[Noisebridge-discuss] Noisebridge Lending Library?

[jim]

JS: my comments interspersed below. 

On Sun, 2010-02-07 at 11:30 -0800, Will Sargent wrote:

> On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 11:00 AM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:

>           how will "we" know that you have a particular book?
>         (for the record, i'm still against this practice for
>         reasons previously expressed but yet unaddressed.)

> I'll tell you, either in person or on the mailing list, as you prefer.
> And I keep a record on Toodledo of all the books I've either lent out
> or been lent.  Currently, two economics books out for a friend to
> finish a paper.   I realize you don't know me, but the last time I was
> told I had something and couldn't find it, I spent over $100 and many
> months tracking down and replacing their Paul Pope collection.  They
> found the originals in the basement when they moved.
JS: thanks for the reply, will. it's not personal, of course, but 
that's part of the point. i have a couple of books that belong to 
other people that i can now not get hold of and it bothers me. 
choose a point of view: we're all a little bit creepy or we're 
all at least a little bit prone to screwing up.... it's to protect 
me against my own error-prone creepiness that i worry about me 
taking books from the library. )think of yourselves when you read 
the previous sentence.) 

> It sounds as though your reasons are trust related.  I can understand
> that, but if you're really worried about people walking out with books
> and not returning them, the best solution is to have them in a locked
> room and only give out the key to people you know will give them back.
JS: yes, absolutely trust related, but not personally. generally 
we stick to our values, seems to me. but we all screw up from 
time to time, me included for sure, the rest of you included in 
my view as a matter of faith. again, it's a matter of protecting 
ourselves from our tendencies to screw up as a matter of excellence. 

> Besides which, what motivation would I have for not telling you that I
> had a particular book?  It would be wrong for me to take something
> that wasn't freely given, and it would be just as wrong to lie about
> the having of it afterwards.  My personal integrity is worth more to
> me than a $15 paperback. 
JS: of course, i assume so about everyone, even me. i also 
assume that some of us are more tight-assed on this point 
than others of us. 
   if we as a group will screw up on this count from time 
to time, my belief is that it will affect the most valuable 
books more than the less valuable and also that to whatever 
degree it affects the most valuable books, the value of the 
library to us for use, and also as a draw to others, will 
be significantly reduced. the risk is that over time the 
library has little value and no drawing power. i think 
that's an issue worth discussing and resolving. 

   Forget the issue of lending or not: Do we as a group want 
to have a valuable library? 

> Will.