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Libraries

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Rowan
Bibliophile
Posts: 1462
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: I love history, but it's boring in school. Historical fiction brings it alive for me.
Preferred HF: Iron-Age Britain, Roman Britain, Medieval Britain
Location: New Orleans
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Post by Rowan » Wed April 25th, 2012, 8:22 pm

Welp. I set up an ILL account at my lie-berry only to learn that they're connected to Louisiana librarys (public and educational) only. *sigh* Of course before that I looked on that WorldCat site and the nearest library to me that has this book is in Missislippy.

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sweetpotatoboy
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Joined: August 2008
Location: London, UK

Post by sweetpotatoboy » Wed April 25th, 2012, 9:19 pm

I've had a library more than once fail to find a book that its system shows as being on the shelf. Sometimes someone has mis-shelved it, sometimes they have it in a special display, sometimes it has just been returned and is waiting to be shelved, sometimes it has just gone plain missing and it's a bit of a mystery. It takes someone actually wanting the book and not being able to find it to get the anomaly on the system corrected.

Depends how big the library is and how popular the book is. If the book is obscure and nobody wants to borrow it from one decade to the next, the anomaly in the system may take years to come to light. Such is life and human nature.

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Misfit
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Wed April 25th, 2012, 10:01 pm

[quote=""Rowan""]Welp. I set up an ILL account at my lie-berry only to learn that they're connected to Louisiana librarys (public and educational) only. *sigh* Of course before that I looked on that WorldCat site and the nearest library to me that has this book is in Missislippy.[/quote]

Phhhhhttt.

**stops to kiss ground my library is built upon**
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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boswellbaxter
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Location: North Carolina
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Post by boswellbaxter » Wed April 25th, 2012, 11:12 pm

[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]I've had a library more than once fail to find a book that its system shows as being on the shelf. Sometimes someone has mis-shelved it, sometimes they have it in a special display, sometimes it has just been returned and is waiting to be shelved, sometimes it has just gone plain missing and it's a bit of a mystery. It takes someone actually wanting the book and not being able to find it to get the anomaly on the system corrected.

Depends how big the library is and how popular the book is. If the book is obscure and nobody wants to borrow it from one decade to the next, the anomaly in the system may take years to come to light. Such is life and human nature.[/quote]

I got lucky once and found a book on the shelf of the university's main library that wasn't supposed to be there--it was listed as being available only at one of the smaller libraries. I don't think anyone had checked it out in years.

Once in a while I'll come across a book that's mis-shelved and will take it to the re-shelving area in the hopes that it gets returned to its correct destination.
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
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princess garnet
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Joined: August 2008
Location: Maryland

Post by princess garnet » Thu April 26th, 2012, 1:21 am

We've got a huge weeding project going on at my library. As I'm going through the cart of books I have, I'll do record maintenance as I go.
Whether or not I'm on the reference desk, I'll shelve books left on the tables by patrons in our reading room throughout the day. No huge pile on the carts when we close!

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Divia
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Location: Always Cloudy, Central New York

Post by Divia » Sat April 28th, 2012, 4:17 pm

We try do do inventory every year. However, sometimes we can't. Mostly we find missing books when other patrons want said novel and we check for it cause it says its in but then there is no copy of the book.
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