ETRC came up with a great idea

John, you might be intrested to know that most reef & aquarium book are loaded with pictures to look at :) :) :)

BTW good idea

Norman
 
I brought this up a year ago.. The idea got dropped and no one pursued it. Maybe this time it might have more supporters.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11917035#post11917035 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitansFan
I brought this up a year ago.. The idea got dropped and no one pursued it. Maybe this time it might have more supporters.

You had a good idea. We should at least consider it.
 
I think it is a good idea, especially for the kind of books where the information is pretty stable. Definitely a good way to get a lot of noob questions answered and to get more in depth knowledge about specific areas.

That said, when I say books on information that is stable, what I mean is that, as people active on reef central (and other reef sites), we are often ahead of what the published books say. Even in the best of cases, the information in a book is probably 1+ years old. In a relatively new hobby like this, that is a big deal. Not to mention, a lot of the books just seem to copy the same old 1970's ideas and release "new editions" which really just put in a couple of new pictures and a chapter about "our endangered reefs."

This is not to say that books don't offer anything above what we can find on this site and other places on the internet, it is only to say that I would hope the club would be careful about what books are worth buying as a relatively long term investment and what books are already obsolete by the time they print them.
 
Well said Brian, you make a very valid point.
But.. who said we necessarily had to use club funds? Donations could be done for purchases as well as donations of used books. I am sure some of us have the beginner books that were great reads just sitting around. For new members they would be a very good place to start. The club as a whole could just be the owner/caretaker.

I for one would love to read The Modern Coral Reef volumes. They are $60 a pop new though. The Reef Aquarium volumes and Reef Fishes volumes would be nice as well. Ohhh and Reef Invertebrates and the C Journals ... so many nice books not at my local library. :(

I am sure publishers and authors would be opposed to this idea.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11917035#post11917035 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitansFan
I brought this up a year ago.. The idea got dropped and no one pursued it. Maybe this time it might have more supporters.

Yes -- last year was a year for growth. This year we can leverage that growth! More to come after the elections are over and the new board takes office (maybe another week or two).

That said, if we do a library with a group as distributed as this, we'll need someone to administer it and keep track of things. If someone wants to volunteer and go ahead and organize it, I think that's fine. Otherwise, the new board will figure it out in a week or two. Also, just so that you know, there are other things in the pipeline that the board will need to discuss and if there is a go-ahead, I hope to have several new initiatives to announce in the beginning of March.
 
I am glad that you guys read our forum as much as we read your forum!
I have "agreed" to be the librarian if the BOD figures everything out. We too have had several people join the club and everyone's experience and interests are different. I realize that books are often a year or more behind the times but there are some books that are still useful even if they are 10+ years old.
As Titansfan pointed out many of those "must reads" are more expensive than your average book that you can find at Books-A-Million. The only books that are more expensive are textbooks and they get replaced every 3 years. Of course you can sell those back and get enough for a six pack.
 
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