[PLUG-TALK] Renting silent movies

[Jeremy Miller]

On Tue, Sep 17, 2002 at 09:31:01AM -0700, David Pool wrote:

> I love the library. Last week I went through my "wishlist" on Amazon and
> then I searched the library and found them all. So even though I couldn't
> find Lawrence Lessig's book "The Future of Ideas" in stock at Powell's main
> bookstore, I was able to have it delivered to my local branch for free. A
> great example of an intellectual commons.

FWIW, even if your library doesn't have an item you'd like to see, you still
have a number of options.

1.  They might have other branches, or be a member of a library consortium. 
In which case the item might be somewhere else in the system.  Place a hold,
and the item will get routed to whereever you'd like to pick it up.

2.  Inter-library loan.  The librarians can lookup other library collections
(outside of their system) to see if anyone has it.  They can request an
inter-library loan, and the other library will send it over in the mail, for
you to check out.  There might be a small charge.

3.  Purchase.  Most libraries have a simple process for reccommending
additions to the collection, and are happy to get them from patrons.  (They
want to stock things that will circulate, of course.  Placing requests can
actually help with their collection development process.)  If you make a
small note as to why you think it would be a valuable addition (especially
non-fiction that fills a gap in the knowledge base) chances are pretty good
they'll order it for you.  And they'll plug your name first in the hold
queue. :)  Of course the length of time it might take to get it in the building
aand through cataloging/processing is another story...

> David Pool

Jeremy