How Book Rental Service Works. This just made laugh. It was either that, or cry instead. We're all familiar with the 'Love film' concept - you create a pool of films that you want to read, pay a monthly subscription, get films shipped to you - you watch them and then send them back.
Bookswim is now offering the same service, only for books. Please, do pause for a moment, and let that idea sink in. OK. Now, if you're a light reader, this service costs $23.95 a month, for three books at a time. Unlimited reading! No due dates! No late fees! No shipping fees! That's about £15 a month for those of us in the UK, 17.50 Euros. You can pay up to $59.95 a month for 11 books. That's £37 or 44 Euros near enough.
I love the comments on the service. Try this one from Diane P of California "You've saved me hundreds of dollars in just a few months. I would have bought (retail) all the books I've been sent so far, this is an amazing way to read great books at a reasonable price." Of course, I dived into the FAQ to see if they raised any points on libraries. They do. Here are some of the Bookswim advantages: No waiting lists for popular titles, no due dates, no late fees, no fines, no driving across town to borrow books, no limited hours. I am really not going to bother responding to each of these points - you already know what I'll say and you can also say it yourself just as easily and probably better.
But dear heavens... I really can't help myself and I'll bet you can't either, so shall we all say it together: "JUST USE THE LIBRARY!". There, that felt good didn't it. Let's just hope that this is one American idea that doesn't end up in the UK!
Bookswim is now offering the same service, only for books. Please, do pause for a moment, and let that idea sink in. OK. Now, if you're a light reader, this service costs $23.95 a month, for three books at a time. Unlimited reading! No due dates! No late fees! No shipping fees! That's about £15 a month for those of us in the UK, 17.50 Euros. You can pay up to $59.95 a month for 11 books. That's £37 or 44 Euros near enough.
I love the comments on the service. Try this one from Diane P of California "You've saved me hundreds of dollars in just a few months. I would have bought (retail) all the books I've been sent so far, this is an amazing way to read great books at a reasonable price." Of course, I dived into the FAQ to see if they raised any points on libraries. They do. Here are some of the Bookswim advantages: No waiting lists for popular titles, no due dates, no late fees, no fines, no driving across town to borrow books, no limited hours. I am really not going to bother responding to each of these points - you already know what I'll say and you can also say it yourself just as easily and probably better.
But dear heavens... I really can't help myself and I'll bet you can't either, so shall we all say it together: "JUST USE THE LIBRARY!". There, that felt good didn't it. Let's just hope that this is one American idea that doesn't end up in the UK!
But what happens when this is set up for eBooks. I've been talking about this for some time on Twitter and other places. I'd certainly use an eBook lending service of this kind for a moonthly subscription if it meant I could get all published eBooks.
Now if the Publishers Association sorted itself out and saw the light regarding libraries loaning eBooks, a national, the whole UK, eBook lending service would provide a really good, comprehensive collection available to all. This is somethng the MLA should have been working on. It's probably getting close to being too late now.
Posted by: Graham Dash | January 26, 2011 at 09:42 PM
I don't believe BookSwim has really caught on in the US either (although I'll certainly second the hope that it doesn't in the UK). Even their puffery website only claims "tens of thousands of readers" have at some time used them--which, four years in to the service for a nation of 330 million, isn't even a rounding error compared to public library use (since a majority of Americans do use public libraries, to the tune of more than two billion circs a year).
Posted by: walt crawford | January 26, 2011 at 10:16 PM
The 'Love Film' for books idea has been around a few years now, and indeed it is an idea that to a degree has some merit. HOWEVER ..., it should be the UK's library services that are offering it (maybe with a nominal fee to cover postage - or with sponsorship to cover postage).
Posted by: scott | January 27, 2011 at 02:31 PM
Actually, it's amazing how many people simply don't know what the library offers. I remember my brother-in-law being very excited about the idea of a lending library, and asked me how much it cost to rent a book. He was amazed (and delighted) to discover it was free, and has since become a regular borrower.
Maybe, though, the small numbers, no deadline model might be an option for public libraries though - my sister is always put off from taking her children in because she's disorganized and always has fines outstanding.
Posted by: Lizz | January 28, 2011 at 11:17 AM
Of course they should be using libraries, but maybe we need to be adopting Love Film's model and setting up pay per lend services where the books are sent out to the customer and fines are not charged. It's probably too big for one library authority, but what about regional consortia? As long as it is self funding - or perhaps in partnership with Waterstones or Amazon? We might even be able to channel profit back into main stream servies!
Posted by: Lindsay Wallace | February 01, 2011 at 11:31 AM