I actually checked out the book from the Racine Library instead of the Kenosha Library, so I don't know what their policy would be...I know my library's standpoint tends to be not to accept donations to replace damaged or missing books...perhaps they are more flexible on it now...but I know beyond the cost of the actual item, there is the processing and whatnot involved in preparing it to be part of the collection...I'll take the hit if need be, and hope they order a replacement for it...the damage is significant, but I've also seen worse, so maybe they'll just note it or charge me a fraction of the cost...we'll see when I'm done reading it and ask them about it...
I did have one experience where I had to pay for a damaged book...it's from when I used to keep books floating around the backseat of my car, along with the assortment of things that made my car part garbage truck/recycling bin and part bookmobile...somehow the book had gotten wet...I took it out and dried it, but it got wet again before I returned it...the book did get warped, but in my view wasn't so bad that it couldn't still circulate, but that wasn't my call to make...they ended up charging me for it...the bad part is that it was this expensive $35 book called Cats in the Sun (I want to say it was this one) that had all these beautiful photographs...and what was worse than the cost was that it was a book purchased for the library in honor of a library employees 35 years of working for the library...it was fairly new (though I was not the only one who ever checked it out), and the library has never replaced it since...I feel guilty about that...
Ahh. That's what it is. I've been trying to figure this out my entire life! I've only had to get a book replaced once, it was a childrens book, ages ago, and it didn't cost me taht much money it was just a pain in the neck. I think I dropped in one of those disgusting piles of mud mixed with snow and I just remember thinking that they would send me to jail. Now I understand why. I wish I could donate books. I used to have a few brand-new books that I never read, I gave them to friends but I'd rather see the public get them. It's a bad habit because I always try to buy hardcover editions.
PS: That Cats In The Sun series looks really cute. I have a book of black and white photos of cats around here somewhere...(i have too many books...) and I get a kick out of the random cats that show up in vacation shots on flickr. I'm sure they'll replace it one day.
I noticed when I brought up the link for that book, that Amazon doesn't even carry it themselves...when my fifteen year anniversary comes up, I can pick an item for the collection (in the same fashion that the other person chose Cats in the Sun--for my ten year anniversary I chose The Up Series)...I could get Cats in the Sun so that it could be part of the collection, but if it's not something they can get brand new, I probably won't...that and it would be weird to have it with my name in it instead of the other person's...right now I'm thinking the library should get Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists, which is a book that expands on the outsider art exhibit that's going on right now at the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan (I visited it on Saturday)...
I should say that libraries DO definitely take donations to add to their collection...I know the Racine Library has specifically asked for donations because their budget is so tight...and I know my library system adds materials received as gifts...I have a number of items I'd like to see go into the collection as well...items that are fairly new but I don't need for a variety of reasons but feel other people should be able to get good use out of...so far I've been too lazy to bring them in...I don't want them to just end up on the book sale cart and sold for cheap...but I say it's worth looking into...
I did have one experience where I had to pay for a damaged book...it's from when I used to keep books floating around the backseat of my car, along with the assortment of things that made my car part garbage truck/recycling bin and part bookmobile...somehow the book had gotten wet...I took it out and dried it, but it got wet again before I returned it...the book did get warped, but in my view wasn't so bad that it couldn't still circulate, but that wasn't my call to make...they ended up charging me for it...the bad part is that it was this expensive $35 book called Cats in the Sun (I want to say it was this one) that had all these beautiful photographs...and what was worse than the cost was that it was a book purchased for the library in honor of a library employees 35 years of working for the library...it was fairly new (though I was not the only one who ever checked it out), and the library has never replaced it since...I feel guilty about that...
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PS: That Cats In The Sun series looks really cute. I have a book of black and white photos of cats around here somewhere...(i have too many books...) and I get a kick out of the random cats that show up in vacation shots on flickr. I'm sure they'll replace it one day.
Reply
I should say that libraries DO definitely take donations to add to their collection...I know the Racine Library has specifically asked for donations because their budget is so tight...and I know my library system adds materials received as gifts...I have a number of items I'd like to see go into the collection as well...items that are fairly new but I don't need for a variety of reasons but feel other people should be able to get good use out of...so far I've been too lazy to bring them in...I don't want them to just end up on the book sale cart and sold for cheap...but I say it's worth looking into...
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