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Answerman - Why Don't We Have A Subscription Manga Service Yet?

The reason fansubs and illegal streaming/torrent sites still exist is because of the dumb region-locks. Also, not everything gets licensed, and there are still also older series that never had the chance.

Being first is nearly paramount; it takes a trainwreck of a scanlation job to deter people. And even then, you still have some people so damn desperate for a hit of whichever series they're addicted to*, that being first is the end-all be-all.

*alternatively, addicted to talking about the series with other people, and thus get dragged into whichever option others went with

That's going to depend on how your system handles customer requests. In my system, it's usually people coming up to the info desk looking for a particular book that we can't get for them, either from our system or from interlibrary loan, and then we'll suggest that the customer can make a purchase request if it meets our criteria. We also have a few customers who either call or come in and just plain ask if we can buy certain titles in certain formats. Either way, we're happy to submit requests for them. I've also seen people use our "E-mail a Librarian" service to request items, and that's the most anonymous option since we don't require you to put your name on an e-mail question, just your e-mail address so we can reply. Then there are also some libraries (though not ours) where you can fill out and submit a purchase request right on the website. Those would go straight to the purchasing department, so your friends at the branch would never know anything about it. I'd suggest poking around your library's web site to see if they have an e-mail service or a submission form you can use. If you don't see anything online, you can always call a branch (maybe one you don't normally use if your system has more than one) and ask a staff member what your options are.

And for what it's worth, after 11 years working in libraries and some of the requests I've gotten over the years (like some of those urban fiction titles, for instance), there's frankly almost nothing that fazes me anymore. Whatever series you're most embarrassed about, I doubt anyone who's been in the trade for a while would even blink at it.

But.... but people can already get X for free! How do we know they would pay for it???

Because they have every other frickin' time this argument has come up.

ITunes. Spotify. Netflix. Crunchyroll. CRUNCHYROLL WAS A PIRATE SITE THAT GOT PEOPLE TO PAY FOR FAR LESS CONTENT THAN THEY HAD ON THE ILLEGAL SITE. We're all happily handing our money over. If you give consumers a chance to legally pay for what they want, they will buy it.

I got a question here: What happens when a book is donated in? ... What I'm wondering, in particular, is how donated books are checked and if they are kept in that library or not.

Sadly, there is a not insignificant number of people who try to consume all media for free because they can: They see only things that they want, not the human beings who earn a living making those things. Ironically, I'm sure that such people would complain that they are not paid enough for the work which they do.

The reason fansubs and illegal streaming/torrent sites still exist is because of the dumb region-locks. Also, not everything gets licensed, and there are still also older series that never had the chance.

Different libraries may work differently, but from my understanding from the librarian at our local library systems, any donated books will be checked. They will usually pull up the info online, generally through the Library of Congress listing and/or a system like Baker & Taylor to get the basic info on the books (categories, plot, release info, age range for YA and children's books, etc). Libraries usually give preference to newer releases, though if they are actively trying to fill in a collection, they will consider older titles too.

From there it all kind of depends. Does the library already have manga along the same lines? Or is it all sweet, "clean" titles? You can usually get a good feel for whether the library is excluding higher age manga by browsing the existing collection. My local library, for example, has Ranma, but isn't going to go so far as to carry say Sensual Phrase.

If your library is fairly modern, check their website. Most have their donation policies there and often the info on who to contact to arrange a donation (many times they will let you know in advance if they will take it for collection or just to resell in their library sales).

I got a question here: What happens when a book is donated in? I remember when I frequented the nearest library to my house, and I noticed kids were frequently asking for Goosebumps books. So I took all of my old Goosebumps books from when I was a child and donated them to that library. When I visited a few months later, I saw them sitting there on a shelf.

What I'm wondering, in particular, is how donated books are checked and if they are kept in that library or not. The Goosebumps books are children's books, so it's pretty clear there wouldn't be anything in there kids shouldn't be reading, but after the talks about manga and libraries in this discussion, I'm interested in donating some of my manga to a library. The thing is, I'd be donating stuff like Sgt. Frog and Ranma 1/2 that would have sexual content that parents might raise a fuss about.

There are people out there who only read manga once? One of the best parts of reading manga is rereading your favorites. I can't even count the number of times I've reread Naruto since I picked up the first volume....almost ten years ago (?!) and one of my favoirte binge reads is to try and go through Hunter x Hunter all in as few days as possible (I think my record is 3, and I was exhausted afterwords). But maybe that only appeals to people who physically buy the manga and loves to look at them on a shelf....who knows.