Total Recall
I had dinner at a friend's tonight. We were having a pleasant time, chatting of this and that. As people do.
Then I glanced at her coffee table. And sitting on it was a very familiar book. A very familiar library book. And I said, "Say, are you reading Landscape, Liberty, and Authority? Did you happen to have recalled it recently? Say, for instance, LAST THURSDAY???"
She had, indeed, recalled the book from me. Which is, of course, ok. It was a funny moment, though. We all recall books, but it's a practice that generates a fair amount of resentment.
Because our university library permits one to recall books from other patrons even if that other patron has just checked the book out that very day (I had, in fact, had the book for about 36 hours when my friend recalled it). And then the library charges the recallee $2 a day if they don't return it. And the system permits one to recall a particular copy of the book, so people will recall a volume that could easily be found in a different branch of the library just because they're too lazy to walk 1/2 a mile to get it.
But even beyond these quibbles with how the recall policy is implemented, it can just be downright frustrating to have a book taken away from you. Doubly so if there is a pattern of recalls, if all the books on a particular subject started getting summoned. Newness is key in academia and it can produce a kind of paranoia to think that someone is working on a similar project. And the last thing this place needs is more neurosis and anxiety. I had a colleague once confess that he had recalled a book from himself without realizing it. And then had a small crisis because he needed that book.
Once upon a time, the library here used to tell you who was recalling your books. They thought it would foster scholarly community. They stopped this practice when they realized that it was more likely to foster scholarly stabbings.
Then I glanced at her coffee table. And sitting on it was a very familiar book. A very familiar library book. And I said, "Say, are you reading Landscape, Liberty, and Authority? Did you happen to have recalled it recently? Say, for instance, LAST THURSDAY???"
She had, indeed, recalled the book from me. Which is, of course, ok. It was a funny moment, though. We all recall books, but it's a practice that generates a fair amount of resentment.
Because our university library permits one to recall books from other patrons even if that other patron has just checked the book out that very day (I had, in fact, had the book for about 36 hours when my friend recalled it). And then the library charges the recallee $2 a day if they don't return it. And the system permits one to recall a particular copy of the book, so people will recall a volume that could easily be found in a different branch of the library just because they're too lazy to walk 1/2 a mile to get it.
But even beyond these quibbles with how the recall policy is implemented, it can just be downright frustrating to have a book taken away from you. Doubly so if there is a pattern of recalls, if all the books on a particular subject started getting summoned. Newness is key in academia and it can produce a kind of paranoia to think that someone is working on a similar project. And the last thing this place needs is more neurosis and anxiety. I had a colleague once confess that he had recalled a book from himself without realizing it. And then had a small crisis because he needed that book.
Once upon a time, the library here used to tell you who was recalling your books. They thought it would foster scholarly community. They stopped this practice when they realized that it was more likely to foster scholarly stabbings.
posted by Feemus at
8:06 PM
4 Comments:
We have this same issue at our university. A bunch of us grad students in the department have actually taken to sending out an email to the grad student list serv asking if someone in the department has it before we recall. The standard practice is to send the email and then wait 24 hours, if there's been no response at that point you can recall it. It seems to have cut down on some (not all by any means) of the bitching and moaning.
By
RogueHistorian, at 8:33 AM
Hi Feem,
It took me a full minute to figure out what "recall" meant -- we don't do that here in God's Country, ya know.
Thought of you so often over the holidays and hope yours are bright and warm, dear Feemus!
love c
By
Anonymous, at 8:44 AM
ah, Rogue, that's very civilized! I am typically very reluctant to recall books; I try to wait until I really can't get any more work done without it. But I did engage in a bit of a recall war once with a (much-loathed) colleague who would routinely recall ALL my books at once. It was not pretty.
Of course, Claud, I should have defined it! One gets so used to a job-specifc vocab. And one forgets that some folks are too civilized to engage in such behavior...
I thought of you often as well over the holidays. Mine were quite pleasant--I hope yours, too. And HAPPY NEW YEAR.
By
Anonymous, at 10:32 AM
Of course, when some one actually tried to suggest this method, there were a couple of people who instantly proved that you can be an ABD and still be an unresonable idiot by claiming that it was being suggested that no one recall any books ever. This, of course, sparked an email war. Those of us who are more reasonable decided the best thing to do was ignore the whole damn thing and go to the bar for a beer. Seemed to work - we quickly stopped caring when people spewed idiot-babble!
By
RogueHistorian, at 7:45 PM
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