Books for Beginners (Local Library)

[ChrisR]

Sheffield City Council are closing libraries.....16 since 2014.....citing the usual lack of available funding as the reason. But most have been taken on by volunteers with varying degrees of success. Similarly our local "green space" used to have a full time gardener years ago, but now a "friends group" has had to be organsised to maintain it. Just the way things are these days. We send millions out in overseas aid but we can't fund a library. Crazy.

[Phil_SK]

but we can't fund a library. Crazy.

We can fund libraries but we choose not to.

[ChrisR]

Isn't that what I said?

[StevenT]

But local libraries are in effect like technical libraries because you can request books via the inter-library loan system. If the book you request is not available in other libraries in your region, then it is obtained from a specialist library or the British Library.

Over the years I have seen many books in this way, some of them very rare and/or expensive. You could order the Lode book in this way, it may take some time to arrive if there is a waiting list.

The other way that local libraries are like technical libraries is that (for a reasonable fee) you can order a photocopy of papers (articles) from academic journals which you get to keep . Again I've had many copies over the years. The most recent one I had is a paper on Dioscorea from a 1950s volume of the South African botanical journal Bothalia.

Libraries have changed a lot in recent years and provide much more than books. In this area the council has set up an independent Community Benefit Society to run libraries as that can access different types of funding. So I don't think they have had their day.

Carl, I suggest you make your library aware of John Pilbeam's BCSS books so that they could tell anyone who enquires about books on cacti & succulents that they could be obtained through inter-library loan.

Steven

[Carl]

Thanks StevenT, unfortunately interlibrary loans can be quite expensive... here it's a minimum of £7.50 but usually closer to £12 (£11.50 minimum if it's from the British Library) not to mention extra charges for renewal! which means you could be paying half the price of the book for one by John Pilbeam... I suppose it's good value if the book you want is currently going for £400 second hand (like the book on Matucana by Bob Bregman )

[Carl]

Over the years I have seen many books in this way, some of them very rare and/or expensive. You could order the Lode book in this way, it may take some time to arrive if there is a waiting list.

I've just check on Worldcat.org and it dosent appear that there is a UK public library with this book in it's collection yet... http://www.worldcat.org/title/taxonomy- ... ef_results

[DaveW]

I seem to recall that if people requested a book from the Inter Library loan system if they did not have it they would often buy it specially Carl. However I have not used that system for decades, or my local library.

[ralphrmartin]

Thanks StevenT, unfortunately interlibrary loans can be quite expensive... here it's a minimum of £7.50 but usually closer to £12 (£11.50 minimum if it's from the British Library) not to mention extra charges for renewal! which means you could be paying half the price of the book for one by John Pilbeam.

Which only goes further to back up my argument about the cost of books, versus the cost of library services.

Why would anyone go to a library to borrow a beginner's book when a round trip bus fare costs over £3, yet they can buy the book second hand, post paid, online for £2.50 in many cases?

When I was a kid, a bus fare cost 2d, and a book cost 30/-, or 6 guineas for an expensive one (and had muddy black and white photos). Libraries made much more sense then.

[DaveW]

Also in those days we did not have the information online, only needing a Google search Ralph.

There are not many new cactus books online, though many websites dealing with particular genera:-

http://www.cactus-mall.com/homepage.html

The only Web books I found with a quick search:-

http://www.altmanplants.com/Book.pdf

http://formkeyebooks.tumblr.com/post/45 ... dictionary

[The Tunn]

You're right Ralph in that the decreasing cost of books in relation to average income reduces the usefulness of libraries to many people. The net book agreement was abolished very badly in this country. In the USA any discount offered by publishers to large companies had to offered to small bookshops, so if Wallmart could buy 1000s of Harry Potters for a dollar a copy and sell them at $1.50 then small bookshops could also buy at $1 a copy. Over here publishers could sell to Tesco at £1.00 a copy and your local bookseller at £3.00 a copy. As these sort of titles were "cash cows" the result is that most local booksellers have gone. Books are cheaper but choice is more limited - can you tell one Waterstone's from another?

Libraries always do better if sited next to shops so visits to the library are combined with weekly shop, etc. Also a lot of people do use the library for more than book borrowing - and borrow more than one book. Trouble is that most authorities have old buildings in what were thriving high streets but aren't any more. The buildings were great in 1900 but not as much use now. It's great fun trying to get computer suites, cabling and power into a listed building that was built before we had achieved powered flight!

Inter library cooperation has also floundered in various budget cuts - regional libraries used to commit to buying and retaining various authors and subjects but that seems to have suffered (I'm rather out of touch with latest developments, it's all rather depressing when we used to get esoteric titles from the continent for people for about 10p)

The internet is a great resource but there are limitations to search engines see:

https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=5aksvyhpndth8geb-4d4ag&gws_rd=ssl#q=censorship+by+google

(Wiki article on "censorship by google" which doesn't seem to want to paste as a link)

I'm sure that everyone here is aware of potential issues, but not everyone is, so there can be an illusion of accuracy that I find slightly disturbing.

But in the spirit of a good librarian - I'm biased!!