Building better world a book at a time

“We heard of libraries having to dump books down a well at midnight because they weren’t allowed to even recycle them, but they didn’t have any room on their shelves and they needed a home for these old books. Once we started doing that … we get twice as many books from libraries now than we do from college campuses.” Building better world a book at a time

July 15, 2009 by Uncategorized 10

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10 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    July 15, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    Most libraries just recycle them anyway…
    “Down a well”? This isn’t the 1850s, for goodness’ sake.

    From the name of the business, and the glowing terms in which it’s described in the article, I thought they would be sending the books to impoverished school districts or libraries in Third World nations or some other charitable act that creates a “better world,” but no–they’re just another used-book seller. They’re not doing anything bad, but they’re not terribly newsworthy, either. With the kind of funding and credit they’ve been able to receive, they’re in an extremely privileged position for a so-called “small business” and probably don’t need any free publicity.

    Plus, most libraries already sell their deaccessioned books, and recycle what doesn’t sell–same as this company’s doing.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    July 15, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    Better World Books
    Better World Books does not disclose the salaries of their executives. If they bring in a million dollars and pay the executives 999,999 and then then have a dollar profit and they give 5% to charity that is a nickel.

    You want to make the world a better place make money for your library so you can buy more materials for your patrons. When you send books to Better World they sell them and pocket the profit. The whole donate to charity angle is their way to get free press and to dup libraries into giving them materials.

    If you cannot sell books yourself. You can find vendors that will sell your books for you and give you the vast majority of the profit. You can probably find someone locally that will do this for you. Make sure you have good oversight so you know you are getting your money. Many used books have value and libraries should be claiming this value for themselves not helping shill charity booksellers.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says:
    July 15, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    Better World Books scam
    More info here on the Better World Books sham “let’s give money to charity” operation.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      July 22, 2009 at 6:33 pm

      better world ?
      I understand that betterworld only lists books with isbn numbers, in order to work with their software. a few exceptions for sorted and seperatly shipped anitquatiran books. that means they send all of the rest to a shredder. makes no sense.

      Reply
  4. Chuck says:
    July 15, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    what
    God forbid someone should provide a service and make money.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      July 15, 2009 at 5:53 pm

      What response
      No problem a place making money. What is a problem is that the library could have been making that money instead of falling for the line that the money is going to charity when only a tiny fraction if any at all goes to charity. Are libraries so flush with cash that they can throw money away. The used books that libraries get rid of have a value. They should be trying to recoup some of that value so that the library has money.

      God forbid a library look out for itself and not get screwed by shyters. God forbid a library recoup some money on books they own so that they can buy new books and pay their staff.

      Reply
  5. Chuck says:
    July 15, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    not how it works
    I don;t know any library that cannibalizes its own collection just for money. Or one that is moved to donate books solely because they are going to charity.

    Rather the materials are to be weeded and donation is better than the recycling pile. Or it prevents staff from having to explain to some nosy patron why all those really valuable 25 year old books on interior decorating are “just being thrown away.”

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      July 16, 2009 at 4:47 am

      Low down
      Here is the low down. Betterworld just tosses the 25 year old books on interior decorating. Or they send them to Africa and claim that as charity, as if Africa will benefit by 25 year old books on interior decorating. They use scanners and people and go through the books and find the books in the pile you send that are worth from $25 to $250. And they will find a couple that are worth more than $250. Then they sell them and pocket the money. Libraries need to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. Find the $250 books yourself and sell them on eBay and let your library pocket the money. All the books on interior decorating that are worth nothing send them to a paper re-cycler. Before you send off the decorating books you might want to look through them and make sure you understand what you have. 95% will be garbage but the rest will be valuable books. Be a chump and send them to Betterworld or be smart and look out for your own library and separate the wheat from the chaff.

      Reply
  6. GrayArcadian says:
    July 20, 2009 at 8:54 am

    Whatever, dude. I used to
    Whatever, dude. I used to work for a book warehouse where if the cover was bend a little they ended up tossed. Not recycled – tossed. The librarians have some reverence for books or they wouldn’t be librarians. Nice to start small though. Call me when they have the “stripped book” market covered.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says:
    July 22, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    betterworld
    I understand that if the book does not have an isbn that it gets tossed without checking value.

    Reply

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