Stranger Than Richard
Mar. 2nd, 2004 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alfvaenI love the Edmonton Public Library. Mostly because of their music collection, which they allow to circulate, and which allows me to audition a whole whack of CDs that I'm curious about. Without it, I wouldn't have any idea what the heck to buy. So I have a lively throughput, sometimes up to a dozen a week. Depending on whether I wait for requests to come in--I'm at a branch library, so I can put in requests for up to 25 items, and when they become available they'll route them over. Or I can just browse the local racks and see what strikes my fancy. Which will usually be limited only to CDs I haven't listened to before.
I'd run across the name Robert Wyatt a few years ago, I think it was in a Rolling Stone book about "singer-songwriters". I have a big list of people I put in requests for, and eventually I tried out Robert Wyatt's "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" CD. It came in a few weeks ago, and eventually I got around to trying it.
Borrowing period is three weeks, with one renewal possible if there's not already another request for it. Right now I'm on a schedule where every week I check to see what is due a week later and see if I can renew it; if not, then I have to listen to it that week.
Anyway, I wasn't that impressed with Robert Wyatt. I took the CD back to the library and thought nothing more of it.
Until it showed up ominously on my library record, which is easily checkable through the web site. First it was overdue, despite my being sure I'd returned it, and then it turned into a "MISS-IN" item with a $10 fine.
I thought at first that I had brought back the case without the CD. I've done that before, and come close to it other times. But I checked all the possible places, and it wasn't there. I checked with the local branch(which was not where the CD originated from), and they eventually discovered that it was an insert(the "IN", I guess), the CD booklet, which was missing. Then they said it wasn't missing, but it was badly damaged and would have to be replaced.
Now, I've had some run-ins of this type before. One book that I returned showed up with a fine because of "coffee damage". I went all the way across town to the branch it came from(which, oddly enough, is the one I live closest to now), and managed to convince them that the stain was there when I read it. (Since I don't drink coffee at all, I knew it wasn't me.) I guess that, ideally, you're supposed to report any damage you see that's not already stamped with "DAMAGE NOTED". Or you should turn yourself in if you actually spill the coffee yourself. But this doesn't happen, so it all depends on which of the people who's checking the items back in, or users trying to read/listen to it, happens to notice the damage.
Then there was the other "MISS-IN" problem I had, where I apparently returned a copy of Joy Division's "Closer" without the back-cover insert. I traced this back to having taken out the disc(to listen to)and the booklet(to read), and then put them back into a blank jewel case which probably normally housed my Civilization II disc. I returned the insert, no harm done. But it didn't sound like that would work out this time.
I put off actually doing anything about it for a few days, and on my last regular visit to the library, they didn't mention it. But then I tried to renew things this week, and got the message "There is a problem with your card". Then a note in the mail about the "MISS-IN" and spelling out the problem.
So today I finally made my way over the main branch. I hadn't been there since the last Blogger Meetup, and even then not for very long because it was held in the adjoining coffeehouse. It'd been under renovation for many months, but seems to be finished now.
I ended up talking to a woman in the Audio-Visual department who showed me the CD booklet. It did not look particularly like it had when I'd seen it. In fact, what it looked like was like somebody had peeled the library stickers(badly)off of the original booklet, photocopied it, and then affixed the stickers onto the photocopy, keeping the original for themselves.
That's the biggest culprit, you see. The CDs themselves rarely go missing, because it's easy enough to make a copy, rip them and then burn yourself a copy. But the booklets get stolen because people want the lyrics, too, and maybe the cover art. They had to start putting steep fines on them. And even then, I'm sure they don't notice if people cut out a bunch of pages from the middle of the booklet.
Anyway, I paid the $10 fine anyway, despite repeated protestations of my innocence, because I like to support the library. I was sure that I hadn't done it myself, but I couldn't swear whether it had been like that when I'd had it out. Oh, and I also had to pay $1.50 for 15 minutes of parking in the library parkade.
But now I can put requests on my card again. Though not for Robert Wyatt, let me tell you.
I'd run across the name Robert Wyatt a few years ago, I think it was in a Rolling Stone book about "singer-songwriters". I have a big list of people I put in requests for, and eventually I tried out Robert Wyatt's "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" CD. It came in a few weeks ago, and eventually I got around to trying it.
Borrowing period is three weeks, with one renewal possible if there's not already another request for it. Right now I'm on a schedule where every week I check to see what is due a week later and see if I can renew it; if not, then I have to listen to it that week.
Anyway, I wasn't that impressed with Robert Wyatt. I took the CD back to the library and thought nothing more of it.
Until it showed up ominously on my library record, which is easily checkable through the web site. First it was overdue, despite my being sure I'd returned it, and then it turned into a "MISS-IN" item with a $10 fine.
I thought at first that I had brought back the case without the CD. I've done that before, and come close to it other times. But I checked all the possible places, and it wasn't there. I checked with the local branch(which was not where the CD originated from), and they eventually discovered that it was an insert(the "IN", I guess), the CD booklet, which was missing. Then they said it wasn't missing, but it was badly damaged and would have to be replaced.
Now, I've had some run-ins of this type before. One book that I returned showed up with a fine because of "coffee damage". I went all the way across town to the branch it came from(which, oddly enough, is the one I live closest to now), and managed to convince them that the stain was there when I read it. (Since I don't drink coffee at all, I knew it wasn't me.) I guess that, ideally, you're supposed to report any damage you see that's not already stamped with "DAMAGE NOTED". Or you should turn yourself in if you actually spill the coffee yourself. But this doesn't happen, so it all depends on which of the people who's checking the items back in, or users trying to read/listen to it, happens to notice the damage.
Then there was the other "MISS-IN" problem I had, where I apparently returned a copy of Joy Division's "Closer" without the back-cover insert. I traced this back to having taken out the disc(to listen to)and the booklet(to read), and then put them back into a blank jewel case which probably normally housed my Civilization II disc. I returned the insert, no harm done. But it didn't sound like that would work out this time.
I put off actually doing anything about it for a few days, and on my last regular visit to the library, they didn't mention it. But then I tried to renew things this week, and got the message "There is a problem with your card". Then a note in the mail about the "MISS-IN" and spelling out the problem.
So today I finally made my way over the main branch. I hadn't been there since the last Blogger Meetup, and even then not for very long because it was held in the adjoining coffeehouse. It'd been under renovation for many months, but seems to be finished now.
I ended up talking to a woman in the Audio-Visual department who showed me the CD booklet. It did not look particularly like it had when I'd seen it. In fact, what it looked like was like somebody had peeled the library stickers(badly)off of the original booklet, photocopied it, and then affixed the stickers onto the photocopy, keeping the original for themselves.
That's the biggest culprit, you see. The CDs themselves rarely go missing, because it's easy enough to make a copy, rip them and then burn yourself a copy. But the booklets get stolen because people want the lyrics, too, and maybe the cover art. They had to start putting steep fines on them. And even then, I'm sure they don't notice if people cut out a bunch of pages from the middle of the booklet.
Anyway, I paid the $10 fine anyway, despite repeated protestations of my innocence, because I like to support the library. I was sure that I hadn't done it myself, but I couldn't swear whether it had been like that when I'd had it out. Oh, and I also had to pay $1.50 for 15 minutes of parking in the library parkade.
But now I can put requests on my card again. Though not for Robert Wyatt, let me tell you.
