Someone on the list, whose name I have chosen to remove, wrote (in part):
> 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>
Received on Mon Feb 02 2004 - 17:23:01 GMT
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