Hey everyone, we’ve cleaned up and sorted the bookshelves at VHS, and for the next week or two, we’re offering the books to everyone on a by-donation, pay-what-you-want basis. All money raised is a donation directly to VHS (you can drop payment into the green “DONATIO” box).
We have a nice variety of books (they’re not all computery books!), and for convenience, I’ve sorted them into rough categories. We have two shelves of books regarding crafts, textiles, handywork, carpentry, etc. We also have books on robotics, computer game programming, simple electronics projects, physics, math, electrical engineering, and others. Here are photos of the book spines in their current state. Click on any photos to view larger; right-click to open in new tab and view even larger.
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This is part of our attempt to clean the space of bulky, rarely-used items, and the VHS mini-library definitely falls into that category. Many of these books are at that part of their life where they’re too old to be useful as references, but still too young to be considered antiques (although some might be!). Most of the books haven’t been used since we last moved over a year ago. The books that remain after the book sale will be donated or recycled; see below for more info.
Now for questions:
Q. I’m not a member; can I participate?
A. Yes! Come to our open night, Tuesdays at 7:30 pm. If you can’t make it on Tuesdays, post here and maybe a keyholder can let you in on another day.
Q. There’s a book I’d like, but I can’t come to the space this week.
A. Post here with the title of the book and the picture you see it in (they are numbered), and someone can put it aside (in the dropbox) for you.
Q. I want a book but I don’t want to pay anything.
A. That’s fine, it’s pay-what-you-want, and no one will be watching for how much you pay. We’d rather see these books go to someone who’ll use them. That being said, the money goes toward supporting the space, and any donation is greatly appreciated.
Q. But these books are useful! I can’t bear to let these go!
A. You are welcome to take any of these books home if you’d like to keep them, and a small donation to VHS is appreciated.
Q. Wait! I found a book that I think is important to have at VHS!
A. 1. Take it off the shelf, and a) take it home temporarily to ensure it doesn’t get lost, or b) find a place for it near the tools of which it’s useful (ex. amateur radio books in the ARC corner).
2. Post about it in this thread, with the name of the book and your proposed reason for keeping it at VHS.
Q. I don’t care about book X, but I think person Y might want it.
A. Try to contact person Y directly, and maybe take X home if person Y is unavailable. For example, I see @JohnC’s High School Electronics Notes Binder, so I’d like to let him know so he has the opportunity to retrieve it if desired.
Q. But I think it’s valuable that we have these books as a resource… if I take them home, then they’ll only be useful to me.
A. Then let’s make a virtual, distributed library! We could have an online service where people can list the books they own and are willing to lend or give away. As it currently stands, the books here are used so rarely that it’s hard to justify the space they take up.
Q. What will happen to the books that are left over?
A. The plan is to donate or recycle all remaining books. If you would like to volunteer with this process (a car would be nice), or have recommendations for where to send them, please post here and we’ll discuss it.
Q. What will happen with the bookshelves?
A. Not sure! They might be repurposed as non-book storage, or they might become available for sale. Post below if you have any interest in the matter.