[nycbug-talk] the list

[Marc Spitzer]

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 23:42:02 -0400
George Georgalis <george at galis.org> wrote:

> On Sat, Sep 25, 2004 at 08:50:02PM -0400, Marc Spitzer wrote:
> >1: who is the librarian and where do the books reside when they are
> >   not in use.
> 
> Was thinking to decentralized the library, allowing the books to stay
> where they lay until they are requested again. Guess if someone wants
> to give them up early they could deliver them to a librarian who would
> take responsibility to send out to the next borrower.

umm, postage?  Who Pays?  Is the librarian going to front all the
outbound 
postage for a month?  How does he/she recover the postage and other out
of
pocket expenses?  If we want to keep the books in good condition we need
to
use good shipping materials.  

> 
> >2: What do we do with books that have become obsolete, the turbo C 
> >   book for example. 
> 
> recycle them?
> 
> >3: is this limited to unixish books?
> 
> don't tell me you want my New Guinea anthropology texts!

ok perhaps I was not clear enough, is this going to be a general
technical resource? Is Windows or Solaris or VMS stuff acceptable for
example, it would be useful to at least some of us professionally and/or
personally. 

> 
> 
> >If the process is you can have the book for a month, but no one asks
> >for it for 3-6 months where does it reside?  I know from personal
> >experience I stand a good chance of loosing it under other books and
> >such, if it is in my position but not in use.  I have 5 full
> >bookcases plus 12 milk crates plus lots of other books as well.
> 
> Hadn't really considered that. Maybe a stern rebuke on the website for
> patrons who loose library books? Seriously, at some point the borrower
> needs to accept responsibility. Maybe let them deliver to a librarian
> if they don't want it any more.  I nominate Ike. He can keep em next
> to the computer museum. :) guess anyone(s) willing could keep the
> books.

But what if I did not loose it, I dropped it in mail and it got
lost/stolen somewhere along the line before it gets to the next
person.  Now what?  And who is the Librarian?

Also do we want to get in the nasty-gram business?  Do we really want
to start putting up "Asshole where is our book" messages on our google
archived website?  That is more like burning bridges then building them.

The more I think about this the more it seems like a less than good
idea. Perhaps we could just go back to giving the books that are wanted
to deserving homes.  Perhaps I am just seeing the downside here out of 
proportion to the potential good.  

marc