March 24, 2004

• Don't people use libraries anymore?
• I don't know about other places - but the libraries here totally suck. For any semi-recently released book there are huge waiting lists of people. Chances are I will never see the book. Or, I'll totally forget about wanting the book when my name comes up on the list. Something like this would be perfect for me. I don't want to spend the money to buy the book - I just want to read the damn thing. Cool service... now I wish I wasn't poor.
• Well, yes, some do. The Library I work for circulates almost 2,000,000 items a year to a population of 130,000, but that's relatively rare. There are a lot of people who just don't ever think of using a Public Library, and many of those who do are so disappointed by the experience that they never come back. Many Libraries are reeling right now, struggling to understand their role in a information-soaked society, and many have severe funding problems, past-the-expiration-date workforces, and anti-tech governing bodies. The existence of services like this, netflix, and even the video rental industry is a result of libraries turning their nose up at the demands before them and refusing to acknowledge that the world has changed around them.
• On second look, I now notice that it's paperbacks. I'm not sure if that changes my opinion.... but it's defintely not as cool as I first thought.
• dng- libraries have due dates and closing hours. My sister uses this and likes it a lot. It's like Netflix for books. I use Netflix, and will never darken the doorstep of my under-stocked, over-attituded, late-fee-charging-happy neighborhood video place ever again. oh, sorry, off-topic.(ahem) My sister likes it for all the trashy novels that she'll only read once and doesn't need to keep. I didn't realize that they also have, er, "quality fiction" in addition to the bodice-rippers.
• i use an easy system to get new books asap from the library, by monitoring the best-sellers lists and reviews for new releases and then checking the library online. our system here lets one put a book on hold, even when it is still on order, so i am often the first reader of my desired book. if they haven't ordered it i keep a list and keep checking....and if that doesn't work then i go and give my reasons for why they should order it. i can't remember the last time i bought a book new. if i do want my own copy i then head to the second hand stores. /i admit there are a couple of books i do intend to purchase soon if i don't find a used copy though.
• Netflix makes sense, because we generally don't have public libraries for movies. But I guess I have been spoiled - There was never anything I couldn't get in the Toronto Public Library. I didn't worry about new books, which could have huge wait lists (1000 for Harry Potter, 500 for Ann Marie MacDonald's Fall on Your Knees, before it was pick by Oprah), because I had a few centuries worth of books to read anyways. (Books are good that way - the special effect in The Martian Chronicles are very nearly as good as anything written today.) I could even get graphic novels. But wouldn't it be better to improve interlibrary loans for small libraries? Books should be free to borrow.
• dxlifer - seems like a lot of work for an easy system to tell you the truth. I'm sure it all work if you're one who's really into all the books and know the little details. I am not one of those people. Most books that I want, everyone else wants. I'm not up on the comings and goings. I find it just so much easier to buy the book than fight the hordes of stiffs like me who find out that a book is really cool a short while after it's been out. I agree with used bookstores too. I end up buying any and all books I can there....Anything to save a buck
• Used bookstores, all the way. I used to work down near The Strand Annex and that was heaven. Now I'm forced to go to B&N most of the time. Or friends. I try and beg off of friends to save money, when I can.
• I used to work down near The Strand Annex and that was heaven. . There are only about five things that I miss about New York, and The Strand is one of them. The Strand, H&H Bagels, La Dinastia Cuban-Chinese restaurant, The Met Museum of Art, beautiful crisp October days in Central Park. oh sorry, off-topic again...
• I loved the Strand until I worked there a few summers ago. That was hell. I bought at least a hundred books over those three months (most for, on average, around seventy-five cents, with the employee discount), but it was still hell. Imagining spending eight hours a day on endless alphabetization, all the while enclosed in a dusty barn-like space with no air-conditioning and stench wafting around from rancid, backed-up public toilets, and you're not even halfway near imagining how bad that was. Yeah.
• How do you find new releases at the Strand? Are the new releases always on the tables at the front or are they mixed in by subject?
• How do you find new releases at the Strand? Are the new releases always on the tables at the front or are they mixed in by subject? The Strand just overwhelms me (although downstairs they have racks of interviewer copies, which allows you to get a book a month or two early, if you're lucky enough to find it). And even the Strand Annex is hit or miss. It's not a great place to find new releases, although you might get lucky there, too. It's more of a place I would go and wander and find books I'd meant to read and didn't, or would find books I'd never heard of that I was willing to give a try for $4. babywannasofa - I can't even imagine working there. It must have been stifling. I avoid the main Strand store for the most part for just that reason. I'm glad you got out of there.
• bah, it's just cut and paste and hit the hold button. but then, yes, i am a vociferous reader of all manner of books. i keep a 'favourites' folder of books to find and i just check the entries periodically when i go to the library site. i'm here in the little city of kingston and you're in waterloo....you should have a bigger library system than we do. no? then i also have the queens' library as well.
• dxlifer, to tell you the truth - I've never used the public libraries here in Waterloo. I've lived in the town of Caledon (just north of Brampton) for most of my life. Those libraries totally suck and are totally underfunded.... I really find that I'm only reading for pleasure in the summer months, when I'm at home. At those times, I'm stuck with horrible libraries. I think that Waterloo and Kingston are about the same size though. Right around 100,000 I do believe.
• Save the libraries! Agitate for more funding!
• Zira, most new releases, theoretically, go on tables located throughout the store (those that are bestsellers or otherwise well-hyped are generally nearest to the front; the rest are usually mixed in by subject). It doesn't always happen that way, though. My advice would be this: never go to the Strand looking for anything specific. So many people are in and out of the store that it's impossible for the staff of shelvers (at least 20 people shelving at any given time) to keep up with the mess that gets made, so nothing is ever in its right place. It's a great place to browse, though; huge chunks of my paycheck got spent on books I saw and absolutely HAD to have (I still regret not picking up a few of the weirder ones, like a dead-serious account of near-death experiences involving holy visions of Elvis Presley).
• Alnedra: don't worry too much about funding, I'm sure my late fines will keep every library I've ever used in business for decades : ) But, seriously, I do agree - public libraries need funding. They are an essential part of a literate and democratic society.
• You think YOU Monkeys got it rough--our public library has been taken over by the Christians From Hell. The SciFi section is slowly going away, the murder/mystery/horror section has been broken up and I fear is going the way of the SciFi--except for a few items like the Rita Mae Brown stuff--amusing lite reading, but NOT something you want to spend more than a few hours on the beach with. (not that we have a beach in Idaho) Nearly anything worth ordering off the best seller lists has been nixed as being "not up to community standards." What they HAVE been ordering are these HORRIBLE books from Christian publishers. Everything has this disgustingly upbeat and godly stance--or godawful, depending on your viewpoint. A lot of it is Avalon romance style, to boot. Unfortunately, I've been suckered once or twice into reading the first chapter, only to have to take some Pepto to quiet the gag reflex. Thank Dog for Used book stores and places you can rent-a-book. Pity me. And fear the Christians.
• Yikes Blue. Does your library actually have to worry about community standards, or is it the librarian not wanting to cause a fuss? I know ours, in small town X, had the Michael Moore and the Savage guy side by side for a while. I guess I can see why they'd kill sci-fi first though. Maybe try sneaking stuff into the kids section?
• BlueHorse, I commiserate. Think I would go nuts working in a library like that. And sneaking stuff into the kids section is an excellent idea, except after Harry Potter, fundies are keeping a hawk eye on "Satanic" magic books for children as well.
• My library has a wonderful online request system and they send me an email when something comes in. And if you don't want to wait your turn for a new-release book or DVD you can rent them - $0.25/day for a book or $0.50/day for a DVD.