Panic!!!

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

That's partly why I don't read much in the way of bestsellers anymore.

Exactly! I don't read bestsellers ever. (Except *very* rare occasions.) Seriously, if a book is listed as a bestseller, it's the kiss of death for me -- it means that it won't be sold to me. Too much hype, too much hoopla... all for, typically, nothing. (Except for something like In Cold Blood that floats way above the hype scale.)

[Cida]

Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry

Cida, we haven't met before, so I hesitate to disagree with you on our first meeting. Please don't be offended, but like you I am also a library advocate, and often want to find books less in demand, so I've discussed the situation with librarians. What I discovered is that most libraries get funding by the number of users they have, and will rid themselves of books that don't "turn" to make room for those that will. It is good business sense for them to buy multiple copies if it keeps users coming back.

Also, if your library doesn't have a copy of a book, most libraries participate in an inter-library loan system. I've had books come to me from across the continent. So, don't be irked. Be glad that we library patrons will give the libraries a reason to buy extra copies. (And as for the publishers... don't worry, they aren't going to run into the red anytime soon.)

Mayberry, if everyone would disagree with such courtesy, the world would be a very different place!

I dunno, maybe the core problem is obliging libraries to be in the equivalent of a beauty contest, competing. This is presumably why they're tossing out books in favor of computers. I have no problem with multiple copies - maybe 3 or 4, or even a half-dozen. But it seems to me that the most important purpose of libraries is to be repositories, and this became all the more clear to me as I gradually realized what a short life-span a book has of being in print.