Speaking as FR's resident salacious crumb, may I request inclusion in your ping list?
Posted on 04/23/2005 9:40:04 PM PDT by stainlessbanner
Actually, it was an excerpt from "Bambi Does It For a Buck." Probably the Director's Cut. ;)
My critique of public libraries still stands, though. They are fast becoming Blockbuster substitutes, as well as places where parents can leave their kids off for a few hours of day care on the taxpeyers' nickel. Those books which have value -- primarily old books -- have to be kept in special departments, not to be checked out, or they grow legs. But best-selling titles are bought by the dozen to satisfy patrons who are too cheap to buy them and too impatient to put them on reserve. Meanwhile, libraries dispose of perfectly good, but dated, materials every year which by rights should be left on the stacks for the history they represent. (I got a perfectly good copy of Lindberg's We from the 1920a at a library used-book sale, so its not like they even care about who the author is. When in doubt, throw it out.)
I guess we can thank that robber baron, Andrew Carnegie, for leaving us in this mess. He may have had the right idea but the wrong implementation.
I wasn't intending to be critical--just curious. I don't think most people who saw 10/6 would have any idea what it meant; although it does 10½ shillings, many Americans wouldn't know that. So I was curious whether the hat said 10½ in reference to the original 10/6, or whether someone just made up a fraction to stick on the hat (thinking about it, the most likely scenario would be that someone turned 10/6 into 10½ without any clue that 10/6 in fact meant 10½ shillings)
That was my point, only I put a blunt edge on it, unfortunately.
Although public libraries keep some old books in their collections, many, many more are safely in the hands of private individuals, either as family heirlooms or because, like you and me, we like to have them. And I am not talking about only "collectible" books, either. I mean books that are no longer in print, and many that are no longer in your local library due to "excessing."
Since a library's budget is not unlimited, they routinely sell off or otherwise dispose of books that haven't been checked out in a while or are "obsolete." (My local library is remiss in getting rid of ancient computer reference books. Who still owns an Atari or a Commodore 64, much less has a need to learn BASIC for it? Yet they're still on the shelf.) What they replace them with is, apprently, dictated by some board which second-guesses the reading habits of the library's patrons, or viewing habits in the case of video.
The overwhelming trend is to buy new stuff, recycle the old, and cater to the "majority" (except where it comes to political and social issues, where of course a loud minority demands more-than-equal representation in the selection of materials) to ensure more funding from the city next year.
Preservation of books, tapes, magazines, etc., seems a neglected function of most libraries, which exist only for the here and now.
Books online last forever. What's the point of libraries? The Gutenberg Project has a great number of the classic texts already online for free, nothing necessary besides a printer or palm-type device to carry the library with you.
So what. Somebody put a dirty movie in a Disney box. HOW VERY ORIGINAL. This is a news story how?
"Though I'm no particular fan of VHS, I find certain aspects of technological paths frightening, as studios seem to want to push media that can only be viewed with their "permission". Fifty years ago, if you bought a movie you could watch it whenever you wanted and, if you kept in a cool dry place, your descendents would be able to watch it 50 years later."
What format pray tell were you buying movies on 50 years ago?
This is why I make a point of stopping by and seeing what the library is disposing of.
A recent aquisition included National Geographic Magazine, bound in 6 month volumes from 1914 to the late '50s. My wife had a mild fit when she saw all the heavy boxes, but I have been enjoying picking through them, especially the older volumes.
I wish I had twice as much house to keep them all in (those and the tons, literally of other books bought there and at rummage sales, auctions, and flea markets).
Online books are fine, I guess, but there is no substitute for vintage hard copy. It does not change in content, and does not sway with the political wind.
Books acquire a lot of character through the years, especially the old ones.
Regular 8mm. Many short subject films were released in 8mm format, generally with intertitles added to make up for the lack of sound. I have some films from that era (from a friend--I'm not that old) and they still run more or less fine (they'd run better if my friend hadn't done some horribly bizarre efforts at splicing).
LOL, to be fair, there are still quite a few good VCR's out their and as long as people can still rent them, they aren't going to change over. With DVD players in the 50 dollar range, I don't think the rental stores will keep it up for much longer. I record everything unto DVR right now, but when a friend wants a copy of something, I'll "download" it to my VCR for them. That is until DVD recorders become cheap, then I'll just copy stuff to that.
Most definitely. Just drop a Video Tape and you can literally knock some of the data off of it. Every type of media has its good and bad sides.
I have a bootleg copy of "The Little Engine That Not Only Could But WOULD!!!"
This gets back to my point about movies: once a book is sold, the words in it stay in it. There's no way anyone could track down all the copies of, e.g., the Bible and change parts of it. Imagine, though, if people only used on-line Bibles and no print copies. Think of the dangers that would enable.
Oh, I have.
Not just The Bible, but any law, regulation, code, definition, history, testimony, transcript, affidavit, contract, the possiblities are endless....
Why I am a fan of hardcopy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.