ShibbOleth, you should ask to speak to the librarian in charge of acquisitions and then offer to donate the books you think should be on the shelf. They might not take all of them since space is an issue. But new copies of some of the classics would certainly be welcome. This is especially true of childrens’s books. I bet they’d love to expand beyond those couple of shelves.
[checks panties] Nope, not bunched.
Ho ho ho…, I guess you got me. Member of the general public, and all. Well, to the extent I am a member of the general public, I have no influence over what my local public library stocks because I prefer to buy and own my books. No judgment, there, just stating a fact.
My comment was in the spirit of the library’s goal of satisfying its patrons, along these lines from upthread: " It’s an institution that serves the public. That includes making classic literature available–and your library does that–and it includes keeping things that people want in stock."
So the people that are being most vocal about what they want their library to stock- such literature as Tila Tequila’s latest works- are evidently outstripping those that would prefer weighter material. Taking that to its eventual result, if those same people continue to outstrip the more literary-minded, the classics will continue to disappear in favor of People magazine-level reading materials.
If you are a member of that group, don’t be so defensive. I just find it unfortunate that the library can’t satisfy a wider range of readers.
The library is catering to a huge range of readers, that’s why they have a huge range of books.
Who says it can’t? The OP was upset because he saw a single copy of one book that he thinks isn’t worthwhile of being included in a library. And because a few classics that he thinks ARE worthwhile, are only available via inter-library loan. I am willing to bet that the library does, however, include plenty of great classics of literature, in addition to plenty of more “low-brow” fare like the Tila Tequila thing. The libraries I’ve patronized in the last four cities I’ve lived in have all had a huge variety of books, including celebrity biographies and the works of Proust. (Or whatever.)
BUT! The masses that make up the subset “library users” are typically above-average in the washing and litereacy departments. As a librarian, allow me to echo what others have said and talk to the librarian! Nothing frustrates me more than hearing someone whine “You don’t have X” when they never bothered to request X in the first place, or worse, we do it and X just happens to be checked out.
Oh, bollocks. You librarians are always complaining about how your facilities are full of homeless people using the computers to find some whackin’ materials.
True, we are. But the homeless jackoffs who want to… well, jackoff… aren’t even close to being the majority of library users. They’re a small, but smelly, minority.
Just do me a favor…
Deming is correct about a LOT of things, the problem is that many people read his work and completely misinterpret it. Take the time to read carefully.
I had a look in their catalogue online. I think your time would be better spent complaining about that. They did have “Love in the Time of Cholera,” but it’s in the Large Print section. The little stacked-books icon suggests they have most of your books, but you’re right, the small branch library doesn’t have terribly many titles. Perhaps someone should invent a system where one large library could store the infrequently requested titles, and then some sort of interlibrary loan program could distribute them to the tiny branch libraries, ensuring that a large population could share these books without wasting resources.
That explains it: the OP only saw “LO” on the cover.
It’s genius! Why hasn’t someone thought of that?
Has anyone actually read the book? Maybe it’s really good.
I bet you’d get pissy if I judged [stuffy]Classic[/stuffy] books by their cover.
You would be amazed at the number of people that can’t differentiate between a small branch library and a big downtown library. I get nutcases all the time who are shocked, SHOCKED that we don’t have a copy of Mendelson’s treatise on the hunting methods of the Okino tribe from 1745 or some other completely obscure text.
Aren’t all asian women hot, slutty and bisexual? What I know of them comes from my spam mail.
Try Shigeo Shingo. His analysis of Deming’s work is actually better than Demings IMHO.
Out of curiosity, I looked up both of those books in my system.
Out of the Crisis is owned by the main library and two smaller branches. It last circulated in June of 2008.
Peter Scholtes’ The Team Handbook is only available at the main library and it circulated a little more recently, December of 2008.
I’m sorry ShibbOleth, but from a librarian perspective, this stuff is dead weight. Doubly so because they’re business books, which go in and out of fashion constantly. Do you know how many worthless copies of Who Moved My Cheese? are out there that haven’t been touched in months or years?
Interestingly enough, Hooking Up With Tila Tequila is also owned by three smaller branch libraries. The last time one of them circulated was a few weeks ago. Does that make the main library “incomplete” because it carries your two business books but not a book the people want to read like Ms. Tequila’s? Just curious.
Prior to this thread, I had never heard of the estimable Ms. Tequila. So imagine my surprise at finding this.
I agree that Tila Tequila’s book is unlikely to be a literary epic, but it serves the role of a “gateway book”. Titles like hers attract non-traditional library users, who once there may actually start picking up Sartre and other more “serious” literature. Plus, typically library budgets are at least partially based on usage figures, so more titles through the door means more money overall. Part of that money is channeled back into more Tila-esque books, but part of it also pays for the facility itself which benefits all readers.
Sometimes it helps to look for the silver lining, however small… 
Is Shawne Merriman gonna hafta choke a bitch?
Clearly he wanted to read more Sartre.