The effect of the Internet on the out-of-print book market: Implications for libraries

Abstract

This study presents the results of an analysis of the offers by out-of-print dealers to buy and to sell items in AB Bookman's Weekly during two periods (1982 and 1992) compared with availability and prices in 2004 in Used.addall.com, a metasearch site for out-of-print materials. After searching 786 items with 690 valid cases, the authors discovered a high availability of items in all four samples (95%) and a significant decline in prices in inflation-adjusted dollars (À48.7% for 1982 sell ads and À43.4% for 1992 sell adds). The items in the sample were most heavily concentrated in history, arts, and literature but would be of interest to many libraries. The more important implications for libraries include the following: (1) the distinction between in-print and out-of-print in regards to availability has disappeared; (2) materials in the out-of-print market are often less expensive than when published; (3) retrospective buying projects are feasible; and (4) for monographs, purchase may be a reasonable substitute for interlibrary loan. The authors attribute these changes to the increased efficiency of the Internet and sophisticated databases in allowing out-of-print dealers to market their stock to potential customers. D

Exploring the future of interlibrary loan: generalizing the experience of the University of Virginia, USA

“…. and for monographs, purchase may be a reasonable substitute for interlibrary loan" and pose that to provide better service, "the library could even delay cataloging until the primary user returns the item" (Holley and Ankem, 2005).…”

Testing the Patron-Driven Model: Availability Analysis of First-Time Use Books

“…Levine-Clark (2004) studied the availability and pricing of high-demand in-print titles concluding that "there are significant numbers of used and discounted new in-print books available through AbeBooks, Amazon, and Alibris, many of them in large quantities and at heavy discounts from list price" (p. 296). Holley and Ankem (2005) at Wayne State University concluded with the following important implications: "(1) the distinction between in-print and out-of-print in regards to availability has disappeared; (2) materials in the out-of-print market are often less expensive than when published; (3) retrospective buying projects are feasible; and (4) for monographs, purchases may be a reasonable substitute for interlibrary loan" (p. 118).…”

Library Space and Technology

“…Other resources for digital books are the Internet Archive and the Hathi Trust (Dougherty 2010). The second factor is the possibility of purchasing books in the out-of-print book market, where the availability of materials approaches 95 per cent (Holley and Ankem 2005). Many libraries, even research libraries, no longer need to build large collections 'just in case' but have a reasonable assurance of meeting patron needs for research materials 'just in time'.…”