Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 18:47:40 -0400 From: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> To: Matthew Hunt <mph@astro.caltech.edu> Cc: Robert Clark <res03db2@gte.net>, Don Wilde <don@silver-lynx.com>, David Kelly <dkelly@hiwaay.net>, Bzdik BSD <bzdik@yahoo.com>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Books on FreeBSD and local libraries Message-ID: <20010910184740.A52972@blackhelicopters.org> In-Reply-To: <20010910153526.B65659@wopr.caltech.edu>; from mph@astro.caltech.edu on Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 03:35:26PM -0700 References: <20010910040911.33587.qmail@web13607.mail.yahoo.com> <20010910093153.A90211@grumpy.dyndns.org> <3B9CCFCF.A1C5E743@silver-lynx.com> <20010910101010.B66603@darkstar.gte.net> <20010910153526.B65659@wopr.caltech.edu>
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Well, let me advertise both my biases here: I am a recovering university librarian. I am also a forthcoming FreeBSD book author. If you want a book to be added to your library, here's how to go about it. First, fill out a request card, if offered. Believe it or else, you can generally speak with an acquisitions librarian. If you have a book that you're willing to donate, attach a review from a reputable source -- not necessarily the New York Times Review of Books, but amazon.com is at least recognizable. Show it to the acquisitions librarian, and ask if they're interested. If you don't want to lay out the cash first, bring in the review and ask if they'd be interested. Some librarians are petty tyrants who will not accept anything that might interfere with their absolute mastery of all topics in the library. Most, however, are decent people who want to provide good & useful books. If you say, "I'm a professional, I work with this stuff, and I'd like to donate this to the library because I found it very useful for my field" they'll jump on it. Just say, "If you decide to not accept this for the collection, I'd like the book back." Most of what gets donated to the library is, to put it bluntly, crap. Librarians know their patrons. Many donations are sold simply because the librarian has learned through experience that it will never be checked out. At the university where I worked, some books had never been checked out since being acquired in 1958. The university opened in 1957. Shelf space for these dusty tomes is not a minor concern. In short, talk to the acquisitions librarian. Say you'll buy it if they'll shelf it. Give them a review. Most purchasing decisions are based on reviews. On Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 03:35:26PM -0700, Matthew Hunt wrote: > On Mon, Sep 10, 2001 at 10:10:10AM -0700, Robert Clark wrote: > > > There are often people who are paid to buy books. > > > > I would imagine that they might resent outsiders > > determining what is in the library's collection. > > The libraries that I am familiar with express their resentment > by providing outsiders (whom they call "patrons") with little cards > or even online forms on which to specify their requests. > > While you might expect them to use these cards to start a bonfire > or similar festivity, I have found that they instead use them as an > indication of what books they might want to buy, and sometimes even > notify the "outsider" when the volume has been added to the collection. > > -- > Matthew Hunt <mph@astro.caltech.edu> * UNIX is a lever for the > http://www.pobox.com/~mph/ * intellect. -J.R. Mashey > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message -- Michael Lucas mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org http://www.blackhelicopters.org/~mwlucas/ Big Scary Daemons: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/q/Big_Scary_Daemons To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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