2 Feb
2004
2 Feb
'04
5:49 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "O. Sharp" <ohh(a)drizzle.com>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: SCELBAL, Scelbi books
Someone on the list, whose name I have chosen to remove, wrote (in part):
I agree people stealing from the library and paying back the original
purchased price for a book long out of print (that cant be replaced) is VERY
low in my opinion. If your looking for something technical and your local
library doesn't have it try hitting your local college. The school I
graduated from has an alumni program where for a few bucks a year you get
access to the school library (among other things) just like you did when you
were a student. I bet any donations would allow you to get the same
privileges even if you never attended the school in question. Any college
library will let you browse the books and magazines there, they just wont
let you walk out with them unless your a student and have a card. And yes
most libraries do have sales each year on books that are outdated or have
been replaced with new editions. I have quite a few technical (engineering)
books purchased for pennies on the dollar (from the old original price) from
such sales. I find books printed in the 1930's (when people started hitting
the theory of how allot of engineering things really worked like
thermodynamics etc) offer a perfect start to understanding a technical
subject because everything is spelled out step by step (including
experiments and raw data) since its fairly new to the people of the time
while new books (on old subjects) expect you to know allot about the
subject, math, and theory they skim over to get to their point.
Yes... there is... now it's not very honest
but it'll get ya the books.
If you think the price listed in the covers of the books is fair then
here is what you do. Go to the library and tell them you've lost the
books. [...]
As someone who still actually _uses_ libraries for research, I can't even
begin to express how barbaric I find this suggestion. "Not very honest"?
Well, true, and if you don't have any qualms about slapping the face of
_every other person_ who might want to do the same research for the rest
of time... <grrrrrr!>
Another option (less likely to work) is to ask
them if you can purchase
the books. Most times though they will say no.
But at least this is an approach that doesn't deprive you of your honor,
your honesty or your soul. :) Many libraries also have annual or
semi-annual public sales, of both donated books and (occasionally) old
stock of their own which has been duplicated or outlived its public
usefulness, so that's another method that wouldn't taint your hands and
rob your fellow-collectors. :)
Returning to Chuck Swiger's original message:
Still, there must be some way I can purchase
books that haven't been
checked out in over 20 years from an Institute of Technology library.
If you're only after the information, the copies the library suggested
would probably be adequate. But there is something nice about having an
actual, honest-to-God book in your hands. :) Have you tried looking for
the books elsewhere? Half.com, abebooks.com, alibris.com, powells.com,
allbookstores.com and even amazon.com are all good sources for various
old technology volumes. I've had good luck with most of them at one time
or another. ePain - er, eBay also works, if you're willing to wait long
enough and have a big enough checkbook. (I hesitate suggesting them; but I
have been able to find two hysterically rare nonfiction volumes there, so
I guess I can't gripe. <g>) If you live somewhere with a good variety of
used bookstores, too, it could be worth your while to drop by some of them
and see if they might be on a forgotten shelf there as well. Good used
bookstores are full of surprises. :)
...Aiya! That other poster's suggestion just strikes me as scummy and
invidious. Every time I go to the library, look for a particular volume
and have the catalog tell me it's "missing from collection", I'm going
to
think of that unnamed poster and mutter a curse. :/
...And that'll be, on average, about three curses every time I research
_any_thing... :(
-O.-
<muttering under breath about evil library-killers>