Books as commodities

We rejoice in living beside one of the branches of Columbus Metropolitan Library. We are there all the time. Walking in this morning I noticed that on the shelves where they sell surplus library books to the public they had several brown bags. Closer inspection revealed these to be bags of books. Each bag contained books of a particular genre: mystery, romance and so on. It would simplify things enormously if we could buy other books by the bag: one bag of undergraduate molecular biology, three of early French novels, and a couple of bags of urban planning research monographs please. Maybe we will get there soon …. 😉
I worked in public libraries in Dublin for several years: this reminded me that you could open the back cover of a western or a romance and see little pencil marks left by readers who did not want to repeat their reading experience.
Incidentally, I like the Columbus mission which is on their website and is printed on the slip with the due dates: We promote reading and guide learning in the pursuit of information, knowledge and wisdom.