Buying books : the librarian and the provisioning

Book distribution and diffusion structures in France handicap public libraries' provisioning, especially in rural surroundings. The fact is particularly negative in matter of supplying " according to order ". Relying on a test realized in June 1989 among three booksellers and concerning a sample of fifty books in print, the author underlines the delays of provisioning and the incoherency of the answers. The responsability does not seem to lie with the booksellers, but with the publishers and the distributors, who do not respect the agreements established with the booksellers.
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