Summer Reading and Guilty Pleasures

School is winding down and the temperatures are rising. Vacation may be a trip to the shore or a day under a shade tree in the park or your backyard. A good book is the best way to get away. Recycled Reads has a great selection of titles in every genre whether you’re looking for a good beach read or planning the next selection for your book club. And with most selections two dollars or less, and all proceeds going directly to the Austin Public Library, a trip to Recycled Reads could be your best travel destination all year.

Be a Guest Blogger: Share your thoughts on Recycled Reads

We want to hear from you about Recycled Reads: The Austin Public Library’s used bookstore. Submit your shopping experience, favorite find, book art ideas or anything book related to recycled.reads@austintexas.gov and you may be a guest blogger on our site. We look forward to hearing from you.

Borrowing Books on Tablets and Online Schooling submitted by Estelle Shumann

It’s uncommon for college students to spend hundreds of dollars every semester to buy several thick textbooks that burden their shoulders around campus. The buying and selling of textbooks is expensive, time consuming and usually involves a surge of bargain-crazed students hustling to get the few affordable used books for sale before the semester begins.  Unfortunately, this is the old world paradigm of university life.

Recycled Reads would like to thank Estelle for her post and remind folks that here at the bookstore we have a great selection of books in every subject if you’re looking for something that isn’t available yet as an ebook, please contact us.

Fortunately, the introduction of tablet computers brings hope for college students; students are able to read course material and interact with assignments while holding tablets weighing less than a paperback book not only lowers the cost of textbooks but also the physical burden of carrying monstrous textbooks.  This new student body is reading class textbooks and journals and borrowing library ebooks on their Kindles, Sony Readers, Nooks, tablets, and iPads. Not only does this open opportunities for students at traditional college campuses, it provides yet another avenue for learning for students completing online degrees on the go.

Public and university libraries have finally jumped on board the ebook bandwagon and the list of available books in electronic format is growing at an alarming rate.  This is has made online learning a possibility for many people who otherwise would not have enough access to research materials to be able to utilize ebook resources from anywhere internet is available.  In the age of online learning, that can be a stay at home mom getting a degree from a home computer in suburban America, or a student of international development using 3G internet on their iPad while sitting on beach in Vietnam.   Public and university libraries can subscribe to sites such as ebrary.com and with holdings of nearly 500,000 titles, students of most popular academic subjects are finding what they need for their research. On top of that, students are throwing off the yokes of buying cumbersome and expensive textbooks and using borrowing sites to avoid one of the greatest hassles of that old world paradigm of university life. 

Like any budding revolution, the kinks are still being worked as libraries wait for some reluctant publishers to jump on board.  According to a New York Times article, publishing giants Simon & Schuster and Macmillan are not allowing libraries access to their books at all, while HarperCollins is beginning to limit the number of times their books can be checked out before the license expires.  While this takes a chunk out of the available ebooks for students, university presses and independent publishers- whose content is more geared towards academia anyway- will still be available for lending.  Aside from the limitations from publishers not willing to play nice in the new game of literature sharing, it is simply not yet possible to have all written work of modern times available in electronic format. While new works are often being offered in both electronic and printed format from the get-go, a hundred-year-old report on an obscure battle that took place in the rugged mountains of southeast Turkey will be a little harder to find.  This is not to say we are not headed to a time when all written work of all ages is available to all students, but please, let’s be happy with the baby steps for now.

What You’ve Been Missing

Don’t let our silence fool you. Recycled Reads is still receiving lots of terrific books, collectible items, movies, audio books and vinyl records. If you haven’t seen me at the store it’s because I’ve been up the road as acting Branch Manager for the Old Quarry Branch Library. Long time branch manager, Pat Campbell retired in February and a new manager should be on the scene soon. My first branch when I came to Austin Public Library in 1996 was Old Quarry, so it’s like coming home. I hope to be back at Recycled Reads full time by mid May and Walter will be filling in for me on Sundays. I’ll also be attending the Texas Library Association annual conference in Houston next week to give a presentation about Recycled Reads. We have some great programs coming up and we always have great deals, so keep shopping and donating and I’ll see you soon.

Always a Place for Books Here

Last week we received a large donation of recently published Chicken Soup for the Soul titles. These were new from the publisher, and the firm who donated them to us lamented that there is no place in Austin to donate books. Books are heavy, take up space, and are very subjective, according to individual taste. That is why Recycled Reads is such a great community resource. We take all books, in any condition, and to suit any taste of reader and collector. We have the space for them and the commitment from volunteers to sort, research and stock our shelves. So you don’t need to be a reader or collector of vintage books to come here, maybe you just need a place who respects what you have.

Shelves are Stocked and Ready for Shoppers

Margaret Dahl inspects store prior to opening a noon.

How Does a Book Get onto the Shelf at Recycled Reads?

If the book you are looking for is no longer in your branch, it may be in one of these boxes. Every week the warehouse brings pallets like these over to the bookstore for volunteers to sort. It may take weeks or even months for a particular book to make it to our shelves. But call us (323-5123), we are always happy to do a shelf search.

Recommended Reading

At Recycled Reads we are always looking for ways to make your shopping experience more enjoyable. As we continue to get more and more fiction donations, we have added  recommended mystery and  recommended science fiction shelves in addition to our popular staff picks shelf.

Many of us now enjoy the convenience of ebooks as well as print books. Did you know there are many books that have not yet been converted to ebooks? These include all the Harry Potter titles, 2001: a Space Odyssey, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Catcher in the Rye, One Hundred Years of Solitude, All Quiet on the Western Front, and the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Conversely, books we have loved to pull off the shelf, are becoming exclusively electronic. These include The Encyclopedia Britannica. (Recycled Reads carries a variety of encyclopedias).

If you are looking for options for your book discussion groups, you should check with us as well. Several book clubs were discussing Jonathan Frazen’s book Freedom not too long ago. We have multiple copies at the store. If your group hasn’t read it: It’s an excellent choice.

Come by and browse our collection for your favorite titles and introduce yourself to some new authors.

 

Recycled Reads: a True Community Space

We celebrated our three-year anniversary on Saturday. Along with our shelves upon shelves of amazing books; the bookstore is a great community space for puppet shows, craft demonstrations and art exhibits. Our new exhibit is courtesy of Imagine Art.

Recycled Reads’ Three-Year Anniversary Bookmark