Thanks Paula for the rationale for biffing. And wh...

2009-10-28T21:39:55.140-07:00

Thanks Paula for the rationale for biffing. And while the theory of interloaning is good, it also costs $5 a book, so it acts as a deterrant.

'Anticipated future demand' also brings into play a whole lot of cultural factors which are very uncertain. Who knows what the future may bring?

An author always feels a degree of insecurity, especially at the moment when the very object we all started off with, the book, looks like being lost in the slip stream.

I actually said to another author, Judith White, recently; 'Under what evil star were we born that we became writers just when technology changed forever....'

I meant it as a joke, but it is a black joke.

(And Helen Garner's book on Joe Cinque is a cracklingly good read. In fact I have read it before. I am taking a summer school on creative nonfiction and I want to use it as a text. I started re-reading it and it captured me all over again. She is adrenalin in print....)

Hi Peter I’m glad that you found some pearls at th...

2009-10-28T19:43:02.365-07:00

Hi Peter
I’m glad that you found some pearls at the Hastings Library that have an appreciative home!
Hastings District Libraries does not have enough space to retain all the books we’ve ever added to the collection, so from time to time we pull items from the shelves to make space for new stock. We’ve recently done a stocktake of all our libraries and so we have a bit more than usual on the table at the moment.
As you suggest, we do follow a process to “biff a book”, or de-select (in librarianspeak), based on, amongst other factors:
• Currency and relevance
• Date of last issue
• Condition of the item
• Anticipated future demand
• Availability of the title elsewhere in the country
With regard to the last point, there is so much published each year that it is not viable for every library in the country to collect and retain everything. As long as a copy remains available somewhere in the country, it can be borrowed via interloan. I have worked in other libraries that are official “repository libraries” for particular genres or subject areas that will be retained in perpetuity for future generations to use. Librarians are a collaborative lot! And of course we have a stack collection for those items that we would never deselect.
And blushingly, I hasten to assure you that we have added your name to our HB Authors board. It seems that the sign asking for authors we had overlooked to be nominated had itself been eradicated….
Thanks for continuing to visit and support the Library. I hope you found the “cracklingly good read” you actually came for.
Paula Murdoch
District Library Manager
Hastings District Council

Comments on peterwellsblog.: Things You Are Not Meant to Like 2

Thanks Paula for the rationale for biffing. And wh...

Hi Peter I’m glad that you found some pearls at th...