A few weeks ago I noticed an ad in a magazine for Slim Ink book rental. Until this point, I had not been aware of this sort of service. In fact, it had never occurred to me to see if such a thing existed.
I had been aware of the Melbourne Athenaeum Library, which is a subscription based library service. A $65 yearly membership allows you to borrow 1 book at a time. There are also more expensive options that allow 2, 5, or 10 books at a time.
Slim Ink has some similarities to this, but is a web based service with all books being delivered to and from you. A quick web search turned up a couple of similar US based services too. BookSwim and Booksfree. There may well be more, but I didn’t search too hard.
All of these services operate with a similar loan policy to the one described above, with a membership allowing a certain number of books to be borrowed at any one time. Pay more, and you can borrow more. The idea is that you maintain a list of desired titles and when you return one book (or lot of books), the next available book(s) on your list are delivered.
The beauty of this system is that there are no late fines, and the books are delivered to your door. The main drawbacks from my perspective are the cost when compared with a free public library, and the limited number of books you can borrow at any one time.
The cheapest and most expensive plans for each of the three are:
- Slim Ink: $14 AUD per month for 1 book at a time, $60 for 12 books.
- BookSwim: $14.99 USD per month for 2 books at a time, $35.99 for 11.
- BooksFree: $9.99 USD per month for 2 books at a time, $37.99 for 12.
There are obviously various conditions attached along with various plans in between the ones listed above. All three services include free delivery both ways.
Whether this type of service suits you obviously depends on your personal circumstances. If I didn’t work in a public library I could see a huge benefit in their convenience. Whether I would be willing to pay $28 AUD per month for a 4 book plan (probably the minimum I would consider) is another question.
This of course raises in my mind the question about public libraries offering a delivery service. Would it be possible to provide this service for free, or a minimal cost? Perhaps only charge enough to cover postage? Perhaps I’ll have to poke around and see if I can find any that do it already.
What are your thoughts? Would you consider using a book rental service? Do you already use one? Why or why not?
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Bayside run a delivery service for local residents and businesses. it’s like $6 per delivery or $80 for unlimited deliveries. You can also use it to get your items picked up for return (even if you borrowed them yourself from a branch)
I think it’s a swell idea. I don’t know about anyone else, but have you seen the state of public library books? Perhaps the cost of delivery from the library would negate the concept borrowing books from the library in the first place. I had at look at this site, and it is so far very impressive with it’s range and professionalism. I’ll try it out and let you know what it’s like.
batgirl – wow, I had no idea someone did that. I wonder if they have many takers.
Sunshinestef – yes, I have seen the state of library books. Every day
I’d love to hear your feedback after using Slimink. The range will be smaller than your public library, but you may get popular books more quickly due to less users.
Hello Jonathan,
May I offer you a 3 month gift membership to Slim Ink on Passion Plan 1 (2 books out at a time)? I promise you will be treated as any regular member of Slim Ink and receive no favouritism whatsoever in return for an honest, objective review on your blog.
If you are happy to accept, please give me your preferred email address and full name and I will have it organised. Do note, credit card details will be required to activate the gift membership and for use only in this case for lost or damaged books.
Best Regards,
Marjorie
Slim Ink – Admin
Our local library is only 3km away. They also have a mobile library that visits the park up the road once a week. All we can get bookings form any of the libraries in the eastern network delivered to the mobile library.
I personally don’t understand a paid service (albeit with little time spent thinking about it). On the surface it feels like a slight attack on one of our last remaining public services.
Again – I haven’t spent too much tim thinking about this – it is mostly gut reactions.
gizo – I hadn’t thought about paid book rental being a threat to public libraries. I guess as a librarian my first thought was, “what are we failing to do well enough that people will pay for the service we provide for free?”.
Although your library is convenient, books coming in the post could be more convenient for some people and they may consider it worth paying for.
For those who may be wondering, tonight I signed up for the 3 month gift membership offered to me by Slim Ink and added some books to my reading list.
Stay tuned to hear how it goes.