[Web4lib] Amazon ratings

[Robert L. Balliot]

We had annual book sales through out Friends group.  Historically,
they priced books at about $1 each, paperbacks less.  Old books
were priced even lower.  In this historic setting - thick with
estates of old money, the book dealers would line up many hours
before the beginning of the sales - and walked away with real
treasures.  People would have donated books from the parents' or
grandparents estate, clearing out attics and such without understanding
the value and rarity of their gifts.

I asked that the Friends allow review of all donations and set aside
American imprints that appeared over 70 years old.  A quick check
in WorldCat will reveal a book's rarity in libraries. WorldCat makes
an excellent starting point.  Even if the book is not particularly
rare or noteworthy, if it is over 70 years or 90 years you can usually
use the illustrations without violating copyright. With digital scanning,
you can create some fabulous displays for library events by mashing
up line illustrations with your text.

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Robert L. Balliot
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
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From: "Cab Vinton" <bibliwho at gmail.com>
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 3:13:54 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [Web4lib] Amazon ratings

Folks donate used books here by the box-full and it would be helpful
if we had a quick & dirty way of determining both the value of the
items and their quality.

Would like to bounce the following idea of the Collective Brain to see
if it has merit or if there are better alternatives.

1. Have volunteers scan the barcodes/ ISBNs into a text file
2. Use the ISBNs to populate a pseudo-bookstore which will draw off of
Amazon to pull prices and product ratings.
3. Cull the highest priced items for potential sale on Ebay or Amazon.
4. Cull the highest rated items for consideration for addition to our
collection.

Thoughts?

Would be particularly grateful if anyone can provide suggestions for
Step 2. We have an Amazon Associates account & have put up an aStore
-- hmm, sounds a bit rude actually -- but I haven't figured out how to
get product ratings displayed.

Cheers,

Cab Vinton, Director
Sanbornton Public Library
Sanbornton, NH