Quote: W. C. Fields

In honor of the venue of the upcoming ACRL conference, I'll quote W. C. Fields on his proposed epitaph:

"Here lies W. C. Fields. I would rather be living in Philadelphia."

Libres Interdits

One of the major problems that public libraries face is what to do about children's books that are controversial. Keep them on the open shelf? Put them in a special section? Withdraw them?

I have a solution.

Buy the book in a foreign language. The book cannot be objectionable if the child cannot understand it. And the child who wishes to read it will have to learn the language in which the book is written. This encourages the child to learn another language.

It's in the Cards

At what point do reviews become sales pitches for the educational industrial complex? Since you often base your buy/don't buy on reviews, this is relevant.

Unintentionally or not, Choice may be the most tempting example through its wielding of cards. It is much more convenient to send your faculty cards rather than review magazines, and much easier for them to send back cards with instructions to buy an item. I know of no other review journal that uses cards.

I suspect that books that are not reviewed by Choice (the cruelest cut), or not reviewed favorably, have a lesser chance of being purchased by an academic library.

Lost: "Librarian at Play"

Google Blog Search can't locate Librarian at Play as a blog title, but messages from the blog do display in the search results. So I have craftily put LaP in a post's title and in its message. Take that GBS (not George Bernard Shaw).

Books That Weed Themselves

For those who didn't know there was a part 1, this is part 2 of my commentary on HarperCollins' decision to put a cap of 26 e-book checkouts for libraries.

From the optimist's viewpoint, this is a Good Thing.

Librarians will no longer have to weed books. They'll disappear automatically after 26 checkouts.

Nor will librarians need be concerned about building a collection for posterity; the only place an old capped title will hang on is through the publisher. And when the publisher goes out of business or loses interest, the title is good and gone, unavailable from that guardian of culture, the library.

What's Real

I recently heard the story of a man who for St. Patrick's day gave his girl a ring with a jewel. She objected upon discovering that the gem was not real, but a sham rock.

This put me in mind of a library reception where I was offered some bubbly. I said I didn't go for champagne, I wanted real pain.

Hot/Cold Enough for You?

You're building is either too hot or too cold. What weather is to the outside of the library, heating and cooling is to the inside. And about as controllable.