I love the Internet. But if there is anything that is metaphorically a double-edged sword, it's the Internet. What's really cool is that you can go online to some place like Amazon and order a used copy of an information design classic, like . At the time, the thought of saving 40 or 50% off the cover price of a new book made sense (and some times you can't even find it new). And when you're dealing with Amazon, where's the risk?

So...then you receive the book, in good shape, with all the trappings of a library book. Sigh. I paid for it, so I want to keep it, but now some person who checks out my collection some day will probably figure I stole it.

I don't know that this book was stolen. Maybe it was never checked out and so sold in some sale to raise funds for other books. But this seems to be a situation that is fraught with peril for libraries. How hard is it to rip off a library of a rare or classic book and then make a serious profit on E-bay or Amazon or Half.com? I don't think it is nearly hard enough.

07:16 PM | linkme | home