The Sword and Laser discussion

My library doesn't own a copy of AMONG OTHERS, so I had my co-worker who handles interlibrary loans order me a copy. I was utterly shocked to find ILLs were actually a plot point in the story. And it's a little bizarre that I had to even get it through ILL. Our library has a pretty good-sized collection for a smallish town, but we were one of the few libraries in the state that didn't have a copy of AMONG OTHERS.

It's almost as if someone used magic to keep any of my co-workers from ordering AMONG OTHERS for the collection, just so when I went to check out a copy, I would have to receive it through ILL and therefore add some extra enjoyment to reading the book. At least, I'm sure that's what Mori would've concluded.

I took a photo of the "Interlibrary loans are a wonder of the world and a glory of civilization" quote and gave a copy to my co-worker who had ordered the book for me. She now has the photo hanging above her desk.

I did! Seemed appropriate..

love it :)

I actually just got it today. My local library branch didn't have it so I had to have them ship one from across town. Does that count? By the way, I'm so late to the party because some asshat held on to the book for two weeks despite there being six people waiting to read it. When I did finally get it, there was some major water damage. I guess someone dropped it in the tub and it took that long to dry out.

No way! Interlibrary loans cost money! If I'm spending money, I might as well just buy the book...which I did. :)

Interlibrary loans cost money? You're in the UK, right? 'Cause I've never done it, but I'm pretty sure they don't here (US).

Yeah, I'm in England. I was in the library recently, talking to the library assistant who was an old acquaintance. When I told her I was studying Japanese she immediately told me she could get 'any book I needed from any library in the country'. I asked about cost, and she brightly told me 'just a small fee'. Since I had zero income at the time, this was no good to me. Now that I have an income, the desire to own books overwhelms my desire to support libraries. I seem to remember that in the book Mori was told the interlibrary loans were free because she was a child, which I think is still true today. If it's free to everyone in the US, then bravo! Here, there is a cost even for going on the waiting list for a popular book. I wasn't aware of the fee when I went on the list for Cloud Atlas, back when I had the zero income I mentioned. I could have bought the book for just a pound or two more than I paid to borrow it for only three weeks. It was really frustrating.

Not only does it not cost me money, I can do it from the comfort of my home/computer.

Then when my book shows up at the local branch I get an email notification that I can come pick it up.

The local branch is like 2 minutes from my house too. The peak of laziness!

Sean wrote: "I actually just got it today. My local library branch didn't have it so I had to have them ship one from across town. Does that count?"

That's a ILL, yes.

It sounds like the prices vary too. It cost me over £1 (I forget the precise figure) to reserve Cloud Atlas, even though it was from the same library and didn't cost them anything to hold it for me.

I may be remembering wrong because it's been a while but I think the ILL where I live is free as long as it's a library within a certain distance. If they have to get it from elsewhere (ie out of state) there's a fee

Where I live in Canada, it's free on our end, but any costs from the lending library are passed on. That can be $10 to $25 (£7 to £16). Free between local branches.

Rob wrote: "Not only does it not cost me money, I can do it from the comfort of my home/computer.

Then when my book shows up at the local branch I get an email notification that I can come pick it up.

The l..."

The libary system in Maine works the same way. Order, the book and you'll get an email notification when it's in, as long as it's in the state system. Completely free I State. I seem to remember Among Others was at my local branch, though.

I just got Ring world through ILL. It's free province-wide for me.

I work at two libraries (also in Maine. Hello fellow Mainer two post above me!), and ILL is done differently in both. One is a medium sized library that's part of a state wide system along with many other medium to large libraries. They have a special van service that runs between all of the libraries delivering the Inter Library Loans. Being part of this system (which includes more than just the ILL service) isn't cheap, but it's completely worth it if you can afford it. It allows you access to so many more books.

I also work at a one-person library that does ILLs very differently. We put in all our requests through the state library, and then the books are sent to us in the mail. Once we're done with the books, we have to mail them back and pay the cost of postage. This, as one might expect, can really build up over time so we have a donation bowl to cover the costs. The bowl is not always enough, so we're constantly debating whether it's something we should charge for or not. This, as one might expect, is a very difficult decision. Charging may make the service inaccessible to lower-income patrons, which is NOT a good thing. At the same time, it might be the only way to keep the service going.

I didn't read Among Others as this month's pick, because I actually read it a few months ago. I did end up ILLing it through my local library :)

I live in North Carolina and the county public library charges $5 for each ILL but you can suggest purchases for free and they have bought most of what I've suggested...I think I'm the only one doing so. Mainly I am working for them filling holes in the collection since I often notice series where they own book 2, 4, and 5 but not 1, 3, or 6... what the heck silly library.

Rob wrote: "Not only does it not cost me money, I can do it from the comfort of my home/computer.

Then when my book shows up at the local branch I get an email notification that I can come pick it up.

The l..."

I adore that my library does all of this, I use it every month for my book group reads. So I went crazy when the line came up. I also made sure when I returned Among Others that I stopped by the desk and let the Librarians know how much I appreciate what they do and the services they offer.

Just waiting for Ringworld to turn up now. They person who has it is over due! How rude!

:D

Interlibrary loan costs libraries money, it's just a matter of whether they pass that cost onto the users. Lately my academic library has stopped charging fees for dissertations since we'll pay the same amount for a science article download. We also figured out that for books that are recent enough, it costs us less just to buy the damn thing and add it to our collection than to try to find a library with a copy that doesn't have a hold list. Patron driven acquisition- assuming if one person wants something, chances are others might read it too.

As you may imagine, I've been taking advantage of this new service!!

Louise wrote: "Finally checked (council website down all day) and its 35p to reserve a book. However, to get books from outside the Authority (i.e. the county) its about £11 for adults. As far as I can tell, this mostly involves getting books from the British Library, who charge £11 anyway. In a local authority that has nearly 40 libraries, they have most of the books people want so I guess the admin cost is due to the lack of people actually using the service. ILL would presumably involve postal charges, whereas books from the county don't have to be sent by post. I suppose if you're going to have books shipped around the country, it's better just to buy those that aren't rare."

I guess you just have to live in the right area. :P Decided to check, and my local library only charges 35p for reservations, which isn't so bad. It says nothing about interlibrary loans on the website though. Perhaps I will go in and ask next time I'm in, just to satisfy curiosity. Checked Leeds, where I used to live, and they have now reduced the price for reservation to 90p (either reduced it to that or I was over-charged) and list the interlibrary loan price at £5. I just can't imagine paying so much to borrow something unless it is really rare.

I tend to use libraries only when I have no specific goal in mind. Almost every time I have gone with the intention of finding something I am disappointed. But I do find some surprising gems, books I might not have considered had I been forking out for them. :)

I'm lucky in that Los Angeles county has 30 or 40 libraries in it, so the need for ILL has never come up. My problem with the whole system is that it's so slow. If I order a book from a library 10 miles away it still takes 2 weeks or more to arrive. That makes it pretty useless for book club reads unless I know well in advance what the title is going to be. At least it's free within the county system.

AndrewP wrote: "I'm lucky in that Los Angeles county has 30 or 40 libraries in it, so the need for ILL has never come up. My problem with the whole system is that it's so slow. If I order a book from a library 10 ..."
I suppose you could drive the ten miles, but that does seem to defeat the purpose. I'd say that's just poor planing since our STATEwide borrowing program delivers in 2 business days!

Katie wrote: "I live in North Carolina and the county public library charges $5 for each ILL but you can suggest purchases for free and they have bought most of what I've suggested...I think I'm the only one doi..."


Same here! Have been lucky every book I have requested for my library to buy, they have done so.

Here in Connecticut we have program called Connecticar that's funded by the state government and transports books from library to library. It can take up to 2 weeks for a book to actually get from one library to another (the books all go to a central processing facility first), but usually it's quicker than that. The Governor tried to cut the program a couple years ago, but there was some push back.

New Englanders tend to take their libraries seriously. Chalk it up to being founded by a bunch of serious, highly educated Puritans that made childhood literacy an issue as soon as they were settled.