Suggestion to all: Request your local public library buy Star Trek novels

[youngtrek]

Hi. I thought I'd pass this on to everyone.

My local public library system here (the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, serving the Tampa Bay area, central Florida, U.S.), has available to its members ways to request for them to buy/add to their collection both print books and also eBooks. I suspect that most larger city and regional public library systems probably offer this option (if you know where to find it on their website).

Now, I have pretty much given up on trying to order eBooks that they don't already have because these requests go through OverDrive on a separate form from their print book requests, they only accept up to three requests per month, and I still have eBook requests that I submitted as showing as "under review" a year or more after I placed them.

However, when it comes to print books, the HCPLC allows up to *10* print book requests once a month via a form on their website, and my success rate has been much higher with the print books (usually 90 or 100% each month they at least *try* to order for me. (Of course, some don't actually arrive due to them not being able to get them from their vendor/s.)

So, every month I make sure to request ten more books to be added to their collection, at least some of them being Star Trek novels that they don't already have print copies of. My usual routine is to first check and see what the newest release is or what's about to come up next month. I look up the necessary info required on their form (title, author, ISBN) on Amazon, and request those. I then am in the habit of going backwards through the publishing years (I just finished through 2009) looking for novels that are still "in print" (available for purchase on Amazon *from* Amazon; it can't be only from used book sellers), checking my public library's catalog, and if they don't have a copy requesting they add the older ones, too. (They will even add the crazy expensive reprint paperbacks Pocket Books did awhile back, if they are still available for purchase. The ones that are like $19.99 or more.)

My mission is for my public library system to have one of every Star Trek novel that's still available at any given time (for the betterment of my fellow community members, of course).

Here is an example of my March requests (all of which were approved):

(There was no new Star Trek novel scheduled to come out this month or in April, according to Amazon.)

Older Star Trek novels: A Burning House (Star Trek: Klingon Empire) (Keith R.A. DeCandido), Star Trek: Myriad Universes #2: Echoes and Refractions (Keith R.A. DeCandido, et al.), Losing the Peace (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (William Leisner), Star Trek: Voyager: Unworthy (Kirsten Beyer)

Star Trek comics/graphic novels: Star Trek: Year Five - Experienced in Loss trade paperback

Other interests of mine: American TV Comic Books (1940s-1980s): From The Small Screen To The Printed Page (TwoMorrows Publishing, by Peter Bosch), Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Sunken City: Disney Masters Vol. 13 (The Disney Masters Collection), Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Follow the Fearless Leader: Disney Masters Vol. 14 (The Disney Masters Collection), Mickey All-Stars (Disney Masters).

Anyway, like I said, I just thought I'd share this in case it's something some of you might like to investigate doing with your own public library system. While I have literally thousands of my own books that I've bought over the years that I still need to read for the first time, at the same time I have become a very active public library borrower. I nearly always have at least two or more books checked out at any given time.

 

[mastadge]

YUP. I grew up accumulating a massive personal library but these days I LOVE the library. If I buy a book I read it and then store until I, maybe, go back to it. If I ask my library to buy a book, more people may find and love it! And occasionally I ask my library to pick up a copy, and then if I love it I go out and buy one for myself too!

And yes, I've also found my local library is very accommodating. They'll turn down certain academic or reference books that are beyond the scope of their collection, but pretty much any fiction, popular nonfiction, or graphic novel I've ever requested they've approved as long as it was carried by their distributor.

 

[David Mack]

Most libraries won't buy paperback or trade paperback copies of books because they quickly fall apart when subjected to the physical stresses of the lending system. For this reason, most libraries will only spend money on hardcover books. Alas, most Star Trek titles these days are not hardcovers. (Libraries will still sometimes accept donated paperbacks, and let them circulate until they fall apart; they just won't spend their money on them.)

 

[youngtrek]

Most libraries won't buy paperback or trade paperback copies of books because they quickly fall apart when subjected to the physical stresses of the lending system. For this reason, most libraries will only spend money on hardcover books. Alas, most Star Trek titles these days are not hardcovers. (Libraries will still sometimes accept donated paperbacks, and let them circulate until they fall apart; they just won't spend their money on them.)

I would recommend those who are possibly interested in this to try it anyway with their own local public library system. Mine (again, Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC)) has never denied ordering any of my requests due to them being paperbacks (whether the smaller mass market paperbacks or larger trade paperbacks), and the branches have sections with newer fiction paperbacks with call numbers “AFP” (adult fiction paperback).

They have okayed everything I’ve requested from the standard $9.99 MMPBs Star Trek novels used to come in (the ones still “in print”/available for them to order), the newer $16.00 releases, and even the $21.99/$22.99 back to print reissues Pocket apparently did around 2014 of some of their out of print MMPBS. (I had thought they might turn those down due to the high price but none of them have been denied so fat.)

So far the only things they have said they wouldn’t try to order for me were some of the Marvel Comics Epic Collection trade paperbacks, which they’ve at times said cost more than they generally allow themselves to spend on individual graphic novels that will most likely go into their YA (young adults) graphic novels sections (and subsequently not last very long), or books that I have either mistakenly thought were still “in print” or wasn’t sure if they were (and it ended up they weren’t and the library therefore couldn’t order them from their usual vendors).

So, yeah, it might well vary depending on one’s own local public library system’s policies on what they will purchase (and how they facilitate member requests).

I know that when I was living in Georgia in a more rural area I once looked into how interlibrary loans (trying to borrow books they didn’t have from other library systems) worked there and one of the conditions for that was no mass market fiction paperbacks. I am able to get MMPB interlibrary loan items through HCPLC though. My dad had been reading Steven Harper’s Clockwork Empire series, some of which HCPLC has had their own copies of, others they have had to borrow from other libraries via interlibrary loans.

And now that I’m thinking about it, when I worked in the Atlanta/Fulton Public Library System back in 2008 to 2010, they definitely handled paperback fiction a bit differently from how HCPLC does, specifically their popular kids paperback series fiction books (Junie B. Jones, Alphabet Mysteries, Magic Treehouse, etc.). A lot of those would simply be cataloged as generic “Popular Easy Fiction PB” or something like that, not searchable for the specific titles in the online catalog. It was explained to me at the time because they wear out so fast. I don’t believe HCPLC does that, either.

So, yeah, I’m rambling now, sorry. That’s what happens when a librarian starts to talk about libraries. Again, it might be like that (as David Mack described) in some places but worth a try, I would say. Especially if you can do it all via request forms on their website.

 

[David Mack]

The no-paperbacks guideline might be more of a New York Public Library issue than a general libraries thing.

 

[youngtrek]

I don’t know if this URL will work (with some library online catalogs, the searches use non-permanent website address that don’t work when you copy and paste them to share with others) but this is what HCPLC currently has by David Mack (most are paperbacks, and I think at least a few were purchased upon my request): https://hcplc.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?searchType=Keyword&query=David mack

In case the link doesn’t work, they currently have Desperate Hours, Lost Souls, Oblivion’s Gate, Section 31: Control, Section 31: Disavowed, Cold Equations: The Body Electric, Cold Equations: The Persistence of Memory, The Fall: A Ceremony of Losses, Cold Equations: Silent Weapons, Storming Heaven, Destiny: Gods of Night, Destiny: Mere Mortals, Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions, More Beautiful Than Death, Collateral Damage, Legacies: Best Defense, Seekers 1: Second Nature, Seekers 3: Longshot… And that’s just from the first 20 of 109 results (although some of the books found are by other authors named David Mack, or some combination of “David” and “Mack”.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

The King County Library System here in Washington State currently has 307 Star Trek related books available for check out.

David Mack has 45 books listed on the KCLS website, including all of his Star Trek novels.

 

[David Mack]

I guess I stand corrected. Must be a NYPL problem.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

King County Library System - Sorting Facility - YouTube

As a delivery driver, I had the opportunity to visit this facility on several occasions - this brief clip doesn't convey how truly massive this building is. It's two/three football/soccer fields big and two (almost three) stories tall filled with books and conveyor belts. It was able to keep materials circulating even in the midst of the pandemic when all the libraries were shut down - only curbside pick-up.

 

[Smiley]

I would expect that a lot of older Trek books would be harder for a library to get copies of. It's worth a shot if you can't find it, though.

I have had pretty good success rates asking for a library purchase for various books. I have had them tell me that they couldn't find a book in the system or that it was unavailable, but I have never been turned down for content reasons. One of them came in trade paperback format, so Phoenix is willing to risk a little more wear and tear than NYPL.

 

[youngtrek]

I would expect that a lot of older Trek books would be harder for a library to get copies of. It's worth a shot if you can't find it, though.

It would depend a lot on how far back you mean when you say “older” Star Trek books. If you mean the 1980s and 1990s Pocket Books novels, yes, I would imagine that most of those are now out-of-print (unless they have been reprinted more recently).

However, as I mentioned, I’ve been systematically going backwards, publishing dates wise, in my requests and I’ve made it through 2009 and into 2008 and nearly all of them so far have been available for purchase in either their original first MMPB printing or a later (more expensive) small trade paperback one ($20 or more). The only couple that I’ve found so far that are not available (aside from the eBook exclusive ones) are a couple Olivia Wood Deep Space Nine novels, The Soul Key and Fearful Symmetry. Those are both out of print in the MMPB and apparently have not gone back-to-print in a later printing.

As I mentioned, my most reliable indicator jn determining if my library will be able to order a book is if I can find it available on Amazon, specifically showing as “sold and fulfilled by Amazon” (not by one of their third party used book sellers). That’s the best way I’ve found to determine if a book is still “in print” or not. (And I think some will be surprised to realize just how much of Simon and Schuster’s Star Trek novels are indeed still in print and available for book stores and libraries to order.)

 

[youngtrek]

King County Library System - Sorting Facility - YouTube

As a delivery driver, I had the opportunity to visit this facility on several occasions - this brief clip doesn't convey how truly massive this building is. It's two/three football/soccer fields big and two (almost three) stories tall filled with books and conveyor belts. It was able to keep materials circulating even in the midst of the pandemic when all the libraries were shut down - only curbside pick-up.

Wow! That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing this!

 

[WebLurker]

Actually got my local library to get the recent Coda trilogy books.