[PLUG-TALK] Library access (was: alternative to Google?)

Keith Lofstrom keithl at kl-ic.com
Mon Oct 17 15:30:20 UTC 2011


On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 08:32:25AM -0700, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> Multnomah County Library is, indeed, very good. But I get far faster
> service from the library at PSU. Usually I can get a PDF of the article
> immediately. And interlibrary loans are much faster also. Of course,
> you need to be a student or faculty to use these services. 

PSU has computers available for public use.  You can plug in your
USB key and go wild.  Lewis and Clark, WSU/Vancouver, University
of Portland, Lewis and Clark, and OHSU also allow this.  UW Seattle
(but not Tacoma) will give you a one week guest account (if you
ask nice) to use their library WIFI, and so will Stanford.  Most
west coast university libraries, and quite a few east coast ones,
provide outside visitors digital access one way or another.

Some "photocopiers" at PSU will now scan to USB flash drive,
though horrendously slowly.  A very-fast-write flash drive
helps (I use a Patriot Rage XT).  Most flash drives suck.
PSU students can scan to their PSU email addresses, which
is much faster.  

MultCo and WashCo libraries have a sharing agreement so that
residents of one county can get a borrowing card in the other.
Both offer interlibrary loan, usually for free.  However, be
gentle - I'm told that one interlibrary loan costs about $20
to process.  I will sometimes borrow a book with I.L.L. if 
the item is completely unavailable otherwise, or before shelling
out $200 for a new technical book sight-unseen.  But if I can
find the book used at addall.com, for under $40 or so, I go
ahead and order it that way, it saves money and time overall.

The Very Best Library Catalog is worldcat.org .  It is not
superaccurate about who has a particular volume of a journal
(you always must follow up with the particular library's own
catalog) but it is a very good start.  If you provide your
librarian with the details from worldcat, it might save them
some time and your community some money.

Also, look at Google Books - they only provide limited online
portions of copyrighted books, but it is often enough to
answer a simple question, or to make a buy/no-buy decision.

It may seem like, in the internet age, everything is online.
In fact, much is behind paywalls, but even more is printed 
only on dead trees and mouldering on university shelves. 
Some of it quite contradictory to Fashionable Wisdom, and
worth knowing when popular theories collide with reality.

I wonder what would happen if I asked for the Codex Sinatica,
the second century folio Bible under glass and guard at the
British Library, through Interlibrary Loan?

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs



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