On 1/14/2016 8:46 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 01/14/2016 08:35 AM, Don Y wrote:
Our library disposes of a LOT of titles! And, it appears to be a somewhat
arbitrary choice. E.g., I'm friendly with the head librarian at one
of the branches. One day, while chatting with her as she "checked in"
titles, I saw her separating the books into two piles.

I volunteered at the library in Dover, NH and one of the tasks was pruning the
stock. There were two or three references books. One was 'Books in Print' and
being included in BIP was good. I can't remember the titles of the other two
references but one was essentially 'Books Every Library Should Have' and the
other was similar. Being in those guaranteed the book was retained. Miss all
three and it was a goner.

It's nowhere near as "consistent"/predictable, here. It's as if
the staff have an incentive to get rid of titles -- generate "need"!

I thought the BIP criterion was counter intuitive. The out of print books are
those that should be preserved. I scored a complete set of John Burroughs, a
late 19th century naturalist from NY. They hadn't been checked out in some time
and weren't in any of the references.

SWMBO's art book library was largely acquired from discards. Many of the
titles are currently selling for high prices on Amazon, ABE, etc.
(lots of "color plates" make them expensive to produce)

I questioned her as to why the distinction: "Oh, those haven't seen
much recent readership so they'll go in the discards pile..."

WTF? But, someone just read it! Else you wouldn't be checking it
back in! And, there's lots of empty space on the shelves (in this
branch).

The MPL doesn't have much shelf space. Part of the reason is devoting a good
deal of floor space to audiovisual materials. Again, that's what is popular
along with books with unicorns on the cover. Celine, Hamsun, Hemingway, hit the
road.

Branch libraries tend to be ~10,000 sq ft. Some closer to 5, others around
20. But, the trend seems to be "lots of open space" (instead of lots
of closely packed stacks).

Things like DVD's and CD's are treated much like books -- but not too much
"on the shelves". E.g., the branch at which I pick up my reserves probably
has 2 or 3% of the stacks devoted to audio/video media. Lots of "behind
the scenes" space for "processing". Plus, conference rooms that are
available for public use. Plus a large (~2000 sq ft) "function room"
that can be reserved for certain functions. And, a slew of PC's
(probably 30?).

Any "technical" material is limited to Windows XXX (whatever is current)
how-to's. I suspect even math and science books are pretty lame/generic.

OTOH, the University is nearby and, aside from the hassles of PARKING,
accessible (though to checkout books you need to buy a $35/annual
card -- as a "non student")

I'm not keen on yet another agency/entity tracking my "interests".
The local library opted NOT to comply with the request to track
borrowing patterns (though you know something can surreptitiously be
doing that). Recently, the outsourced their handling of the catalog,
reservations, etc. to a canadian firm. No mention of any privacy
guarantees.

The library supposedly only has records of holds and that you have a particular
book checked out. Bring it back and the record is gone. Or so they say. I

With a third party performing these functions, there are no guarantees
as to *what* they keep. Nor what criteria apply to its disclosure.

sometimes miss the cards in the pockets where they'd put your name. Not secure
at all but at least I could see at a glance if I'd read a book. I tend to run

As can anyone else who takes the book! :

through authors I enjoy and can't always remember the titles I've read. Worse,
sometimes I can get 50 pages into the text before I get the deja vu feeling.

My favorite author is A E van Vogt. Many of his stories are surprisingly
similar. Others are "reissues" under different names, etc. So, I may be
considerably invested in a story with a nagging feeling that I've read
it before -- and, it can go either way: it could be a story I've read
under a different title; *or*, can be a different story with similar
characters, setting, etc.

But, as long as I "enjoy the ride", who cares?