Books: New & Local vs. Used & Online

[granolahead]

If we want to buy a book, is it better to buy it new from our local independently owned bookstore, thereby supporting our local economy? Or is it better to buy the book used online, so that even though the book would have to travel some distance across the country, we wouldn't be contributing to cutting down trees for new books?

Thanks for any input!

[slacker_mom]

I've got a collection of at least 2,000 books, and those were mainly purchased though local used bookstores. I live in a major college town with a pretty good supply of used books.

But I've cut way back on shopping for books since DD was born.

Nowadays, my first choice is to borrow from the library. I visit 8 different branches, and use the their online inter-library loan request system a lot.

For current reference books, I try to get them new from the local independant bookstore. But I find that when I HAVE to buy a specific book, it's generally a harder to find volume, so I buy online, and used if possible.

[granolahead]

Thanks. We use the library a lot also. The book I have in mind is a very specific reference book which I don't think I can hope to find locally, new or used, unless I went to Barnes & Noble, which I'd like to avoid. I wonder if it would be best to have our little bookstore order it, or if it would be better to order it used online?

[LilMama23]

I always try to buy used. If you're going to have your bookstore order it, it will still take fossil fuels to get the book to the store, so you might as well buy a used one that will still have to come across the country.

[kaspirant]

selfishly...

I'd say the independent bookstore....but in reality that is because I'm in the beginning stages *very early stages* of the process of opening my own little bookstore and I would prefer people buying their books from me

[RiverSky]

Part of me thinks you should buy it new, if you can, so that the author and publishers actually get a percentage of the proceeds, thereby encouraging them to pay more authors to write more books, etc.

If you must buy used, then try to buy locally, if possible.

[HipGal]

Hmm... I would say used, but look for a seller who is as close as possible (like on Amazon, the used sellers say what state it is coming from).

For gifts and such, I would hit the local new store.