My automatic response to any service that claims to provide people with a Netflix-style book rental service is to make fun of it. Unless you don’t have a public library in your area, why would you subscribe to something like this? It also amuses me that the URL is “booksfree.com,” yet you’re PAYING for the service, which means that, uh, it’s not free.
Anyhow, I was looking at their “Compare our Value!” page, and I found a few things that really entertained me. Yes, there’s stuff that this service has that libraries do not have. I can’t think of a public library that has found a viable model for mailing books to patrons, and home delivery tends to be restricted to the homebound. We can’t guarantee that any book you might ever want is in stock at the exact moment that you want it, but I think the rise of electronic resources could change that over the next several years. Also, we don’t offer gift cards, but folks, it’s a public library, so you kind of prepaid for the service with your tax dollars, no?
My favorites, though are the following:
Booksfree insists that they are the only outlet for books that won’t guilt-trip you for not finishing a book. Seriously. It says “No Guilt for not Finishing Books You did not Like” (capitalization theirs). Last time I checked, we weren’t in the habit of guilt-tripping anyone over a book they didn’t finish. Maybe I should start on my next Welcome Desk shift. Here are some sample scripts that you could use in your own library:
- “What do you mean, you couldn’t finish that James Patterson book? Shame on you! This means that you cannot check out any of the six new books that he plans on releasing this month!”
- “You didn’t make it to the end of Infinte Jest? Hand over your intellectual hipster credentials, posthaste! No irony for you!”
- “I cannot accept that you think [insert book title here] sucked. Finish it, or you’re grounded for a week!”
They also state that libraries do not have a “Large Selection of Out-of-Print Titles.” Yes, because we immediately discard everything in our collections that is out of print! That is why our collections are so tiny. We also don’t offer “Personalized Recommendations.” I guess this is because library staff are too busy guilt-tripping all those people who didn’t finish the books they checked out. Libraries also are not an “Interactive Community of Avid Readers.” We’re working on that. I think we’re pretty good with community, and avid readers tend to like us a lot.
I’m fine with for-profit companies who want to compete with public libraries. I think it makes us better. It keeps us on our toes. It reminds us that we’re still relevant, because if we were irrelevant, why would someone try to make money doing what we do? But Booksfree, if you want to compete with us and win, you need to get your facts straight. And by the way, touting your gigantic selection of bestsellers and popular titles when you only circulate paperback books is no way to compete with the mighty public library. We have the newest books by David Baldacci, Stephenie Meyer, and Jodi Picoult; you don’t.
