3 ms·

I've done this as well with bookshelves at thrift stores that are completely unorganized. I don't want to lose my mind reading every title on every book binding

• pridkett 2y ago
  This is an old thread and will probably be lost now, but this sort of tool has been industrialized now. At the library book sales in my area, you'll see a handful of people there right as they open, they'll have either a scanner device or an app on their phone. They just scan over the spines of the books and it beeps when it finds something interesting. It highlights the book and they pick it out. On the one hand, great application of technology. On the other hand, the folks using them have zero interest in reading the books. So, when the library happens to have a nearly brand new copy of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Illustrated Edition" there's almost no chance that someone in the community who wants to read the book will get it. Instead it gets snapped up by the resellers who make a couple of bucks off sending it to someone else who may be across the country.