The Library System And Something Weird About it Read ON

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Sat, 2009-07-11 01:58

Rexdale_Punjabi Rexdale_Punjabi's picture

ok so lets say you put a hold on a book right. One side you got a popular novel that really just for passing time vs a liberation book.

Why would it be that the hold for the novel which in more demand and has less copies comes thru in a minute but the liberation one takes months or doesnt at all when there more copies of it plus obv less demand.

(even if it same card cuz my sisters just takes shit out for me under herz sometimes n you can guess who wanted which books)

HMMM? All Im gonna say yall had that expierience?

Sat, 2009-07-11 03:54

al-Qa'bong

I'm not really sure what you wrote, but I've had strange experiences with libraries that have nothing to do with my innate sense of entitlement.

A few years ago I read about a book being banned by the Winnipeg police because of its supposed pornographic content. I immediately went to the local library and requested that they purchase a copy. They bought about ten copies because of the high demand.

In the spring of 2006 I requested that the library purchase a copy of Robert Fisk's Pity the Nation, and Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb. On the day that Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006 I received a letter from the library telling me that they didn't think people needed to know about the political situation in Lebanon regarding Israel, and so declined my requests.

Sat, 2009-07-11 09:13

M. Spector M. Spector's picture

The Toronto Public Library system is notorious for refusing to make available for circulation important non-fiction books written from a leftist viewpoint.

At most, they will order one copy and put it in the Reference Library, so that you can't take it home and read it, and can't have it shipped to your local branch so you can read it there.

For example, Canadian leftist Michael Lebowitz's book, [i]Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class,[/i] published six years ago, is available only at the Reference Library. Ditto [url=http://links.org.au/node/419]his latest book.[/url]

Books published by Monthly Review Press are almost never available for circulation.

Likewise, books published and distributed by the Canadian [url=http://www.fernwoodbooks.ca/]Fernwood Books[/url] are unheard-of at the TPL outside the Reference Library. Want to read Yves Engler's book on the making of a student radical in Canada? (From [url=http://www.amazon.ca/Playing-Left-Wing-Student-Radical/dp/1552661695]amazon's[/url] product description:"This story of how a former junior hockey player became a media spokesperson for radical university students in Canada gives an inside look at the thinking, motivation, and politics of the latest generation of student activists. Answering questions such as [i]What makes a student radical?[/i] and [i]Can students in the 21st century play a part in changing the world?,[/i] this autobiography also explains the reasons for and importance of fostering student activism.") Sounds like a book everyone should read? Sorry, folks. You have to go and sit in the Reference Library at 789 Yonge Street to read it.

I hope this post is on topic. I can't tell. Apologies if it's not.

Sat, 2009-07-11 09:16

Rexdale_Punjabi Rexdale_Punjabi's picture

ye it is I wasnt even talking about leftist ones tho these are but they also blacc liberation books like the Isis papers for example the website says they had multiple copies but I doubted it and the listed libraries were nowhere near what you would call the "target audience" for those books. But lol you want to read books thatll turn ur brain to shit and waste ur time they only have a multi-million budget to buy them.

Sat, 2009-07-11 10:05

George Victor

You will have to tell your municipal Poo-Bahs that you would like to become a library board member and extol the virtues of libraries.

As a board member, your requests will more than likely be met.

A recent success was the library's acquisition last month of Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century, published in 2004 by MIT Press. James Lovelock and his biologist sidekick Lynn Margullis write introductions. Wish FM was here to recommend it.

There has been some chat in library admin about its acquisition. A branch manager recently opined (out of the blue) as to how "We probably should all read more about your areas of concern, George."

But I doubt that will happen. They will just read about the duel between Cons and Libs seeking to gain Tar Patch votes, If they read at all. There's no waiting list for such "scary" literature here.

Sat, 2009-07-11 19:55

al-Qa'bong

Here's a good DIY story for you. One of our more prominent local activists used to complain that the library wouldn't order books on anarchism and other leftish topics of interest. He is now the owner of a very good bookstore that trades in books, films and magazines of a leftish bent. He also sells Palestinian olive oil.

Turning the Tide (r)evolutionary media

Sun, 2009-07-12 07:25

George Victor

City libraries dispose of older volumes, those not taken out and the popular but dog-eared, creating shelf room, while the small town libraries don't have a budget for that.

Interlibrary loan is then enabled to make finds like Edmund Wilson's To the Finland Station (in Orillia Public Library). ( It is still in print).

David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed came from somewhere near the Bay of Quinte (librarians have also been known to squirrel away a favourite author or two). Don't allow yourself to be easily brushed off. Be a gadfly.

Sun, 2009-07-12 12:09

NorthReport

Thanks for this information M. Spector

Very sad but enlightening commentary.

M. Spector wrote:

The Toronto Public Library system is notorious for refusing to make available for circulation important non-fiction books written from a leftist viewpoint.

At most, they will order one copy and put it in the Reference Library, so that you can't take it home and read it, and can't have it shipped to your local branch so you can read it there.

For example, Canadian leftist Michael Lebowitz's book, [i]Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class,[/i] published six years ago, is available only at the Reference Library. Ditto [url=http://links.org.au/node/419]his latest book.[/url]

Books published by Monthly Review Press are almost never available for circulation.

Likewise, books published and distributed by the Canadian [url=http://www.fernwoodbooks.ca/]Fernwood Books[/url] are unheard-of at the TPL outside the Reference Library. Want to read Yves Engler's book on the making of a student radical in Canada? (From [url=http://www.amazon.ca/Playing-Left-Wing-Student-Radical/dp/1552661695]amazon's[/url] product description:"This story of how a former junior hockey player became a media spokesperson for radical university students in Canada gives an inside look at the thinking, motivation, and politics of the latest generation of student activists. Answering questions such as [i]What makes a student radical?[/i] and [i]Can students in the 21st century play a part in changing the world?,[/i] this autobiography also explains the reasons for and importance of fostering student activism.") Sounds like a book everyone should read? Sorry, folks. You have to go and sit in the Reference Library at 789 Yonge Street to read it.

I hope this post is on topic. I can't tell. Apologies if it's not.

Sun, 2009-07-12 13:09

jrose

I've never had problems getting progressive books from my library (Hamilton), whether they're on demand or not, and while it sometimes takes longer than I would like for them to stock the shelves with some lefty literature, I think this is the case for books new to circulation in general.

I did make a librarian blush once and refuse to say the title of the book I had overdue. Instead of saying "BITCHFEST" she simply blushed and said "You know the one!" It made me strangely proud of my selection. :)