Posts I love local book stores and libraries. Browsing, pulling books from shelves, taking my choice home with me then and there…
But sometimes at 11pm I just want to order an obscure print title or technical book and have it delivered. The convenience of not having to find time for a physical visit is worth paying for some days. Sometimes I want to consume a book as an *experience* rather than as an object. If it is not available as an ebook, then I want it delivered as soon as possible. As an aside, I think that both libraries and bookshops will need to very quickly come to terms with this “experience vs artifact” desire – a point made very well by Emily Lloyd in ShelfCheck 423B
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Last year I mentioned to my friends Penny and Con that I might try not to rely on local bookstores when buying books for the library, but instead order solely online and have them delivered. Suddenly they were excited and yelling – “Booko, Booko, try Booko”.
Just last week one of the students in my classes was recommending Booko to his classmates as a way to get cheaper text books, so I suspect that there are still some library folk who do not know about this tool.
Dan Milne was sick of trying to work out the best prices for online books – especially when one took into consideration the exchange rate and the cost of shipping. That’s how Booko came about. Plug in details of the book you want and it dashes off to search several local and overseas shops to calculate the cheapest one. Dan now gets a small “referrer fee” when one purchases an item as a result of a link from Booko – but he doesn’t let it affect the search. I have found that sometimes the search (understandably) does not indicate whether the item is in stock at the store, so sometimes one has to click through to a few to get something cheap and available now, now, now…
Here’s a pic of what happened when I searched for Tim Winton’s Bugalugs Bum Thief:
There’s also ebookant for ebooks. In my experience it’s not as comprehensive as Booko, but it’s a start!
Thanks Con. How does that compare to http://ebooks.addall.com ?
I use Booko at least once a week when I do my purchasing.
Yes, I have my local booksellers, from whom I get the bulk of stock, and I maintain loyalty to them – and they generally give me a decent discount on new titles. And as they offer a good price, and deliver them directly to the library, and we have pleasant conversations about upcoming titles, and we form partnerships for library programs. In that respect, you can’t beat an actual person.
However, when it comes to filling the gaps, or getting that elusive title that one particualar teacher needs from overseas, and none of my suppliers have it on-hand, then I get it via Booko.
Hmm Andrew, yes. Bookshop & Libraries can also be experiences. Should acknowledge that.
I <3 Booko. Have been using for a long while and it has saved me muchly. Or maybe it hasn't as I go "oh, that's way cheap for bookstore xyz – I'd better buy it, and it, and it…anyway". Things quickly go bad after that
Hey – thanks for the great write up! Pro-tip: mouse over the price for the book store’s availability message. (I really need to work on the usability of that feature!). It’s great to hear such feedback about Booko – really encourages me to continue adding to it. I’ll be slowly adding ebooks to Booko as time permits (I work on Booko outside my day job.).
Cheers,
Dan
Hi Dan, I can assure you, we in libraryland love your work with booko. I recommend it to everyone I meet
Kathryn, I think addall is still more comprehensive that ebookant – thanks for reminding me of it.
Of course, when it comes to searching for ebook content, all these sites do is highlight the crazy geographic restrictions on titles… It is extremely frustrating!
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