I have not closely followed this thread so I am not aware if someone mentioned it or not, but the Thrall library in middletown has a used book store that will accept donations of this type. Its actually a nice source for books of this nature as they sell them for a nominal price, so if it is something slightly dated you would still grab it as the price is right, and it supports the local library system. Its also right near OCCC so young budding programmers tend to buy even the most archaic books. If you happen to be in Middletown, or if someone grabs them and doesnt want them all, it would be a great solution to make sure that someone will use them. As many ebooks as I have I still reach for hard copies, as I find there is something satisfying about having a physical book in one hand and a single malt in the other.
Regards, Jesse Z On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 8:15 AM, Sean Dague <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > > -- > __________________________________________________________________ > > 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. > __________________________________________________________________ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org > http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug > > Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium > Feb 3 - Arduino > Mar 3 - Sahana and 7 Years of MHVLUG Celebration > Apr 7 - Nagios > >
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