I saw the book The Big Mac Index: Applications of Purchasing Power Parity by Li Lian Ong on The Economist web site. I went to Amazon.com. It is a little 143 page book on exchange rates & purchasing power parity. It costs $60! (That’s “sixty dollars!!” not “sixty factorial dollars.”) I can see that much money for a big, fat hard-cover tome, but a thin book that’s little more than a pamphlet?!
It gets worse. I can’t get it through InterLibrary Loan because only a couple of libraries in the U.S. have it and none will lend it out! WTF?!
The academic world almost always has much higher prices. First, they don’t expect to sell very many copies so they need a high price to make any money at all. Second, because they have such small print runs they lose out on all the economies of scale for printing. Third, their market is either academics who virtually have to buy the book or institutions.
But I note on your link that the book isn’t even available yet in the U.S. Why don’t you just wait six months or so? By then a lot more libraries will have gotten it, and somebody will be much more likely to be willing to lend it out.
I think it probably has something to do with supply and demand.
So, when’s the last time you priced a college textbook?
After buying what seemed like hundreds of them…sixty bucks sounds quite reasonable.
I lost a library book from the University library once…finally found it and had to come up with a $20 fine…the book was valued at well over a hundred bucks. IIRC they removed it from the shelves for lend and put it in the dayroom only. The librarian told me later that even the price they quoted was WAY too cheap.
First ed. excellent shape, dated about 1910 or so. Hadn’t been checked out in many years.
(BTW it less than two hundred pages but was part of a series)
anyway…good luck and I’ll keep an eye open for one
If no library in the U.S. has it, why didn['t your librarians try an international search? *
Bear in mind that a library possessing a rare or hard-to-find book might choose to lend it to your library with the stipulation that you must only read it IN the library, rather than being allowed to take it home. But I don’t imagine that would bother you too much.
OK I am not currently a librarian, but am qualifed as one in the U.K., and certainly used to be one.
I work in a library and assist in purcahsing from time and time and no library has it because it hasn’t been released yet. Most libraries don’t have the demand or, more importantly, money to keep up with international releases. And many cannot purchase these books even if they wanted to because the approved purchasing outlets don’t carry it.
When it comes out in U.S. make a request to your local and they’ll probably buy it.
Well, no - they wouldn’t lend out reference books, really.
However, the libraries can have an Inter Library loan search covering their own country , or every every coutnry. It will cost them a little though,a nd might take quite a time.
Libraries are in desperate shape throughout the US. One of the major things they are cutting back on are ILL. These cost time and money and staffing for very little return. I can’t imagine my local library system doing an international search. I have literally never even heard of one.
Please remember that Europe has, what, 30 countries in the size of the US. International searches may make sense there. They are unheard of here.
I have literally never heard of this either. Are libraries really that different in Europe?
When I first submitted the request, the librarian did mention that it was in some libraries in Europe. IIRC it was also at the Library of Congress. I guess that confused me the most: I’ve received books from ILL from the LoC before, why not this one? Of course, I was at a university library when I received those other books. Maybe I should try the ILL at the local community college instead.
I’ll be honest about this: I can understand not wanting to ILL across the Atlantic. It was just a small public library that I went to, so they might not rank too highly in the library food chain.
I must have forgotten to mention this, Justin_Bailey, that a previous edition was out already. It was a '99 publishing, I think. That was the copy she tried to obtain, rather than the new one that I linked to. Sorry about that.
Well, I was mainly thinking of government or university libraries, but yes, an international (Z) search can be done, but quite honestly, it would not always be worth the effort, and of course, the cost. But I suppose I was willing sometimes at the insistence of some government scientist to do it, whereas for a local lending library, they might simply not want to try it.
And yes, libraries are in a dire state here too - always at the end of the queue for funding. And yet expected to work miracles. I scacely go to my public lending library now as they seem too fond of trashy books. And not even any newspapers!
(Calm down, Celyn)
Still, it is a pity that the libraries that do have it (sorry - I rather misread at first as NONE having it) won’t lend it.
Maybe it would be possible to travel to a legal deposit library that has it? Nah, I don’t wuppoe so. Heck, it is always SO frustrating not to be able to get a book. Big sympathy.
Bear in mind that a library possessing a rare or hard-to-find book might choose to lend it to your library with the stipulation that you must only read it IN the library, rather than being allowed to take it home. But I don’t imagine that would bother you too much.
Yes, if it is something they consider well-nigh irreplacable. If I borrowed an unpublished thesis, for example, the relevant university migh want me only to allow the user to use it in my library, not even to take it to his office. Ahem, not too practical, so, if it was someone sensible I coudl trust…
Library Road Trip! If there’s a copy within about 300 miles, and I really wanted to read it, I’d just call ahead and ask them to put it aside for me and go to where it is if it’s not check-out-able.
And yet expected to work miracles. I scacely go to my public lending library now as they seem too fond of trashy books. And not even any newspapers!