How do the libraries get stocked on board ship?

[emeraldcity]

I recently took a cruise on the Allure right after getting off the Adventure. Having done a book exchange on the Adventure, I wandered over to the Allure library hoping to do the same. However, the offerings were pretty meager. Mind you, there was plenty of shelf space, but there wasn't much on it. In the end, I just left my recently completed book behind. Just out of curiosity I checked back a few hours later and somebody had found it interesting and taken it with them. So I wasn't the only one hoping to find something there.

 

Is it appropriate to bring some finished books along on my next cruise and give them a good home?

[Thorben-Hendrik]

Sure!👍

But books are dying.....

[kernow]

I still love actual books and if I finish one on a ship I always leave it behind. There never seems to be much on the shelves nowadays, on our recent Jewel TA DH forgot to bring a book and could find nothing he wanted to read.

 

Julie

[cruiseguy1016]

A lot of chair hogs will grab a book from the library to use to hold their chair. If the book disappears, it's no loss to the chair hog.

[rncruiser]

9 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

A lot of chair hogs will grab a book from the library to use to hold their chair. If the book disappears, it's no loss to the chair hog.

Hmm, never thought of doing that. Thanks for the idea😊

[orville99]

We are both avid book readers, and once or twice a year we collect all the ones we've read at home and bring them onboard to donate to the ship's library. We've probably donated 20-30 books across three ships this year.

[vacationlover_mn]

I always bring a couple of paperbacks, and then when I’m done, I leave them there.  My hope is that they shelve them, but I was never certain 🙂

[Ocean Boy]

Aren't the libraries being converted into passenger cabins?

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Aren't the libraries being converted into passenger cabins?

 

True, but even those ships that have had libraries converted into staterooms still have a small area with a couple of chairs and a shelf with books.

[Tom47]

While I do check out the library, I don't rely on it.  Both DW and I bring kindle readers.  We never run out of books.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Tom47

[orville99]

2 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

I always bring a couple of paperbacks, and then when I’m done, I leave them there.  My hope is that they shelve them, but I was never certain 🙂

We've gone back months later on ships where we have donated books on previous cruises, and we usually find most of them on the library shelves - someone even puts them in alphabetical order.

[LB_NJ]

The only ship I have been on (which is not many) with a great library was the Queen Mary 2.

[GUT2407]

3 hours ago, LB_NJ said:

The only ship I have been on (which is not many) with a great library was the Queen Mary 2.

Now that is a great library, I’d like that set up at home.

[steveru621]

I always leave books.

[emeraldcity]

Thanks you for all the replies. Now I have a really great place for all those books I snagged at work. Just before retirement there was a book sale at work to benefit United Way. I was one of their best customers. And I have been happily working my way through them, but once I've read it, I want to find it a new home.

[mugtech]

I was lucky enough on Anthem to meet a guy who was reading the latest Jack Reacher hardback, said he was giving it to the ship library when he was finished.  Later he dropped it off at my cabin, I read it, and left it in the library.  I usually trade books, but if I finish the new one I just leave it.

[matj2000]

I

 

They should just send someone from the ship to a thrift store and buy a supply of books...

[GUT2407]

A lot of people leave books, there must be a lot who take them, as many of the libraries seem almost empty of books.

[mugtech]

Love those self serve libraries, no librarians to tip.

[maryjaden]

I always leave my books behind on each of the cruises I have been on.  Though I usually don't rely on picking up one to read as the selection is pretty limited in my experience. 

[BND]

12 hours ago, matj2000 said:

I

 

They should just send someone from the ship to a thrift store and buy a supply of books...

We were on Anthem in Oct and the cruise director mentioned going to a used book store and buying a couple of boxes of books for the library when we were in Maine.  The problem is, people "borrow" them and never bring them back.  It's on an honor system.  He also said the other way they get books is that people leave the ones behind that they're done reading.  I've been using a Kindle since 2010.  In fact, the first cruise I took it on was spring 2010 and only about 5% of people had e-readers then.  Now, 90% do. 

[fridaythe13th]

Wrong forum....  sorry

Edited December 6, 2018 by fridaythe13th

[cruisegirl1]

If I finish a book, I'll leave it. It would never occur to me to bring books  just to leave them on board.  

 

M

[ONECRUISER]

55 minutes ago, BND said:

We were on Anthem in Oct and the cruise director mentioned going to a used book store and buying a couple of boxes of books for the library when we were in Maine.  The problem is, people "borrow" them and never bring them back.  It's on an honor system.  He also said the other way they get books is that people leave the ones behind that they're done reading.  I've been using a Kindle since 2010.  In fact, the first cruise I took it on was spring 2010 and only about 5% of people had e-readers then.  Now, 90% do. 

Funny thing is was on ship last week and a couple were in argument over books. While waiting for WindJammer open he was telling her leave books at home and read on Tablet. She, loves books, even has one in her hand. They went at it for 5 minutes. Me, always have had best Computers, and now always traveling I carry lightest in weight Laptops as always traveling. But still comes to reading a "Book" actually bring a real Book...

[Charles4515]

32 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Funny thing is was on ship last week and a couple were in argument over books. While waiting for WindJammer open he was telling her leave books at home and read on Tablet. She, loves books, even has one in her hand. They went at it for 5 minutes. Me, always have had best Computers, and now always traveling I carry lightest in weight Laptops as always traveling. But still comes to reading a "Book" actually bring a real Book...

A book on a Kindle or iPad is a real Book. What you have is a preference to read the paper version over the electronic version. Nothing wrong with that preference but I like the electronic versions because I can bring a whole bunch and pick what I am in the mood to read. Also books, I do bring one for the beach but I read a lot, fiction often a book a day and my cruise reads are usually fiction.  I would not have room to pack books with my reading habits.  I did love going to the ships library and see what was there but unfortunately they are not getting restocked. As someone posted they are adding cabins. And have the nerve to call that an enhancement. The QM2 library was outstanding and Holland America had great libraries with the latest New York Times Best Sellers in their own section. I have read the HAL libraries are being emascalated like on other cruise lines. Even with the electonic books we liked reading the electronic books in the library because it was a quiet place.