[bksvol-discuss] Re: Dating the wish list requests

  • From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:21:02 -0500

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.

Other related posts: