The Mail Order Library (Part 2)

In the last post I talked briefly about an idea for a mail order library. Today I'm going to talk about the book tracking systems that would be needed for such a thing to occur. I'm more than likely to touch upon a few other systems, but only as it pertains to the general tracking.

The first thing to be encountered by a patron is the website and database. Besides allowing access to the system, it would also provide a great place for book reviews and/or talks, as well as other tools that might be of interest to a reader looking for a new book to read. While all that would, and should, be on the website, the main focus will be on the display of information from the database.

Let us start with the search. The database should be able to be searched by
author, book tile, and subject. Those are your basics and are already options
in the current inter-library loan system. Our system, though, will also allow
someone to search on a character name, quote, and publisher. Of course you
could also run a search with filters. Once the patron finds a book they are
interested in they click the link and all the information from the database on
that book is pulled up, including a basic synopsis of the book. As a way to
make money, a link to Amazon.com or some other site to buy the book, could be
posted.

"That's all fine for someone that knows what they are looking for. What about
the person that just wants to look around and see what he finds?" We can do
that too! The site should be set up in such a way that it makes for easy
navigation. One feature that should be included would be book suggestions based
on previously checked out books. There would also be an option to add 'books
you like' to the system so that you don't really need to check out books you may
own just so that the system knows the type of books you enjoy.

So the book is ordered, what now? Well at a set time each day all the orders
from the last 24 hours and any holds that are available are printed out by the
computer, by Dewey decimal. the librarians than get all the books the package
them up. They are then shipped to the patrons that ordered them. Now comes a
little confusion. Normally I would say that people could keep books as long as
they want, but then people would just collect books from the library and never
give them back. So I think that a credit card should be left and books can be
borrowed for up to a month. Or, a better idea that keeps with the whole free
thing, is to limit the amount of books that a person or household may have out
at any given time. After that, once the book is returned, it is run through the
computer has being available and the cycle continues on.

There are certain other considerations that need to be taken into account, but
I feel that something like a mail-order library would work out very well. With
the fast paced environment that most of us lead these days, it would be nice to
just be able to 'order' a book and then have it show up. Take a look at
Netflix if you don't think people are either to busy or to lazy to go out to
the video store, or library.

The Mail Order Library (Part 1)

I went to the library today, I go almost everyday so that's nothing new, and as I was looking through the shelves I got to thinking about my use of the Inter-library Loan System. Both myself and my girlfriend use it quite extensively. I have often times thought that it would just be easier to have the books delivered right to the house (most of my library visits are to get books that have arrived). My question is why can't I get books delivered right to the house? Why not cut out the trips to the library almost entirely? I think it can be done, and why it hasn't been I don't know.

I'm assuming that all of you know what the Inter-library Loan System is. Almost all libraries are on one network at least. My idea is just an extension on that system. Why not have one repository of books in the state, as book warehouse as it were. This warehouse would hold copies of almost all the books in the state library system, except for reference material. The local library could then be reduced in size since a person would really only need to go to use the computers or get access to reference materials. For all the other books, they are ordered online and delivered either to the local library or right your home.

This model, of course, can also be adapted to a commercial venture.  Just think Netflix for books! With public libraries though, it makes it hard to convince people to pay for a service that they can get for free. The only think paying would get would be home delivery. This could also be used with the Nook's lending feature (sorry kindle fans, you guys don't have it... yet) making it possible to borrow books for you e-reader for whatever price the service was
going for.

Love and Hate for the Public Library

The library, a bitter sweet institution of acquired knowledge and learning. Dedicated to preserving the accumulated writings of the world. In so doing so, though, it has also taken actions against books that make any true bibliophile cry in horrid despair. In an attempt to provide free books to read to the masses, they have taken to rather destructive practices. At cross purposes within itself, the library is an unpalatable gruel of life sustenance that I frolic in with overabundant joy. It's a curse.

The experience of a library is meant to be enjoyed and savored like a fine meal or wine. One must allow ample time to browser and select books with care. Rashness or hurried browsing more often than not leads to making a bad selection. The library opens doors and windows of possibilities that may not usually be explored. Every avenue of literary delight should be rooted out and devoured with happy abandon. Libraries offers the hope of mankind. If more people would stop for a few moments to read a book, there would be a lot more understanding in the world... and a lot less stupidity.

In the libraries unwavering stampede towards complete and total access of all books to everyone, they have also set about to destroy the very things that libraries were originally set up to protect. Don't get me wrong, everyone should have access to books. There just has to be a better way to go about it while protecting the books. It use to be that books where chained to the shelves with just enough slack to take to a nearby table.   There are still plenty of libraries who's books are not open to circulation. For sure every library has those few reference books that can not be taken out or, if the library is lucky enough, a collection of rare books, but I'm talking about libraries that do not let any of their books out. The Grolier Club is a great example. Perhaps I should look into a better way and do a blog about it in the future.

For many people the library is their only source of books and is an indispensable resource when it comes to research. The shear number of books written is staggering and it is impossible for one to get all the books. When those people that collect only certain topics will have a hard time getting everything. What will be interesting to see is what happens to the library with the coming ebook craze. How will they adapt and change? While the slip slowly into obscurity, relegated to preservation only with access to their books only available to academia? I hope not.

Book Collecting and Me

Many people have asked me why I collect books. My usual response is a shrug followed by the phrase, 'why not?' How do I explain to people my love, my passion for books? To people who's treatment of books consists of reading a book then tossing into some old box that sits in a dust corner of a garage, attic, or basement, only to be sold at some yard sale for five cents. Only fellow bibliophiles can truly understand the relationship that I have with books. Calling myself a bibliophile is perhaps being a bit... conservative. I'm sure that a case could be argued for calling me a bibliomaniac, a distinction that I am sure to live happily with. There are a few people that are close to me that have some inkling. Books, for me, are not merely part of my life, they ARE my life.

Books have a certain beauty about them too. I know even those that don't care for books much can't deny the beauty of a large private library filled with old leather bound books. There is a primal pull towards books. It could just be the information contained in them, but I don't think so. You can get those e-readers now a days, but most people that have them will tell you that they don't compare to the feel of a real book. A book is warm and lively. The even seem to exhibit a personality of their own. Even the smell of books can be quite intoxicating.

Many collectors and avid readers claim that their obsession start back in their younger years. Most point to some children's book. The start of my love affair with books didn't start that early. That's not to say that I didn't learn to read till later. I could read, very well, and I could understand what it was I was reading. I just despised reading. I hated having to read for school. It wasn't until my freshman year of high school that that all changed. I was introduced to fantasy novels by a friend. After that first book it was all down hill from there. I was soon checking books out of the library or borrowing them from my friends, spending most of my time reading, to the point if ignoring homework. For the first few years I mainly just read fantasy novels with the few books I had to read for school. After a while I started to read some non-fiction books as well. In the years since I have collected many many books. I have bought a lot of them. Some were given to me either as gifts or just because someone want to clean out their attic.

The idea of a personal library, for me, is a no brainer. Of course someday I'm hoping for a nice room that I can call my own and set it up to be a library with the over stuffed chairs, fireplace, and lets not forget the floor to ceiling bookcases with a library ladder or two. For now I'm and content to have my collection about me, with bookcases filling the living room and soon, the bedroom. My books will always have a home, a place to rest while they wait for someone to come along and explore their own little pleasures within those pages, ever effort being made to pass on that same contagious disease (if you want to call it that, I prefer to think of it as a blessing) that I caught all those years ago.