9/16/08

Sharing of books and such

Dave Ewick, the director of Southfield Public Library, said that as long as he could remember, he felt that public libraries are all about sharing. I agree in many ways.

One of these ways was very different and something that I've never been exposed to: a shelf of books to share with others. At the West Bloomfield Township Library, there are a few shelves reserved for books that aren't in the catalog, don't belong to anyone and can be borrowed for as long as the reader needs. I was told that the library tried to phase it out and there was an uproar. So patrons continue to be able to share their books on a specific shelf.

That, along with Friends groups, here's another interesting way of sharing and extending the lives of books: Outdoor Bookshelves. I figure why would people be dishonest about something like this? If you're done with it and you know you're going back to where you got it, you'd return it eventually, right?

Sometimes friends tell me we should all share books and I like that idea much more than buying books. I always feel a little weird about buying them because, well, I work at libraries. Libraries have free books. That's pretty awesome.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the "open bookshelf" idea. It reminds me of Telluride, CO's Free Box http://tinyurl.com/5mtdvd. AND BookCrossing http://www.bookcrossing.com/. Nice post, E-Dawg.

Sarah said...

Yeah, we also have a similar set up at Northville. There are a bunch of books anyone can take home that are not in our catalog. We don't even pay attention if they are returned or not. Somehow it works. :)

Anonymous said...

oooo - i like the outdoor bookshelf! that's great!