this is why i own (probably way) more than 2000 books

[lcohen]

i have a running e-mail that i send to myself every time someone mentions a book that i think i might like to try to get out of the library (as opposed to my wish list where i think i might buy it cause i'm trying to buy fewer books

Comments

[beamjockey]

My own system for a book that has come to my attention is to add it to a personal list on Worldcat.org. One virtue is that a list of libraries that hold the title is just a click or two away.

Here's my list, "Things to Check Out."

Public libraries cannot satisfy all my urges, especially for scholarly tomes. About once a year, I parachute into your neighborhood, armed with my superpower-- a U of Chicago library card authorized by the Fermilab librarians-- and a sturdy suitcase. I raid the Crear and the Regenstein.

Before my raid, I export Worldcat's list into a CSV file. Then I open it in Excel. The next step is tedious: visit each book's page on Worldcat, note which libraries hold it, and mark "1" in a spreadsheet column corresponding to that library (for about twenty libraries near me, including the U. of C.).

I can sort this into "notable books available only at the U. of C. libraries" and chronologically into "books that have been added since my last visit to Hyde Park."

After arriving, I have to do another tedious part. Look up each recent book in the catalogue, and scribble down its call number and whether it's it the Regenstein or the Crear. (As you know, Bob, though the Crear is the science library, paradoxically the Regenstein is the one built atop the site of Enrico Fermi's atomic pile.)

Then I have to use the maps near the elevators to figure out which call numbers are on which floors, and plot a trajectory through the building that will allow me to collect all the books I am looking for. I also browse the shelves in their vicinity-- maybe I'll find an even more interesting book on the same subject...

I bring along my good camera, which is as good as a Xerox machine if I want to see just a chapter or a brief passage instead of checking out an entire book.

This all has to be planned so I finish up before the circulation desk closes; I have been frustrated by that a time or two.

If there is time, I might sneak in a visit to Powell's or O'Gara's, but I'm usually thirsty and tired and an hour's drive from home at that point.

Read for a few months, renew online when necessary, return books, repeat.

(Last time I did this, I figured out that I could search the U of C catalogue in advance from the comfort of my desk. This made the trajectory thing easier once I hit the library.)

[lcohen]

you should let me know before one of your pilgrimages and we could get lunch!