A consumer report
I’m testing the public library’s interlibrary loan service. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how to order books through the website (and, usually, I’m pretty handy at that sort of thing).
No matter. The library is a six-minute walk from my house. I make the journey.
I disclose my desire to the clerk. He puts in the order. It takes two minutes. All hunky dory.
Three days later, I get an email. Your loan will be ready in 2 to 4 weeks (boldface in the original).
Two to four weeks! Now, I don’t like to be an ingrate, but that’s just not going to cut it, at least not on a consistent basis. In two to four weeks I could have an entirely different set of interests. Thank goodness this book isn’t for a research project; it’s just Pop. 1280, another of Jim Thompson’s lurid, cynical novels about wicked small-town officers of the law. Another novel I could take or leave (although, at this moment, I’m definitely itching to read it).
There are days I wish I still worked at IUSB, where, as often as not, a desired book would be on campus; alternatively, I could order it from Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, or wherever and pick it up after four or five days.
Step out of academia, though, and I get banished to the outer darkness.
Daniel is old enough now that I give him board books and they entertain him for a good ten minutes. Samuel, alas, is not as interested in books as he used to be. He watches too much YouTube.
No matter. The library is a six-minute walk from my house. I make the journey.
I disclose my desire to the clerk. He puts in the order. It takes two minutes. All hunky dory.
Three days later, I get an email. Your loan will be ready in 2 to 4 weeks (boldface in the original).
Two to four weeks! Now, I don’t like to be an ingrate, but that’s just not going to cut it, at least not on a consistent basis. In two to four weeks I could have an entirely different set of interests. Thank goodness this book isn’t for a research project; it’s just Pop. 1280, another of Jim Thompson’s lurid, cynical novels about wicked small-town officers of the law. Another novel I could take or leave (although, at this moment, I’m definitely itching to read it).
There are days I wish I still worked at IUSB, where, as often as not, a desired book would be on campus; alternatively, I could order it from Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Kokomo, or wherever and pick it up after four or five days.
Step out of academia, though, and I get banished to the outer darkness.
Daniel is old enough now that I give him board books and they entertain him for a good ten minutes. Samuel, alas, is not as interested in books as he used to be. He watches too much YouTube.