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Public Libraries Trading Quaintness For Cash

Posted by michael on from the overdue dept.

theodp writes "To help nourish lean budgets, public libraries are increasingly eyeing the e-commerce used-book market as an alternative to the long-standing community tradition of the local book sale. Abebooks reports a tenfold surge in public library clients over the last three years. The payoff can be handsome. One library group boasts of getting $250 for a few boxes of 'miserable, horrible stuff' and another $110 from a World War II vet for a book about his Army regiment. A public library in Texas auctioned 300 items on eBay to help plug a budget hole. And a Seattle suburb moved its annual library sale of some 80,000 books to Amazon, citing expediency and extra cash as motivators."

6 of 295 comments (clear)

  1. who cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    this is not worthy of slashdot. bad moderator.

    1. Re:who cares by Turd+Rippleton · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      "Reports that say something hasn't happened are interesting to me, because as we know, there are known unknowns; there are things we know we know, we also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." Know what I mean?

  2. Libraries by Oriumpor · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    We desperately need a physical storage medium for our knowledge. Scrolls hermetically sealed in DARK plastics would seem to last a looong time to me. Or perhaps a digital medium similar to the GOLD tablets the library of congress is thinking of.

    1. Re:Libraries by Oriumpor · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      silly ac trolls are for kids.

  3. GOLLUM GETS THE RING AND JUMPS ON TEH SPOKE!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    Unscrupulous wizard Gandalf the Grey remakes himself in the American media as Gandalf the White, last great hope for mankind!

    And the Elvises get in their ships and leave Middle Earth in a huff, saying that this has all gotten much to silly!

  4. OT Comment by sabernar · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Wow, this seems like something that the whole /. community agrees with! Stop the presses!