Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished! discussion

I'm just here to bemoan the fact that it now costs £10 for me to receive a book via Inter-Library Loan. Apparently the company that my local public library system (Yorkshire) uses for such exchanges charges this flat fee, which my public library happily passes onto me (rather than absorbing the cost). The librarian even said that No One uses this anymore, so you'd think they might just let it slide... :(

I've gone for one, just to try it out, but I'm not sure I can justify many more. I don't get to keep the book, so I can't even lie to myself and call it an "investment".How sad!

I haven't used the ILL system for a long time. I remember in the 1950s membership of public libraries in Liverpool was not free. A children's library ticket cost 3 old pennies a year, that's 1 and a quarter pence in today's money. Not a bad bargain really.

Capn wrote: "I'm just here to bemoan the fact that it now costs £10 for me to receive a book via Inter-Library Loan. Apparently the company that my local public library system (Yorkshire) uses for such exchange..."

I knew it was expensive in the UK but that's a bit more than I'd thought. It's free here but they won't go out of the province. At one time it was free and they'd borrow from anywhere in North America. In those days, university libraries would loan books to public libraries. No more. You could scan or photograph the book.

In Oklahoma City the wonderful system will borrow from anywhere in the US for free, often getting copies from universities. There is a place to indicate how much, if anything, you're willing to pay, and I'll often fill in 3 or 5 dollars.

In Central Ohio, there is a great consortium, and they will send a book from another nearby library system if the one in my system is checked out. There is also a statewide system. There is no charge, but if you lose an ILL book, it's a flat $150! I can see why the library would charge, but I would probably not use the service. I like the idea of a voluntary donation.

At my local library in the Midwest, ILLs are free within the state, but $5 from public libraries outside the state and $20 from universities outside the state. I get it - ILLs can be a lot of work and postage - but I'm not usually able to pay it.