A key strategy to minimize my eco-footprint is to buy everything I can second hand. Clearly this works better with some things (cloths, tools, electronic equipment) then others (shoes, underpants, food).
As soon I discovered that I could buy second hand books on Amazon I figured that, for books I couldn’t find in my local second-hand book shop, this was the most ethical option. Personally, I don’t buy the guff that Kindle (or equivalent) is the eco option for reading. That electronic ‘ware has a big embedded footprint and you will have to worked through a large number of books before it konks out to call it quits. As far as i am concerned the second hand book is king.
I recently purchased a good stash of books on Amazon.co.uk. As always I got a kick as they plopped through the letter box but this time the kick was of the unpleasant variety. As I was flicking through two of my most exciting recent purchases I found out they may have been pilfered from public librarys.
I am about a third of the way through the excellent From Counter Culture to Cyber Culture – Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network and the Rise of Digital Utopianism and every time I open it I am faced with ‘Manhattan Public Library – Copy Withdrawn’. The second book that looks stolen is The Transition Handbook. On the inside front cover it says ‘Darlington Borough Council (last withdrawn 04.02.2010)’.
I feel guilty as hell! Have I paid some sleaze ball to skank wicked books out of the public domain? Am I handling stolen goods? I am in a moral quagmire without a paddle. Should I:
- Report the book seller?
- Post the books back to the library?
- Round up a posse and go vigilante?
- Assume this is the latest tactic of Big Oil to remove key information from the public domain and spread confusion.
Any thoughts appreciated.
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2 Responses to Has Amazon turned me into a cyber-criminal?
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As a former employee of a public library, my advice to you would be that these books have, more than likely, been removed from the library stock legitimately and sold on to the public or another bookseller. The key phrase is ‘copy withdrawn’ – anything with this stamped in has been withdrawn from public lending by the library and is no longer a part of their catalogue.
If you’re *really* paranoid about this, give the library a call and quote the barcode (if it’s in there) to a member of staff. But, seriously – 1000s of library books get removed from the catalogue and sold on every day, often through Amazon, mainly because they’re not popular enough or they’ve got plenty of copies spare. The churn of books through a library is extraordinary. Libraries would much rather the extra copies they carry of less popular books got bought and read by somebody rather than taking up their precious shelf space. I really wouldn’t worry about it.
Hi David,
Phew! Sounds like I was over reacting slightly.
I can’t believe those books weren’t popular enough. : /
Cheers,
M