Always worth buying books at charity shops, except for oxfam which is a rip off.

carolt

And car boots even better, if less charitable.

But obviously latter 2 sources less suitable for getting hold of a particular book you want.

That said, have found some wonderful random stuff esp at car boots. For 20p you can afford to take a gamble. Shame you can't buy a large house at a car boot to fit them all in.

PasturesNew

The library where I live's only open four days a week 9-6, then Saturday mornings for 3 hours. It's closed Wednesdays and Sundays. Not very accessible. I ordered a book once for an OU course, it was an important book. Ordered it in plenty of time, it had to come from out of county.... I got the "it's here" note after I'd finished the course. Useless.

vivatifosi

carolt wrote: »

Agree about using the library, too, though sometimes what we end up paying in fines due to lost books makes it sometimes more sensible to just buy them off ebay!

There are techniques to using a library effectively. I didn't know these before I worked in a public library so thought I'd share my top 10:

1) Check whether your library card can be used for online checking and renewing. You can look at what books you have out and renew to avoid fines without even visiting. You can also keep tabs on what you've borrowed so that books are less likely to get lost.

2) If you think you've lost a book, check out what the library's policy is for replacement. You may be offered the option to pay the RRP (which can be high) or to go get a new one off Amazon/ebay etc - as long as the ISBN matches and the book is new we don't mind.

3) If there's a new book coming out that you fancy, reserve it early to get near the top of the reservations list and endure a much shorter wait.

4) Make sure you're using the right card for the right items. Never borrow children's items on an adult cards - the fines are generally higher and the replacement policies stricter. Anyone with a disability or on lower income should check whether concessions are available for their particular issue. Some less obvious concessions are available - for example the hire of talking books may be free to those with cataracts, those who have poor reading skills may qualify for similar concessions. Carers cards may be available for those looking for family who are unable to use the service.

5) If you or your family are working on projects (eg checking family trees) then find out what free online resources the library has as well as books. For example, many library authorities offer free access to Ancestry.com, online driving test materials etc, though licencing laws may mean you need to visit the library to use them.

6) Fines can be a good thing: depending on the library authority, it can be cheaper to leave a paid item (eg a CD or talking book) on your card for a few days rather than renewing. However this is a complex area, so know the rules for your local library.

7) Libraries pride themselves on being able to get virtually any book for a reader. Out of print, old, foreign language, obscure; doesn't matter. I've seen books sent from libraries from as afar as India and Australia turn up at my place. Obviously the fees are higher, but what a service.

8) Unusually libraries are staffed by people with a love of the service and of books. You can talk to pretty much anyone in any branch and they will be happy to use their knowledge to get you the items you want, yet customers can be reticent to talk to us.

9) If you have new, popular titles in good order, offer them to your library first - they will be well used.

10) My final point is a plea to library users not to break the spines of paperbacks by turning the pages back on themselves, mark books (yes people do), use them as coffee tables (they do that too), or pull the jackets off to use as bookmarks. A well looked after, popular book will issue about 50 times for a paperback before it falls to bits, 80+ for a hardback. That works out at about 10p a loan - brilliant value for money.

PasturesNew

carolt wrote: »

Shame you can't buy a large house at a car boot to fit them all in.

Rent yourself a self-storage unit. Get some bookcases in there and have your own personal library for about £5/week.... some places wouldn't even bat an eyelid if you had a chair in there and a torch.

Flask and sandwiches, you could be happy all day!

Assuming, of course, you live near such a unit. The one my stuff's at is only open normal office opening hours and it's nearly 20 miles away (nearest one). Although I am moving it all 30 miles in another direction in December as that'll be potentially more convenient.

You've gotta love the rural world... not.

silvercar

1) Check whether your library card can be used for online checking and renewing. You can look at what books you have out and renew to avoid fines without even visiting. You can also keep tabs on what you've borrowed so that books are less likely to get lost.

To add to that.

Set a reminder in Outlook calendar to remind you to renew.

carolt

vivatifosi wrote: »

There are techniques to using a library effectively. I didn't know these before I worked in a public library so thought I'd share my top 10:

1) Check whether your library card can be used for online checking and renewing. You can look at what books you have out and renew to avoid fines without even visiting. You can also keep tabs on what you've borrowed so that books are less likely to get lost.

2) If you think you've lost a book, check out what the library's policy is for replacement. You may be offered the option to pay the RRP (which can be high) or to go get a new one off Amazon/ebay etc - as long as the ISBN matches and the book is new we don't mind.

3) If there's a new book coming out that you fancy, reserve it early to get near the top of the reservations list and endure a much shorter wait.

4) Make sure you're using the right card for the right items. Never borrow children's items on an adult cards - the fines are generally higher and the replacement policies stricter. Anyone with a disability or on lower income should check whether concessions are available for their particular issue. Some less obvious concessions are available - for example the hire of talking books may be free to those with cataracts, those who have poor reading skills may qualify for similar concessions. Carers cards may be available for those looking for family who are unable to use the service.

5) If you or your family are working on projects (eg checking family trees) then find out what free online resources the library has as well as books. For example, many library authorities offer free access to Ancestry.com, online driving test materials etc, though licencing laws may mean you need to visit the library to use them.

6) Fines can be a good thing: depending on the library authority, it can be cheaper to leave a paid item (eg a CD or talking book) on your card for a few days rather than renewing. However this is a complex area, so know the rules for your local library.

7) Libraries pride themselves on being able to get virtually any book for a reader. Out of print, old, foreign language, obscure; doesn't matter. I've seen books sent from libraries from as afar as India and Australia turn up at my place. Obviously the fees are higher, but what a service.

8) Unusually libraries are staffed by people with a love of the service and of books. You can talk to pretty much anyone in any branch and they will be happy to use their knowledge to get you the items you want, yet customers can be reticent to talk to us.

9) If you have new, popular titles in good order, offer them to your library first - they will be well used.

10) My final point is a plea to library users not to break the spines of paperbacks by turning the pages back on themselves, mark books (yes people do), use them as coffee tables (they do that too), or pull the jackets off to use as bookmarks. A well looked after, popular book will issue about 50 times for a paperback before it falls to bits, 80+ for a hardback. That works out at about 10p a loan - brilliant value for money.

Lots of good advice there. I've learnt 1-4 by trial and error. Online renewing/reserving particularly useful.

Didn't know all the rest, though. My experience of trying to order anything not available locally has been poor - maybe I should give them another try. Didn't know about Ancestry.com etc. Wouldn't have occured to me to give a book to the library - would they really accept them? They seem to sell off v cheaply ex-lending copies in still - to my eyes anyway - perfectly acceptable nick. And not all unknown books - we've bought lots of children's classics and adult fiction that way too. Do you know why?

Unfortunately, the reasons we end up paying fines aren't usually connected to me forgetting to renew; they're down to the kids losing their books, or not being able to get to the library in time for ones already renewed 3 times or reserved, as we don't live anywhere near the library. There's no point paying c £2.50 bus fare to renew a library book or 2 - for that price, I can buy them!

Also, with 3 kids, it makes sense to buy the books (aside from space), as I hope they will have many chances to get read, and can then be sold off (if not knackered) for what I got them for, anyway...

Liked PN's idea of a private library. I think I'd rather have a large study, in my own home, though - easier to access. I can dream...

John_Pierpoint

I'm spoilt.
I've got 4 libraries within a 15 minute pedal. Two open on Sunday morning or afternoon. Three do one hour sessions of broadband and are interlinked; the fourth does 2 hour sessions of broadband. So given your own ticket and a ticket for wife and son, I could (given a bit of exercise) probably do a 7 hour day on the PC's.
I cannot see this as a moral problem, as long as there are spare sessions on offer in the booking system (probably not on a Sunday).

The library also has paid a subscription to "Which?" on-line.

The Essex service is not as good as some of the central London boroughs (I once worked next to the Public Records Office (before it expanded into Kew from its old "Gothic" building and adjacent collection of sheds). I was in Camden and the City of London while only a 15 minute walk from the nearest Westminster library.

Camden was excellent before the 1970's cutbacks - They seemed to have a hotline to The British Library, when one wanted something obscure or eye wateringly expensive.
(Rather than photocopy such stuff these days one can order it from India:eek:).

Use it don't lose it - if the unemployed can't afford the fuel bill next winter, they can always go down the library.

Like they say in the teacher recruitment adverts. "You will always remember your best [STRIKE]teacher[/STRIKE] librarian":
I would nominate this place as (then) having the best polymath librarian - It was like going into an Estate agent and talking to a late middle aged local property developer, rather than a 17 year old school leaver, who would get out a form and say "how many bedrooms?".

http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=972

(Talking of free access to libraries in old cities and centres of learning, the RIBA had (has?) a useful library in its basement.)

PasturesNew

Beyond my local library, I think the next one's 20 miles away (in the county capital, so it doesn't get bigger than that) .... it is open Mon-Fri 9am-6pm. Saturdays 9-4pm. Not open Sundays.

They have three national papers: Express, Mirror, Independent.

20 Internet terminals for the public. Free wifi (no mention of electrical socket though)

I've not ever been in it/no idea where it is, so no idea what they've got book-wise.

vivatifosi

carolt wrote: »

Wouldn't have occured to me to give a book to the library - would they really accept them? They seem to sell off v cheaply ex-lending copies in still - to my eyes anyway - perfectly acceptable nick. And not all unknown books - we've bought lots of children's classics and adult fiction that way too. Do you know why?

Those are questions I can answer. Libraries will definitely accept books that are in very good condition and are newer, popular titles.

The sale price is the maximum we can get for the book and is tried and tested. Generally lower than charity shops as condition not as good.

We sell books for three reasons. We can't have books sitting on our sale shelves for a long period because we get backlogs of others behind them.The first is that the book is showing wear and tear, childrens' books in particular don't last as long as adult ones. What is acceptable nick to you may not be to us, for example, we know when a book has a few loose pages that we'd be able to sell it, but we'd only get one more borrowing before we have to bin it.

The second reason we sell books is that they aren't issuing and we need the shelf space for more popular titles, these are the ones that tend to look pristine on the sale shelves.

The final reason is that we've had books donated and we can't use them. We do try and use all the books we receive, but if they aren't on our catalogue, we need to weigh up the cost of getting them catalogued against likely issues. So books that aren't on our catalogue end up on sale shelves, as do children's books with American spellings (they confuse the children so don't for the most part get onto our shelves). If we receive a donation that we have in our library, then we will send it to other smaller libraries with smaller selections, but sometimes we get given books that we have copies of everywhere and they have to go on sale as our shelves would otherwise be stuffed with the same titles.