Book lending/exchange idea

[Jason Foster]

I had an idea pop in my head after seeing a fellow ST member post on FB about a book he is reading in which I wouldn't mind reading, but being both budget conscious and always thinking about how to help the chaser community at-large, thought: what if we could exchange books to learn and entertain ourselves without have to have an extensive library right away.

Essentially, the idea is to over or request a book in this thread, connect with someone who has it. Pay a "deposit" that is returned when the book is returned. I think this works well with older, out of print books, hard to get books, and more. The lender would set the deposit value of course, likely based on replacement value. I think it would also be a great way to get new chasers to read up quickly before heading out for the first time.

I think it would work generally well within the ST community...probably not so good outside the forum, because we use real names here, and to some level trust each other. It also might help foster in some community togetherness/comradery at the same time...that never hurts.

 

[Jasson Dotts]

I had an idea pop in my head after seeing a fellow ST member post on FB about a book he is reading in which I wouldn't mind reading, but being both budget conscious and always thinking about how to help the chaser community at-large, thought: what if we could exchange books to learn and entertain ourselves without have to have an extensive library right away.

Essentially, the idea is to over or request a book in this thread, connect with someone who has it. Pay a "deposit" that is returned when the book is returned. I think this works well with older, out of print books, hard to get books, and more. The lender would set the deposit value of course, likely based on replacement value. I think it would also be a great way to get new chasers to read up quickly before heading out for the first time.

I think it would work generally well within the ST community...probably not so good outside the forum, because we use real names here, and to some level trust each other. It also might help foster in some community togetherness/comradery at the same time...that never hurts.

I like the idea Jason but have some concerns with it. What happens if the book gets damaged or destroyed? If it's an out of print book or rare book then that would be a very hard subject to bring up to the lender. I lent a autographed book by Ann Rice to a friend only to have it eaten by his dog. He paid for the book but it didn't come close to actually replacing what I lost. I would love a chance at reading what others have in their libraries. A "Pay It Forward" thread has done good on other forums I have been on. You just post something you are willing to get rid of for free or cost of shipping. I like the ones where you agree after you are done with the item you repost it so another member of the forum can use it. This way the item stays within the forum community. I think getting into the money side of the idea is going to cause some problems down the road. Just my two cents on the idea. I hope this idea takes off. I know I would benefit from it and hopefully be able to contribute to it.

 

[Jason Foster]

I like the idea Jason but have some concerns with it. What happens if the book gets damaged or destroyed? If it's an out of print book or rare book then that would be a very hard subject to bring up to the lender. I lent a autographed book by Ann Rice to a friend only to have it eaten by his dog. He paid for the book but it didn't come close to actually replacing what I lost. I would love a chance at reading what others have in their libraries. A "Pay It Forward" thread has done good on other forums I have been on. You just post something you are willing to get rid of for free or cost of shipping. I like the ones where you agree after you are done with the item you repost it so another member of the forum can use it. This way the item stays within the forum community. I think getting into the money side of the idea is going to cause some problems down the road. Just my two cents on the idea. I hope this idea takes off. I know I would benefit from it and hopefully be able to contribute to it.

I valid concern about replacement. That would be up to the person lending the book. I would say if the person didn't want to risk the book getting destroyed, probably just not offer it up for lending. There a many out-of-print books that many just have sitting on the self that it wouldn't really matter (to the owner) if it got destroyed by accident.

Probably have to be some rules, which would be somewhat agreed upon, but it's really an honor system...mostly.