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professional library

post #1 of 18
4/11/10 at 9:59pm
Thread Starter 
Have you ever gone through your professional library to determine just how much it is worth? I got to thinking about that today because of a new book coming out in my field, and I realized the vast majority of my books are >$100, often closer to 200.
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post #2 of 18
4/12/10 at 12:38am
I have not gone through it to see what it is worth, but I often daydream about what I could have done with the money that I would have saved by not buying some of those books.
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post #3 of 18
4/12/10 at 1:40am
I just went through my professional library and looked at what the contents were selling for on Half/Amazon/eBay, because I was planning to try to decrease the physical weight/volume and get some of my "investment" back. I found that despite the fact that I had spent a lot building it up, it was actually worth almost nothing, I guess probably due to new editions/planned obsolescence.
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post #4 of 18
4/12/10 at 2:18pm
I did once a few years ago when I changed jobs.

There is a HUGE difference between what you paid for it and how much someone else will pay you for it now.

edit: whoops, yerfdog beat me to it.
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post #5 of 18
4/12/10 at 2:25pm
I just started mine last year but i've spent about 2k on it =/ That said, it's a worthwhile investment and will pay dividends many times over.
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post #6 of 18
4/12/10 at 2:53pm
I wish I had sold my engineering textbooks right after the course ended instead of hanging onto them because 'i might need them'. I really doubt that I'll ever use them again and in the off chance I need to look something up I can always go to the university library to check out a book or use the internet.
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post #7 of 18
4/12/10 at 2:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by phildo View Post
I wish I had sold my engineering textbooks right after the course ended instead of hanging onto them because 'i might need them'. I really doubt that I'll ever use them again and in the off chance I need to look something up I can always go to the university library to check out a book or use the internet.

I did the same thing.
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post #8 of 18
4/12/10 at 6:39pm
Yeah, I have all these, like, dictionaries and synonym/homonym dictionaries and books on how to read and how to write and how to speak, that I had in grade school and kept, thinking one day I'll use them. I recycled a few here and there - well the ones I hadn't scribbled my name all over. And occasionally I'll pull one off the shelf and remember the good times we had, my and my books. Well, the ones I read, that is. In which case I really shouldn't use the plural form, should really be me and my book, cause I only read, like, one. Ever. But I digress.
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post #9 of 18
4/12/10 at 6:56pm
I never understood why my fellow classmates in lawschool kept their casebooks. Are you really going to try to look up a point of law that you are trying to recall be re-reading an old case in an out-dated case-book? No.
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post #10 of 18
4/12/10 at 6:56pm
Reckoned at the current pace of development unless you're a philosopher or a poet your professional libraries will be practically worthless in 30-50 yrs at most (20 more likely), no matter how much you spent on it or how much you will have earned with your profession.
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post #11 of 18
4/12/10 at 7:56pm
20 years? More like 3-5 (at least in my field). Maybe a bit more. I think it is percieved at outdated as soon as the new edition comes out, and that is probably 3 years, and then it actually is outdated when the next edition comes out.
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post #12 of 18
4/12/10 at 8:09pm
Are you in publishing?
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post #13 of 18
4/12/10 at 8:10pm
Thread Starter 
Trying to replace them after a fire/flood/other disaster was my concern.
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post #14 of 18
4/12/10 at 9:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milpool View Post
Trying to replace them after a fire/flood/other disaster was my concern.

Submit a bibliography and photographic evidence to your insurance company in the event a claim needs to be made
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post #15 of 18
4/12/10 at 10:12pm
Ha, I actually had my car stolen with a term's worth of expenive books in it.
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