On 01/17/2010 03:23 PM, Derek J. Balling wrote: > > > On Jan 17, 2010, at 2:56 PM, Eric Myers wrote: >> It seems like this fine collection would do more good in a library. >> And since we already meet at a library.... >> >> Sean, perhaps you or someone in the group knows who to talk to about >> possibly adding these to their collection? They may not know the great >> value here, but we sure do, and we could communicate that to them. >> >> And then anybody in the group (with a library card) would be able to make >> use of these books. > > Typically the problems with going into a library collection will be as > follows: > > - The books are nowhere near being in "mint" condition. That's not to > say that they're "trashed", but simply that, well, they've paperback books, > and some are over ten years old. > - For good chunks of the time I collected these, I worked in an office > environment where "borrowed" books tended to never get returned and all > looked the same so they were impossible to identify which one on someone > else's bookshelf was yours... So, they have my last name written across the > top of pages (ie., if you look DOWN on the book, from above, you can see it) > in large friendly letters. > > Neither of which is likely a problem for members of this list (who care about > the content more than anything else to a large extent), but my experience > with library donations in the past is that they have shied away from books > like these because it's not how they want their books to "look".
It's audience mismatch as well. When was the last time you went to the
library to get a python book? When was the last time you were done with
a tech book in 3 weeks. When was the last time you bought a text book
with a copyright more than 3 years old? (yes, I realize there are a few
exceptions here).
If someone wants to collect them to redistribute, I honestly think the
meeting is probably the best target audience for that. They are likely
to just collect dust in the library, if they even wanted to take them.
-Sean
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Sean Dague Mid-Hudson Valley
sean at dague dot net Linux Users Group
http://dague.net http://mhvlug.org
There is no silver bullet. Plus, werewolves make better neighbors
than zombies, and they tend to keep the vampire population down.
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