Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaCD

I just received my requested cd and all the artwork, but the cd and the front insert have labels stuck on them indicating that they came from a public library.  The sticker shows that it came from a specific city library and then another one indicating the music genre, the artist, and the cd title.  For all I know the library sold it, but it seems odd.  I know we can trade promotional cds, but can we trade library cds?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Hi Chris,

According to SACD's help pages, "Ex-library copies of CDs are okay to swap, as long as they were officially removed from the library's circulation."

On the other hand, if you have a CD like that to trade, and it's got a lot of library-ownership stickers on the art, you might want to make a judgement call about whether to offer it with art or without.   

happy trades,

ICBERRY

Excellent advice about listing the cd or any others like it in the future without the stickered artwork, as that is what I will certainly do. 

Many thanks!

geomoose

While trading withdrawn library CDs is perfectly fine, I'd like to offer a word of caution. I've received three different ex-library CDs from members and two of them have had problems. So if you pick up CDs at a library sale, please be sure they play before you send them out. I wonder if a primary reason CDs are withdrawn from library circulation isn't because they are scratched or broken?

Robyn S.

As a library person, I can add to this thread.  Materials withdrawn from collections get that way by various criteria, but low circulation records are the primary reason...that is, how often has an item been borrowed over X period of time?  Space, in libraries, is oxygen.  Stuff that never circulates goes away.  It's a tough call sometimes, but there you have it. 

We know about problems with CDs and DVDs because most people tell us about them but when they just come back to us, it's a good bet the next borrower will tell us about the problem: that takes it out of the collection.  It's possible that a CD or DVD is damaged, sent quietly back to the library (damaged) but then becomes part of a collection "weed" because no one ever checked out the item afterward.   It's easy to imagine a scratched CD just falling into the cracks because no one looked very hard at it before putting it into the discard pile.

In the case of something we KNOW is damaged, some person still has to actually de-accession it then correct the records to show it went away and why.   If it's being removed *because* it is damaged, it's not likely that person is going to look surreptitiously around and place it sneakily on the sale pile.   :^)    I mean, it could happen.... but experience says discard materials are actually more likely to be nearly unplayed or well-worn.  Not nearly so likely to be *damaged*. 

I used to work at a city library in the audio-visual department (films, music, artwork, etc.).  This was about 5 years before DVD's.  We'd sometimes receive VHS films back from people, and the case would literally stink (nasty house smell).  Once, we opened up a VHS case to see if the film was rewound, and cockroaches hopped out.

Justin L.

I used to work in a video store that rented VCRs and VHS tapes. They had to spray for the buggars all the time. Yuk!!!