“However nimbly they have adapted, modernised, lost books and gained technology, become determinedly ‘functional’ as invaluable resource centres rather than bookstores, the libraries are always needing to boost their profile. They need more borrowers and yet one of their biggest problems, in my experience, is that ‘borrowing’ is not a readily understood modern concept, however well-embedded it was in Carnegie’s day.”This is the weirdest thing. I hear this sometimes as often as twice in a 4-hour shift - a patron who just doesn't get that at the LIBRARY, you BORROW books, not buy them. And I'm not talking about people who ask if a title is "in stock": the vocabulary of retail is perfectly understandable in the library setting.
—Julia Eccleshare, children’s books editor for The Guardian, in “Whatever Happened to Book Borrowers?” The Guardian Books Blog, Apr. 29.
No, I'm talking about the college kid, who, when informed that he could pick up the item in question at the city library right away if he drove over there, but that he would have to get his county library card registered with their system in order to borrow it, replied, "No, that's ok, when I get there I'll probably just buy it."
On a different but very slightly related note, when was the last time you listened to Loudon Wainwright III? "The Acid Song" alone should ensure his place in history.
Just remind yourself, undergrads are invertebrates. It explains a lot.
ReplyDeleteThough, sadly, they aren't the only ones that don't get what the library is for. One of the reference librarians I work with was telling me about how her husband will buy every book he wants to read, despite her insistence that he can check it out of the library or get it via ILL to test drive it before buying. I guess these people are helping out the economy?
I'm pretty sure I'm one of the few patrons that checks things out at my community college library. I'm on a first-name basis with the counter librarians. It's been years since I've been a heavy borrower, because I haven't been convenient to a library. But now I'm there three days a week, and most days I check out and return a couple books. Not all of them get read, but most do.
ReplyDeleteI've started ordering books delivered to my library for pick-up - that's luxury. I have a paranoid suspicion the librarians resent me, so I try to limit the requests, though.
I work at a public library, and an amazing number of our patrons come in to "rent" a book.
ReplyDeleteVery nice Steely Dan reference, YNL.
ReplyDelete