so yesterday I was going to the library...
when I found that it was closed for the week. This is not the first time this has happened to me, a situation when I actually wanted to go to the library and found it was closed. I'm so used to the always-on Internet...I just expect huge information sources to be available to me whenever I want. But no, the library actually opens late in the morning and closes relatively early at night (but there's been enough student [it's a joint uni/city library] outrage that they are making efforts to have extended hours for students...no mean feat with the uni system and the state itself in budgetary crisis mode), and is closed during the holiday week. But at least we
have a library.
Anyway, I wanted to go and get more of the
required reading for my British/Irish Fiction class next semester. During the semester, it's unlikely I'll have the opportunity to re-read books, and I really should read them more than once in order to be a decent student. So, I'm reading them all now while I have the time (classes start at the end of January). I know, I'm a geek.
Oh but wait, it gets geekier. I did all my catalog-searching at home, and made a little list of books and call numbers. Sigh. Then, in a fit of hubris, I did a search to see if any of
my books are in the library. Two are, one in the public library and one in the SJSU-only library. The one in the SJSU library is
STY PMA in 24 Hours, which was a good seller but was published in Dec 2002. In Internet time, that's like a billion years ago. In 2003 I heavily edited it and it became
STY PMA AiO 1e, and then a few weeks ago the 2e version was published. No big deal, I figured who the hell would check my book out of the library?? (Despite the fact that I know exactly how many books I've sold, I still have this idea that no one really wants to read them.)
Eighteen holds. There are
eighteen holds on "first copy returned" of my out-of-date book. I then significantly increased my geek/goober/loser rating by firing off a concerned note to the Computer Science/Programming librarian about people lining up to read this out-of-date book, when I have ten brand-new copies of the latest version just sitting in my closet and would they like some? I'm sure the librarian will have a good chuckle and pat me on the head and be all "no, no, that's not how it works," but I really have no clue how libraries work. The way I figure, a free book is a free book, so why not?
