Inter-library loans

[fivemack]

An ILL through Cambridge library used to cost three pounds, and this was a magical level: instead of paying £2.76 to Amazon for a book from a 1p-seller who charged the standard postage, I could pay £3 and the library would take the book away afterwards.

I suppose that this should have struck me as strange, since an ILL implies moving the book from one library to another and back and second-class postage for a book is £2.36 each way; but maybe you could cut a factor two off that by posting books in batches, it doesn't matter to me if an ILL takes two weeks.

I went in to collect an ILL today and was told that the fee had gone up to five pounds. I pointed out that this stopped them being competitive with Amazon, and the librarian said 'but it costs us thirteen pounds to process an ILL'. Librarian salaries are about £20k per year, so with overheads this is saying that it takes most of an hour of librarian time plus postage for a second-class small packet to do a single ILL.

This isn't a problem for me; I can switch to buying the books from Amazon, and I can donate them to the library afterwards if I want the library to take them away. But I'd have used the service less if I'd known it was so expensive to provide.

Comments

[pjc50.livejournal.com]

How much does it cost the library to accept the donation? ;)

It's been a long time since I went to a library. They were a tremendous resource as a kid, but the internet has cast a long strange shadow over them.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I started using Cambridge library quite enthusiastically after it reopened in September 2009, because it was clearly superior to the Internet in a couple of ways. Basically, buying books on-line had given me a to-read bookcase full of things which were between uninspiring and mediocre, and it was starting to oppress me.

With the library, I could borrow books which seemed intriguing without having to spend money or worry about storing them, and I wasn't going to make my huge to-read pile any worse because the books had to go back after three weeks (or three months if I took full advantage of renewal). I could read new silly thrillers without feeling guilty that they were a costly indulgence.

It about halved my expenditure on books while increasing the number I read: 1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009 I spent 362 pounds on books and read 61; 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010 I spent 182 and read 103.

[simont]

I've just this month got around to signing up for a new-Cambridge-library card, and I expect to feel much the same way about it as this. One of the first lot of books I borrowed at random turned out to be an obvious mistake (volume 2 of a series I hadn't read volume 1 of – I looked at the spine and the back cover, but that wasn't obvious from either and was only mentioned on the front cover), so I immediately got some value out of not having spent money to make that error :-)

But the obvious utility of a library for me is that you can grab random stuff off its shelves that you didn't already specifically know you wanted. I'm not sure I'd order things on purpose with as much abandon as that.

[rmc28]

I was up until 1am this morning reading a library book that I picked up on a whim "because it looks pretty" and I thought I'd read something else by the author that was bearable. I'd never have bought it (especially in my new Must Reduce To-Read Pile mode), which would have meant I missed out on a great few hours reading.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

I have no evidence that the library accepts donations: they take books away, but I haven't seen them appear on their shelves or their catalogue afterwards.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Well if they sell them for a pound in a booksale, that's the same as if you gave them a pound.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I used to buy lots of books from my local (to work) library's "for sale" shelves, which were a combination of donations and "remove from collection" stuff (older travel books, good food guide 2001, trashy paperbacks etc.) ... I once went in and there were half a dozen brand new star trek paperbacks at 35p each, so I thought "well, why not?" and when I got to the pay desk they asked if I wanted any more ... they'd had a bulk donation and I ended up with 54 books at 18p each :-) ... of course I've never read them .. (doh!)

But I've also got some wonderful books that I'm very happy to have that way as well.

[jvvw.livejournal.com]

The library at the university where I work accepts donations in theory, but I'm still waiting for them to decide if they want the post-grad level maths books from the list that I gave them a month of two later.