Hi Monica, I absolutely agree with you. Another issue, at least for me, is the time factor when borrowing books from a library. The concept is good, but when I borrow a book, I have to be sure to scan it quickly, submit it, and hope that it will be validated while I still have the book. Then there is the matter of making sure that I have arranged for someone to return the book to the library. I'm not suggesting that any part of the process is impossible, it just takes a lot of planning in advance. You're correct about the purchasing of books, also. I can only afford to purchase books that I want to read, and I make every effort to see that many of them are submitted for inclusion in the Bookshare collection. Blessings. Lynn I ----- Original Message ----- From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 1:21 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Dating the wish list requests Hi, Cindy and Cindy. (smile) You're right about us whittling away at the wish list. I don't think adding dates would help, and this is why. I would say the biggest reasons many wish list books aren't scanned are money and time. I think money is the primary factor though. Many of us buy the books we scan, and we tend to buy books we'd actually like to read. Some of our submitters can access a library, but many of us cannot do that due to lack of transportation. Many volunteers are retired or are on a fixed income like SSI. Others are college students or people who work part-time. I buy around 90 percent of the books I scan. I buy them used, but the costs still add up. I don't think I'm the only one in this boat either. You know, what would really help me more than the date is if someone requesting a book were willing to help by purchasing the book to be scanned. Stores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble make this easy and quick to arrange online. I know some people can't do that. Some can though, and I don't think they realize that volunteers are putting out our own money to fill the requests. Even those who get books from a library often have to pay for cab fares to and from the library. I certainly don't want to discourage people from requesting books. I just think the bottleneck for the wish list has a lot more to do with money and then time as a secondary factor. Do other volunteers see it this way, or is my experience unusual? Monica Willyard "The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.175 / Virus Database: 270.9.4/1792 - Release Date: 11/16/2008 10:04 AM To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.