biblu - Lend & Borrow Books 17+

There does not seem to be anybody much using this app, if at all. And while the idea of borrowing and lending books sounds good on the surface, most people in this day and age, do not want to meet and greet and borrow books from each other from strangers. people just want to get online buy a book and be done with it. Moreover, there are some navigation issues with the app. For example, the scanner does not seem to work well. I thought this might be something that I could use. But I don’t want to have another social media app built around books. And there is another issue that concerns me. And that is you could have someone say they have a book to lend you and it could create personal safety issues for you. Similar to the way, Facebook marketplace has done in similar apps.

This app is unnecessary complicated to set up, appears to collect insane amounts of personal data, and provides absolutely no value. Tbe premise seems to be to facilitate lending books among local neighbors. There is no mechanisim for the physical exchange of these books and no recourse if your property is stolen. Even worse, there are no local users, so no “lending library”.

My best guess is this is a deeply flawed business model in search of (gullible) investors. HARD PASS!!

There simply isn’t a market for a communal library-esque system like this.

If you’re a close-knit community who know each other, then you don’t need an app to lend books; just ask them.

Most towns have either a library, a bookstore, or both, so if you’re really into physical books, just go there; or better yet, order one off of Amazon. If it’s a more expensive, rarer book, what are the odds of Jimmy down the street having it, let alone be willing to rent it to you at the risk of it getting damaged?

Most colleges have either a library or bookstore on their campus. They are also likely to have large databases filled with the sources they’re looking for. Again, if it’s just two students sharing their books, they don’t need an app to do that. Sure, it could be with a student you don’t know, but I can’t imagine many students being willing to rent out books to strangers, especially when many of them are likely rental books already. If that stranger damages or loses the book, guess who has to pay for it!

In conclusion, there simply isn’t a market for something like this. Excluding the fact that Kindle exists, many book lovers treasure their books and wouldn’t dare rent them out. Also, the odds of someone near you having the exact book you want are too low to make it a viable system. I can’t imagine more than a few dozen people ever using this app, and that means that it will never achieve the goal of a large book-renting network it seems to want.