Although this doesn't specifically address Kathy Edwards's original
query, I concur with the excellent points presented in Raymond
Smith's follow-up posting, and would likewise encourage librarians always
to check with reliable vendors and never assume that the only available
copies of a particular title are those advertised on ABE or similar
sites. As Mr. Smith notes, once a seller has listed a title on ABE at an
inflated price, other less-than-knowledgeable booksellers may follow
suit, and a widely available title suddenly appears to be a rare
commodity.
From our own experience, we know of one seller (I assume this is the
same outfit to which Mr. Smith refers) who has copied thousands of
Worldwide's bibliographic records from our Web site, and then posted the
records on ABE and on other book sites as their own. Our carefully
prepared page and illustration counts, title citations and translations,
and on occasion even our own descriptive commentaries have been copied
verbatim without our permission. Only two things are changed: the prices
(which are routinely 10 to 20 times our own), and the addition of such
notes as "flawless copy, brand new, pristine, never opened" to
each entry. Before we became aware of this interesting business model of
a bookseller advertising "rare" books they don't actually have
in stock, we received a number of rush orders from this vendor,
presumably to be resold at a grotesque profit to the unsuspecting
purchasers who had responded to "their" listings -- all without
the hassle and expense of purchasing and maintaining inventory, preparing
entries, and otherwise functioning as a reputable bookseller.
Although Worldwide Books is not an antiquarian dealer per se, our
complete inventory of more than 20,000 in-stock titles published since
the 1960s is searchable through our own Web site, and we are readily able
to supply many titles that have been declared out of print by their
publishers. However, we remind clients that few of our titles are listed
on ABE or on other such sites (at least not by us).
Kelly M. Fiske
Worldwide Books
1001 West Seneca Street
Ithaca, NY 14850 USA
Phone (607) 272-9200, ext. 16
Fax (607) 272-0239
US & Canadian orders 1-800-473-8146
www.worldwide-artbooks.com
At 12:59 PM 2/23/2009, you wrote:
I very much sympathize with Kathy's
situation.
Some of our member booksellers (such as myself, a member since 1980),
deal in rare and out-of-print art reference material.
Before committing to purchasing an expensive item on
line from an unknown source, why not post your request on the ARLIS chat
line?
For example, I have about 17,000 titles catalogued on
line, but over 35,000 others which are not. Some of the prices of
ABE vendors are appallingly high, notably one outfit which invariably has
rather common art books and catalogues priced ten to twenty times what
anyone else has it for. A catalogue which I just listed for $10 is
available from them for $177, for example; a second vendor, following his
lead has it at $99. But it's not worth much more than $10 or
$20. Some of the other vendors who no nothing about art undercut
his price by half, but it's still five time what the price should
be.
I'm sure that those of us who are bookseller members
welcome desiderata lists from institutional members and are more than
willing to offer material if available. We also have the expertise
to recognize what is rare and valuable and what is not. By posting
your wants on the chat line, it would be an inexpensive and perhaps
fruitful way of reciprocating bookseller members for their support of the
organization through their exhibiting at conferences and sponsorship of
special travel awards and prizes. By appealing to bookseller ARLIS
members, it may save you or your students some of the huge expense in
replacing out-of-print books when you buy from untrustworthy and
inexperienced sources.
Raymond Smith
R.W. Smith Bookseller
New Haven
----- Original Message -----
- From: Kathy Edwards
- To: [log in to unmask]
- Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 10:52 AM
- Subject: [ARLIS-L] Policy when it comes to expensive/hard-to-replace
books?
- Does your library have a policy regarding the circulation of
unusually expensive resources? If yes, how do you balance access and
control?
-
- Last semester one of our in-demand books went missing from a design
studio. Although we acquired it for about $65 several years ago, in the
intervening years the now out-of-print book has become scarce. The
graduate student who checked it out and shared it with studiomates during
the semester is now facing a replacement bill of $300+ --and that’s for a
used copy.
-
- This is on my mind because I’m about to order a similarly expensive
resource that will likely see a lot of use, and my fiscally prudish
impulse is to restrict it to the reference shelf!
-
- Kathy Edwards
- Arts & Architecture Reference
- Gunnin Architecture Library
- 112 Lee Hall, Clemson University
- Clemson SC 29634
- (864) 656-4289
- [log in to unmask]