Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Okay I'm back from the library

You know one thing that does annoy me about Lexington Public Library's set up (and one reason I don't do it very often) is that if you rent a DVD, you have to go to self-checkout station and check it out, then go to the accounts desk and have a real person take your money, pulling out your library card each time. They won't just let you walk up to the accounts desk and do the whole thing in one transaction, even though they have the capability of it. Self-checkout is fine, but it should make things easier, not more difficult.

I went ahead and rented Shutter Island, which seems like it might be Lovecraftian in some ways, since there's no new 'Doctor Who' tonight. Also checked out:

The New York Times Practical Guide to Practically Everything
Earth: The Operator's Manual and
The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor: Vampire Slayer

I thought about getting I am Number Four, but practically speaking there will be no way for me to watch with YKWIA tomorrow with the game prep, grocery run, and game. I'd rather watch it with him. It's probably On Demand on cable, whereas Shutter Island isn't anymore.

Okay. Laundry? Check. Library? Check? Nap? Check. Next on the list are the game notes. I love that Word 2010 has an automatic 'save as' function to PDF so I can put it on the Kindle and go. It saves a couple of steps.

PS One nifty feature I saw on the University of Kentucky's Library catalogue website yesterday was that if they have an online book, there's a QR code (those square barcode-like things) that you can scan with your phone and automatically download the link straight there. Of course, the resource only works for their users, but still. I like QR codes. :)

PPS One annoying thing about yesterday was that I catalogued 25 books and on about a third I had to put a piece of tape over the stupid scratch-off code that publishers have so individual purchasers can have all this added material like searching the whole book, study questions, video, etc. Trouble is, the licence is for one person and a library can't give out those codes (although for a hefty fee they'll give you a site licence). The only reason I get to buy any books right now is because of a grant--my journals take up my entire print budget. So I can't spring for those sorts of things, and besides, no one ever seems to have a reasonable price for a hospital as small as mine. I hate having to explain this to patrons. 'Sorry, because you are accessing this through a library, you don't get any of the spiffy bonus material unless you go out and spend $500 on your own copy,' basically. Elsevier especially seems to do this with their titles. For one AAOS title I had to get creative, because their code didn't have the silver latex stuff over it; it was just printed, but I checked, and yes, it was a one-licence deal. So I took blue book tape and covered it, then put tape over that. Listen publishers, I shouldn't have to go through extra hoops because you do this. You hear me?????

Okay, time to go deal with those notes.

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