Autistica, a charity funding research into the causes and treatment of autism, is holding a character auction to raise money.

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A number of authors have agreed to allow the highest bidder to name a character in their next book. The full list of authors involved can be found here, but I’m especially excited to see David Mitchell’s name on the list. Other authors who may interest you include Ken Follett, Hari Kunzru and Maggie Gee. The auctions end this Sunday so you still have a few days left to bid.

Happy Bidding!

Last night the Giller Prize winner was revealed as The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud. I love the Giller Prize, but unfortunately it normally takes a while for these Canadian books to make it across to the UK (Annabel will be the first from the short list to reach UK shores – in March 2011). I am used to waiting to read the Giller winner, but it seems that many people in Canada are upset about having to wait. The publisher, Gaspereau Press, is very small and initially only printed 800 copies of the book. Once it was short listed then Book Printing NYC started printing 1000 copies a week, but were unable to keep up with demand.  Gaspereau Press hand-make each copy to a high standard and are refusing to outsource production as this would lower the quality of the book. Publisher Andrew Steeves is ignoring demands to mass produce the book claiming:

The reader who is here today will be here in three weeks.

I admire his desire to make each of his books beautiful, but I think I’m one of the few book lovers who prefers scruffy books. For me the beauty is in the words and I don’t care if the copy I am reading is damaged. In fact I prefer it.

I love to look at well designed books, but I’m scared to read them. I hate damaging immaculate books and carefully reading a beautiful book is a little bit stressful for me. I far prefer to have a well-read paperback that I can throw in my bag, read in the bath and otherwise abuse. Guilt free.

I am a bit odd in that I can never damage a book, but sometimes buy the roughest copy available as I know I’ll then be able to fully enjoy the words without worrying about opening the book too far and creasing the spine.

Am I the only one with this weird habit?

Would you prefer to wait for a beautiful book or just read the words now?

A few weeks ago I posted about problems within the UK library system and how US libraries seemed to be coping well, despite similar budget problems.

One of the US initiatives I was particularly intrigued by was the “books by mail” service in which books are posted directly to your door. I initially thought that this was a luxury service only to be afforded by wealthy libraries, but after doing a bit of research I firmly believe that all libraries could achieve this service and it could be the key to boosting UK library usage.

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How does it work?

1. The library user requests a book via the online library catalogue.
2. The library posts the book directly to the home address of the user.
3. When they have finished reading the book they can either return it through the post at their own expense or take it back to the library.

Why is it beneficial to the public?

Library opening hours are being reduced all the time and so it is increasingly hard for the public to get to the library, especially if they have a full time job during normal office hours.  Anything that makes life easier for busy people is good. It would be especially useful to those with mobility problems, but I think that everyone would love this service.

Why is it beneficial to libraries?

It would encourage more people to use the library.

The positive press would be fantastic. It would show that libraries are willing move with the times, listen to the needs of their customers and provide a fast, convenient service that is suitable for everyone.

It would mean that more people would love their library, creating a larger network of people willing to support it.

It allows libraries to direct-mail their customers, letting people know about future events or initiatives. Happy customers are more likely to respond to these mailings and so library events can grow.

Isn’t this service really expensive?

No!

With Royal Mail Packet post it costs £1.38 to send parcels with an average weight of under 500g. From my book-selling experience I would estimate that it would cost less than £1.50 an item – much less if people requested several books at the same time. I’m sure that a large number of people would be willing to pay a small fee for the convenience of having a book delivered to their door, but I’d like to see this service provided free to all.

This could be achieved by enabling advertisers to pay for fliers within the packages.

Another option would be to reduce the library opening times. If all books can be mailed straight to your door then there is less need for the library to be open all day. I’m sure most people would accept a small reduction in library opening hours to help to pay for this improved service.

Case Study

Burlington County Library introduced a “books by mail” service in June 2008. It has been so successful that the scheme has since been rolled out to several other neighbouring library systems.

How many packages do you send each day?

Since the project begain in 2008 the average is 38 packages per day, but over the last eight months this has increased to 48.

The largest per day total, in February 2010 was 60.

How much did you spend on supplies and postage last year?

$4081 on supplies (nylon bags, padded envelopes and labels)

$42,387.23 on postage 

That is $2.56 per package, or $1.09 per item.

How much time is devoted each day to the process?

An average of four staff hours per day is spent checking out and packaging.

I found these numbers very encouraging. It makes the system sound feasible and I’m going to see if my local library is receptive to starting up this scheme.

Do you think a “books by mail” service would work in the UK?

Would you be willing to pay for the convenience?

Would it encourage you to use the library more frequently?

A special thank you to Peter Bromberg from Princeton Public Library’s mail service  for persuading me that the Books by Mail service is a wonderful thing!