Why did you two coprophages, who felt it necessary to tie up the only catalog search terminal available in order to help your sproggen do a book report, search for… Jules Verne? You can find Verne in any decent public library, you oxygen-wasting toilet paper Rorschach blots! Obviously, judging by the way your ugly little brats run circles around the terminal, they aren’t terribly interested in the project, so it wouldn’t have killed you to go to normal public library. You discarded dick-sheathes probably aren’t even aware that you need to register with the LOC before you can look at any materials, and you two are likely the types who’d bitch about “service” when you find out that the LOC does not loan out books, except for special purposes, which your child’s book report (guaranteed to be mostly written by Mr. Simpleton) ain’t one of. Sure, the catalog numbers I needed weren’t of any great literature, but I have a magazine article to write! Sure, it’s for a magazine only read by about 6000 people, and I’m not being paid for it, but the LOC is the only place I can do the research in my area!
At times like this, I wish the “putz” icon was not smiling.
The Library of Congress only had one search terminal available? IS THIS what our tax dollars are going for?
Or were all the other ones kept busy by self-important Amateur Press nerds like yourself, and you only begrudge THIS one because it was being used by children and their parents for a school book report? God forbid mere citizens use the LOC to teach their kids how to do library research.
Picture someone checking into the Mayo Clinic for a zit, Uke.
Problem is, LC isn’t and never was designed for that. It is (purportedly) a general collection to support the deep information needs of Congress–some of whom I suspect would have trouble deciphering the back of a Cherrios box.
LC has a lot of functions, copyright, conservation, etc. among them, but a critical component is a clearinghouse for organizing the staggering publishing output. That’s where the CIP (cataloging in publication) brief record on the verso of the title page of books comes from. There are plenty of other utilities–some cooperatives, some commercial–who craft databases, e.g OCLC, DRA, etc. But LC is the front line.
In all honesty, Greasyfries is right–and wrong. I give all credit to parents who want their kids to see LC. They, and their kids, aren’t pushy interlopers. They’re just as much citizens, with full right to be there. But it isn’t the place to start. The kids need to know they can go to their public library as the local outlet for a kickass information network, of which LC is just the flagship and symbol.
The point is function, and valuing what a fabulous gift knowledge is, no matter the architecture or high visibility. So overall I agree with Ike. Pragmatically, the family was in the wrong place for a simple search. But in the broader sense they were in exactly the right place. With luck those kids got a glimmering that the whole damned written record of the whole damned world, past and present, is their birthright.
So you had to wait for a terminal, Greasyfries. Big, heartbroken whoop. We often have lines for our PAC’s (public online catalogs) and that’s in a public library. Your needs don’t override those of others.
I’m obviously–and unapologetically–partisan, but don’t like the wait and inconvenience? Write your Congressman and agitate for adequate funding for LC. In the grand scale of political pork, it doesn’t make a scrawny guinea pig.
Veb
As I understand it, actually, CIP cards are provided by publishers to the Library. It takes the Library anywhere from two to five years to catalog a book (even longer for trade paperbacks). The CIP card is a “holdover” until the catalogers at the Library get around to creating an authoritative catalog card. Also, the LC is a participating member of OCLC (their code is “DLC”).
I applaud this kid’s parents for taking him/her to the Library. I can’t think of a better way to further an appreciation for books and for knowledge generally.
Doing a school book report at the Library of Congress is a classic case of parental overkill. It’s one thing to show your kids the building and expose them to the materials, but it’s nearly impossible for anyone under college age to get through that place to get info for a book report.
So where do they keep “Masterplots” at LC? Or the Dictionary of Literary Biography? Or Contemporary Authors? I
Good catch, and you are quite right on the CIP thing, Kelly. It is a “holdover” and LC’s backlog is horrendous. They do catalog on OCLC, though to be honest there are usually excellent records already entered for many titles before LC does the “add holding” thing. In effect they put their stamp of approval on it.
But they do a tremendous amount of original cataloging, especially in technical fields and foreign language materials. That stuff is pure, hellish bitch-kitty stuff to catalog and not many are capable of doing it.
Thanks for the catch and the clarification, though. You’re dead right on all counts.
Veb
Maybe I’m bending over backward to sympathize with this crew, but I’m picturing Mom and Dad and Junior and Sis from Tuscaloosa taking in the sights at the Library of Congress because the line to get into the Capitol was too long.
They oohed and aahed at the frescoes and the marble and the Main Reading Room, Pops noticed that one of the terminals was free, and said, “Hey, Butch! Wouldn’t it be a gas to see what we could find here about that book report you’re supposed to turn in next week?” little knowing that he was spoiling Greasyfries’ day.
Greasyfries, I love your SN.
Have to agree with Ike, though.
Had to be a bunch of yokels from Alabama, didn’t it? I agree with you on all points, except that if they were from Tuscaloosa, the kid would be named Bubba. 
I think Greasyfries is being a whiner. While it certainly may have been impractical to do the research for a school book report at the LOC, their right to be there is incontestable.
Don’t like having to wait, Greasyfries? Shrug Get over it. Sorry, you had a bad day. Wait your turn, and better luck next time.
I can sympathize (sort of) with Greasyfries not having the time or patience to wait for a family who obviously (well, he feels it is obvious, so I have to go on that) didn’t know that the LC is not the best place for book report research.
Everybody gets stuck in situations like that and it tries the best of us.
But, I keep seeing this little kid handing in his book report and proudly announcing to class–in whatever school he attends–that his information came from the LC. And, okay you can laugh at me all you want, maybe this kid will grow up some day to stand just where Greasyfried stood…and have a better understanding of and appreciation for the LC than he would have if his parents hadn’t ruined Greasyfries’ day.
Sorry. Just one of those glass-is-half-full kind of things.
Wasn’t Ben Franklin’s purpose behind creating the Free Library so that the yokels who couldn’t afford books still get access to them?
More power to Bubba and Pa.
No, that was Dale Carnegie.
ouch! ow! stoppit! just kidding!
Supposedly Thomas Jefferson’s personal collection formed the nucleus for LC when he went broke and had to part w/ the books. The Grateful Nation (read: powers that barely were) bought and used it to form LC.
But yeah…the place belongs to ordinary folks, and not just symbolically.
Veb
Ok, this may be an unwelcome hijack, and of course, it may also be a stupid question. But at the risk of being a “dick sheath”…
Is every book ever published (with the exception of vanity press books) at the Library of Congress? Every book in America? My good friend just got his first novel published a few months ago…is that there? And what about “Everybody Poops!” That boggles my mind. Do they keep them forever?
jarbaby
You’re required to submit two copies of every published work to the Library of Congress as a prerequisite to copyright registration. One copy goes into the Copyright Office’s permanent collection. I don’t know for sure where the other copy goes. These copies are retained for at least 100 years for the purpose of aiding in the resolution of copyright disputes.
The bulk of the Library’s collection is composed of books purchased by (or donated to) the Library, and while they do seek to maintain a comprehensive collection, there are certainly books which do not make it.