I am becoming increasingly disillusioned with library book sales. My main complaint is the increasing rudeness of people at these sales, particularly other booksellers. The booksellers with their bookscout gadgets seem to be the worse.

I wrote two articles many years ago about the Schenectady County Public Library book sale. The first article is fairly positive. In the second one I complained about the rudeness of people at the sale, although the article ends on a very positive note.

I attended the Schenectady County Public Library book sale on May 3, 2008. My second article which I have linked to above is still accurate in describing the bad manners of many people at the sale. In fact, the situation has gotten even worse. It's to the point, I probably will not go back.

The photograph above doesn't do justice to the sale. I took it a couple of hours into the sale, when many of the vultures had already flown away. The McChesney Room inside the library, where the bulk of the dealers go, is much more difficult to deal with than the children's section pictured here.