Getting copies of books from libraries

[aq094@lafn.org (Eugene Selig)]

I have been very successful obtaining books from public libraries via an 
inter-library loan. I have used this method for books that were not 
available from bookstores or even publishers. If any of you live where 
you have access to a public library having this service it is 
indispensable and often the only means of borrowing a particularly 
unusual item. In the U.S., you need only go to the library offering 
inter-library loans, pay a modest fee (you can dictate the maximum you 
will pay), and that library will consult an online system to locate the 
most expedient library from which to borrow it. I have borrowed books and 
scores from cooperating libraries hundreds of miles away, be they other 
public libraries, university libraries, even music school libraries.
Through this means I have added rare items to my own collection, 
reproduced on a copier- I violate no copyright laws, since I subsequently 
write to request permission if I plan to quote from such material in a 
formal writing. I pass this on to any who have access to such a system.