The Sellout and library quirks
Oct. 27th, 2016 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeMid-day today, I read about The Sellout, a novel by Paul Beatty that just won the Man Booker Prize. Sounded interesting, so I looked to see if the library had it. The library website said that it owns two copies, and one of them was checked out. There were 30+ holds, and... the other copy was supposedly on the shelf in the main library.
Really?
I figured one of two things had happened - either there was a mistake in the records and the copy supposedly on the shelf had been lost, or else more than 30 people in Eugene had heard about the prize and logged on to place holds, and the staff hadn't gotten the notice yet to pull the copy off the shelf for the first among them.
I did not place a hold myself, as it would take up to 15 months for the library to get through 30+ holds with only two copies.
In the evening, however, I found myself in the library for a lecture on the archaeology of ancient Persia (unfortunately not really worth the 45 minutes I spent on it), and afterwards I went up to the third floor to check out the fiction section. And yes, there it was, The Sellout. Now it's in my house. And there are now 59 holds on it.
(I'll be good; I'll return it within a week or so.)
Really?
I figured one of two things had happened - either there was a mistake in the records and the copy supposedly on the shelf had been lost, or else more than 30 people in Eugene had heard about the prize and logged on to place holds, and the staff hadn't gotten the notice yet to pull the copy off the shelf for the first among them.
I did not place a hold myself, as it would take up to 15 months for the library to get through 30+ holds with only two copies.
In the evening, however, I found myself in the library for a lecture on the archaeology of ancient Persia (unfortunately not really worth the 45 minutes I spent on it), and afterwards I went up to the third floor to check out the fiction section. And yes, there it was, The Sellout. Now it's in my house. And there are now 59 holds on it.
(I'll be good; I'll return it within a week or so.)