The stupidness of my library never ceases to amaze me...

[Heather in VA]

So I want a copy of Huckleberry Finn. I want the real book - I don't want an e-book, I don't want an abridged book.. I want the actual book. Our county has supposedly one of the top 10 systems in the nation so this should be easy.. right.

 

Well there are an assortment of abridged versions. There are e-books. There are at least 8 different audio options. There is a Huckbleberry Finn and Zombies option, there is an unabridged option in Vietnamese for heaven's sake. But there is no regular, unabridged, English, no-zombies version.

 

I don't even know what to say to that.

 

Heather

[redsquirrel]

DH is a librarian and I bend his ear on this topic all the time. With the advent of Gutenberg and ebooks, the 'classics' or well known literature are becoming harder and harder to find in a straight up hard copy. Libraries are being squeezed for space and resources while being pressed to provide more and more new material. Books like Huck Finn are very easy to find cheaply or free, so libraries pass over hard copies to make space on the shelf.

 

But, I feel your pain.

[2_girls_mommy]

That is crazy. I have another, similar issue with ours.

 

Ours lists all of the abridged versions under the original author. So if I request Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, I may end up getting an abridged one that is adapted from Mark Twain. So whenever I order an original classic book I always request several copies from the list, because I have no way to know which is going to get me the actual unabridged book.

[Heather in VA]

My husband just pointed out that we live in a very PC area where everyone is constantly offended by something so he was thinking that maybe they only carry the abridged version because the original has the 'n' word in it. Although the local school system assigned my daughter's friend a book with a nearly pornographic description of a rape in it but I guess the 'n' word in a classic could be more offensive to those inclined to censor books.

 

Heather

[Heather in VA]

EEK!! I gets worse... now I am going to chalk this up to it being Saturday and they probably don't have any actual librarians there on the weekend but I just called to see if they might actually have a copy even though it does't show on the computer. The book 'Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' shows as being written by Mark Twain and the guy who added the zombies. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

Uh.... I thanked her and hung up LOL.

 

Heather

[BibleBeltCatholicMom]

So I want a copy of Huckleberry Finn. I want the real book - I don't want an e-book, I don't want an abridged book.. I want the actual book. Our county has supposedly one of the top 10 systems in the nation so this should be easy.. right.

 

Well there are an assortment of abridged versions. There are e-books. There are at least 8 different audio options. There is a Huckbleberry Finn and Zombies option, there is an unabridged option in Vietnamese for heaven's sake. But there is no regular, unabridged, English, no-zombies version.

 

I don't even know what to say to that.

 

Heather

 

I CANNOT believe you just posted this!!!

 

Thursday, yes, two days ago!, I went to the library to get Huckleberry Finn. There was not a single copy of Huck Finn but a copy of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim. I cked the catalogue and my branch doesn't even own a copy that might have been checked out.

 

I went to the librarian and said, "I want to tell you the saddest story I know. You may need a tissue. You have not one single copy of Huckleberry Finn but you have Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim."

 

She laughed.

 

I said, "You're laughing. It's a sad story!"

 

She said, "I'm only laughing to keep from crying."

[Carol in Cal.]

Oh my goodness.

 

Yes, a few years back I wanted to reread "The Heart of Darkness", which I had studied in high school, because I had just read "King Leopold's Ghost" which was about the same time and place, and wanted to read the classic informed by the history.

 

Could not find it anywhere in my (large) library system. It was not even available by inter-library loan. Can you believe that?

[sassenach]

EEK!! I gets worse... now I am going to chalk this up to it being Saturday and they probably don't have any actual librarians there on the weekend but I just called to see if they might actually have a copy even though it does't show on the computer. The book 'Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' shows as being written by Mark Twain and the guy who added the zombies. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

Uh.... I thanked her and hung up LOL.

 

Heather

Wow. WOW!! That's incredibly sad and funny.

[SunnyDays]

EEK!! I gets worse... now I am going to chalk this up to it being Saturday and they probably don't have any actual librarians there on the weekend but I just called to see if they might actually have a copy even though it does't show on the computer. The book 'Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' shows as being written by Mark Twain and the guy who added the zombies. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

Uh.... I thanked her and hung up LOL.

 

Heather

 

Sad, funny, and rather scary all at the same time. I can appreciate a vampire or zombie novel same as anyone, but must that type of book overtake all other literature? It seems like it, looking at bookstore shelves these days...

[Heather in VA]

I CANNOT believe you just posted this!!!

 

Thursday, yes, two days ago!, I went to the library to get Huckleberry Finn. There was not a single copy of Huck Finn but a copy of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim. I cked the catalogue and my branch doesn't even own a copy that might have been checked out.

 

I went to the librarian and said, "I want to tell you the saddest story I know. You may need a tissue. You have not one single copy of Huckleberry Finn but you have Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim."

 

She laughed.

 

I said, "You're laughing. It's a sad story!"

 

She said, "I'm only laughing to keep from crying."

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

Now I'm laughing to keep from crying LOL

[Heather in VA]

Sad, funny, and rather scary all at the same time. I can appreciate a vampire or zombie novel same as anyone, but must that type of book overtake all other literature? It seems like it, looking at bookstore shelves these days...

 

Yep - I have no problem with zombies or vampires... but yikes...

 

Heather

[Hunter]

The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

:rofl:

[Kathryn]

EEK!! I gets worse... now I am going to chalk this up to it being Saturday and they probably don't have any actual librarians there on the weekend but I just called to see if they might actually have a copy even though it does't show on the computer. The book 'Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' shows as being written by Mark Twain and the guy who added the zombies. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

Uh.... I thanked her and hung up LOL.

 

Heather

 

Wow. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that.

[Jenny in Florida]

One question: Have you tried searching under the correct, complete title?

 

I ask because when I typed "Huckleberry Finn" into our library's search engine, I got some slightly wonky results, including abridged books and kids' versions. However, when I typed "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," I got a nice, long list of copies of the real book.

 

There were still e-books and audio versions, but also multiple copies of four or five different editions (from various publishers) of the original, unabridged text.

 

Edit: And, out of curiosity, I searched for the zombie version, which doesn't seem to be available in our county library system. Sometimes, I forget to be grateful for our libraries, and then I read one of these threads . . .

Edited August 18, 2012 by Jenny in Florida

[Heather in VA]

Oh my goodness.

 

Yes, a few years back I wanted to reread "The Heart of Darkness", which I had studied in high school, because I had just read "King Leopold's Ghost" which was about the same time and place, and wanted to read the classic informed by the history.

 

Could not find it anywhere in my (large) library system. It was not even available by inter-library loan. Can you believe that?

 

"The Heart of Darkness" is on my oldest's reading list this year ... I just checked - our library does have a couple of copies of this. That's insane that yours didn't.

 

I guess it's time to go through our whole reading list this year and figure out what I am expecting to get through the library but will have to buy instead. At least my husband agreed about Huck Finn and just said 'well doesnt' it just make sense to buy that one'. I actually thought I owned it but I only have Tom Sawyer... so now I'll have Huck Finn too (and no zombies LOL).

 

Heather

[Heather in VA]

One question: Have you tried searching under the correct, complete title?

 

I ask because when I typed "Huckleberry Finn" into our library's search engine, I got some slightly wonky results, including abridged books and kids' versions. However, when I typed "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," I got a nice, long list of copies of the real book.

 

There were still e-books and audio versions, but also multiple copies of four or five different editions (from various publishers) of the original, unabridged text.

 

Yea that's why I called. Our search engine stinks. But I ended up with the insane woman who told me the real title is 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' so I'll call back Monday. LOL

 

Heather

[Jenny in Florida]

"The Heart of Darkness" is on my oldest's reading list this year ... I just checked - our library does have a couple of copies of this.

 

It's on my son's list, too. I got a copy through BookMooch to keep on the shelf. But, again, curiosity got to me and I check our library. They have multiple hard copies of that one, too.

 

It's odd, because I don't think of Orlando, FL, as being an especially literate city, but we don't seem to have been hit quite as hard as some of the rest of the country with this stuff.

[BatmansWife]

There are many versions my library can get on inter-library loan. But there is only one copy of an unabridged version. It's 3 and a half hours away....on an island.

[Carol in Cal.]

"The Heart of Darkness" is on my oldest's reading list this year ... I just checked - our library does have a couple of copies of this. That's insane that yours didn't.

Heather

 

Oooh, if she is reading that, add in King Leopold's Ghost for excellent history tie ins. It is quite well-written as well.

[Heather in VA]

Oooh, if she is reading that, add in King Leopold's Ghost for excellent history tie ins. It is quite well-written as well.

 

Hey my library has that one :lol:... Which would you recommend reading first.. this or Heart of Darkness?

 

Heather

[Dana]

I am so sorry!

 

When we bought our house, I only wanted to look in one county because our library system is so excellent.

 

We have 35 copies of Huck Finn...penguin edition. There are an additional 8 Houghton Mifflin copies with essays, 5 annotated editions, 2 large print editions, and assorted ebooks, children's adaptions, and audio books.

 

When I lived in CA, I used to complain because the libraries in the counties I lived in just weren't any good in comparison. I adore our library.

 

I don't understand why all library systems can't be as good. I'm sorry you're stuck with a poor one.

[Heather in VA]

I am so sorry!

 

When we bought our house, I only wanted to look in one county because our library system is so excellent.

 

We have 35 copies of Huck Finn...penguin edition. There are an additional 8 Houghton Mifflin copies with essays, 5 annotated editions, 2 large print editions, and assorted ebooks, children's adaptions, and audio books.

 

When I lived in CA, I used to complain because the libraries in the counties I lived in just weren't any good in comparison. I adore our library.

 

I don't understand why all library systems can't be as good. I'm sorry you're stuck with a poor one.

 

 

Sounds lovely... ours is weird... there have been times where I am sure I'll have to buy my own copy of something but they have it and then times like this I wonder what they are thinking when they stock their shelves.

[Violet Crown]

I couldn't find Augustine's City of God in our public library system, even with the help of a knowledgeable and equally puzzled librarian. I had the outdated and difficult 19th-century Dods translation, and there have been several excellent later translations ... but not in Austin. One e-version, two abridged versions, and the cobwebby Dods. Maybe I should have looked for The City of God and the Zombie Suburbs.

[dbmamaz]

omg, thats the real book and we just abbreviate the title . . shouldnt be working in a library

 

i am also in VA and generally love my library system, but was shocked when I was looking for LOTR and could find dozens of video and audio copies, but struggled to find any paper copies. I did finally get one (just the first book) reserved/transferred. Then there was the hobbit . .. struggling to understand the detail records, i ended up with a graphic novel version. My son read half of it the first day (well, he felt sick so i sent him to bed with it, but still).

 

which reminds me, i need to go buy lllotr . . .

[Carol in Cal.]

Hey my library has that one :lol:... Which would you recommend reading first.. this or Heart of Darkness?

 

Heather

 

I can't remember for sure whether KLG actually references HOD. HOD was written decades earlier, and when I studied it in high school we studied it as a psychological book more than a historical one.

 

If it were me, I would read both of them and then decide. HOD is pretty short, and they are both quite well written.

 

If I had to pick with my limited current memory, I would study HOD first just to be on the safe side, since it was written first. I'm a little uneasy with that, though, because I prefer to start with context and THEN move on to literature of the period/area.

 

Also, there is a serious question in HOD that KLG might obscure. That question is, is civilization merely a veneer? What does it take to rip the veneer off? That is not a 21st century kind of question, and reading HOD first would give you an opportunity to consider it without a lot of complications from the modern day questions and understandings of colonialism. The fact that the question of civilization and decivilization is the key question in the book tells you a lot about the times in which it was written as well. All in all, I think I would start with HOD.

[Nestof3]

Ha! Our library's shelves are half empty and yet they are ALWAYS discarding books. I had several planned to use with Story of the World V. 3 including one on Shaka for the Zulu chapter (Diane Stanley children's biography). It was discarded before I was even able to use it.

 

I understand discarding if there is not enough space, but it annoys me to follow the "we must discard if not checked out within ___ months even though there is plenty of space on our shelves."

 

DH is a librarian and I bend his ear on this topic all the time. With the advent of Gutenberg and ebooks, the 'classics' or well known literature are becoming harder and harder to find in a straight up hard copy. Libraries are being squeezed for space and resources while being pressed to provide more and more new material. Books like Huck Finn are very easy to find cheaply or free, so libraries pass over hard copies to make space on the shelf.

 

But, I feel your pain.

[Dustybug]

EEK!! I gets worse... now I am going to chalk this up to it being Saturday and they probably don't have any actual librarians there on the weekend but I just called to see if they might actually have a copy even though it does't show on the computer. The book 'Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' shows as being written by Mark Twain and the guy who added the zombies. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

Uh.... I thanked her and hung up LOL.

 

Heather

 

:001_huh::svengo:

[stripe]

Suggest they buy a copy of the real one!

 

My library has tons of copies, plus a 1974 musical! Plus several literary analysis type books about it.

[Kathryn]

Regarding a library not having Heart of Darkness, was it possibly part of a compilation of Conrad's short stories instead? I recall looking for it at a bookstore once and only finding it in a work of short stories.

[Heather in VA]

Ha! Our library's shelves are half empty and yet they are ALWAYS discarding books. I had several planned to use with Story of the World V. 3 including one on Shaka for the Zulu chapter (Diane Stanley children's biography). It was discarded before I was even able to use it.

 

I understand discarding if there is not enough space, but it annoys me to follow the "we must discard if not checked out within ___ months even though there is plenty of space on our shelves."

 

Wow - discarding books for no reason is just so wrong. What do they do with them? That is just so wrong....

 

Heather

[Stellalarella]

Our city library system (of 12 libraries) does not seem to contain, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin." There is, however, a book about the controversies and banning of Mark Twain's books. :001_smile:

 

I am getting Uncle Tom's Cabin by interlibrary loan, though, since the two libraries that I frequent don't have it.....

[SunnyDays]

It's like the zombie apocalypse had a test run in the library systems... wipe them out and see if anyone notices, LOL...

[Kathryn]

Crappy libraries make me sad. I didn't know there were such things until I went to get my library science degree. I imagined them all at least like my local system since I'm in a small Southern city.

[Heatherwith4]

EEK!! I gets worse... now I am going to chalk this up to it being Saturday and they probably don't have any actual librarians there on the weekend but I just called to see if they might actually have a copy even though it does't show on the computer. The book 'Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' shows as being written by Mark Twain and the guy who added the zombies. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

Uh.... I thanked her and hung up LOL.

 

Heather

:svengo: I think I'm going to go hug my librarian on Monday! :)

[RootAnn]

"The Heart of Darkness" is on my oldest's reading list this year ... I just checked - our library does have a couple of copies of this. That's insane that yours didn't.

 

My tiny, suck-tastic local library has HOD, but their only *real* copy of Huck Finn has been overdue for over a year already. Fortunately, we own one, so I wouldn't bother the library for their copy.

 

Ha! Our library's shelves are half empty and yet they are ALWAYS discarding books. I had several planned to use with Story of the World V. 3 including one on Shaka for the Zulu chapter (Diane Stanley children's biography). It was discarded before I was even able to use it.

 

I understand discarding if there is not enough space, but it annoys me to follow the "we must discard if not checked out within ___ months even though there is plenty of space on our shelves."

 

Do you live in my town? The new librarian went through all the shelves when she took over a year ago & did just this. ... But most people probably didn't notice because they only go to the library to use the computer to play games. :001_huh:

 

... Oh, and on the search engine front, I usually search for the author because searching by title usually gets me nowhere. I'm much more likely to get a hit when I search by the author.

Edited August 18, 2012 by RootAnn

[Serenade]

The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

 

Heather

 

This is the funniest thing I've in a long time!

[mammajen]

That is a sad story and I feel your pain. Does your library have an interlibrary loan program? This would be a somewhat painless and free (at my library anyway) option. If it's available anywhere, they should be able to get it for you.

[Laura Corin]

There are five copies of Huckleberry Finn (unabridged), one spoken book, one abridged version and two zombie versions.

 

I have had problems in the past with finding classics at the library, but not this time. I think that the library tends to stock at least one copy of a few classics series (Wordsworth Classics, Penguin Classics, Puffin Classics) so as long as the book is in one of these imprints, the library will carry it.

 

Laura

[kalanamak]

The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

 

 

I used to hear the phrase "the haves and the have-nots". Now it is the "knows and the know-nots".

 

I am also reminded of sitting in the sun on a break from work when I sold coffee and pastries in SoHo. The business next door was a laundromat, and an older man from Russia owned it and hung out there during the day keeping the machines running and the vandalism down. One day the sodapop delivery guys were unloading and just braying on about some subject that they were clueless on. Charlie (Chaim), the Russian, turned to me quietly and said: We had the ignorant in Russia, but they weren't so proud of it.

[GoVanGogh]

I used to hear the phrase "the haves and the have-nots". Now it is the "knows and the know-nots".

So true! :tongue_smilie:

And the know-nots are taking over, at least around here.

 

The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

:lol: and :tongue_smilie:

And the real name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is....

Please don't tell me! We are reading it now, so I don't want to the ending ruined. Is it Becky? Is she the zombie? Or Sid? He seems like he would make a great zombie!

[Carol in Cal.]

It's so sad to have a librarian who doesn't love books. It's also very sad to have a Forest Service employee who doesn't love the forest. The extra something that people bring to their positions and also enjoy about their positions when they love their subject matter is important to them and also to the people that they serve.

[besroma]

EEK!! I gets worse... now I am going to chalk this up to it being Saturday and they probably don't have any actual librarians there on the weekend but I just called to see if they might actually have a copy even though it does't show on the computer. The book 'Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim' shows as being written by Mark Twain and the guy who added the zombies. The lady on the phone tried to convince me that the title "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim" is the real title of the book and we just shorten it when we refer to the book.

 

Uh.... I thanked her and hung up LOL.

 

Heather

 

:eek:

 

Now THAT is scary! :D

[redsquirrel]

Wow - discarding books for no reason is just so wrong. What do they do with them? That is just so wrong....

 

Heather

 

They sell them. They often need the $ for new equipment etc. Most of the time, when I buy used books from Amazon, it is a former library book. I often wonder if there are libraries out there with their entire stock for sale on Amazon.

 

Empty shelves are worrisome. Sometimes it is because a library has decided/been forced to cut staff to the point where there is no one to shelve books. Shelving is a difficult job and (in theory) the job for pages. But, I am guessing that lots of libraries no longer have pages. Too bad because good shelvers can make or break a library. But, if there is no one to shelve the books then it makes sense to let the stock dwindle.

 

Pages are also supposed to be the people who keep the books in the right place. Shelf reading is an amazing skill and you need experienced pages/shelvers to get it done. But, if a library can't afford to get the books on the shelf, they certainly can't afford to pay someone to walk the stacks and read the shelves.

 

It could also be the result of a community deciding they want the library to put its $$ into DVDs and computers and not books.

 

And just because someone is behind a library desk doesn't mean they are a librarian. They are a library employee, but not a librarian. I haven't met a librarian who doesn't love books, but I am sure there are some out there.

[Mabelen]

My county library has it. In fact I have one copy at home as we speak. There were multiple copies in the system in different formats when I checked. I don't know about my city library system. Iam very happy with my local library systems, despite funding cuts they seem to be very well run. I am sorry for those of you that aren't so lucky. It must be frustrating.

[sagira]

At this point I would just buy the book. You can get inexpensive classics from Amazon. Puffin puts out some good ones.

 

We have true librarians (who love books) at our small local public library. The library just suffers from lack of funding, ebooks becoming more popular, etc.

 

I'm lucky that our library does carry the full, unabridged edition.

[heliconian]

 

Do you live in my town? The new librarian went through all the shelves when she took over a year ago & did just this. ... But most people probably didn't notice because they only go to the library to use the computer to play games. :001_huh:

 

 

Our library discards anything that hasn't been checked out in a year. They sell the discards in the Friends of the Library shop. Thus, I spend huge amounts of money at the Friends of the Library shop and can barely see the titles on the books in my house, they are all packed in so tightly. And paperback fiction is shelved two-deep.

 

What else could I do? The books NEEDED me.

[heliconian]

 

Pages are also supposed to be the people who keep the books in the right place. Shelf reading is an amazing skill and you need experienced pages/shelvers to get it done. But, if a library can't afford to get the books on the shelf, they certainly can't afford to pay someone to walk the stacks and read the shelves.

 

 

Shelf reading has to be one of the most mind-numbing jobs around. When I worked in our University library, shelf reading could not take more than an hour of your shift, because there was little chance anyone could do a good job for longer than that at a stretch.

[stripe]

It's so sad to have a librarian who doesn't love books.

I wasn't clear from the post that it was a librarian who answered the phone. It could well have been a circulation clerk.

I wonder if the OP's library actually has the book, but the phone-answerer couldn't successfully find it. Was the author listed at "Mark Twain", or "Samuel Clemens"? Did she get the title typed in correctly? Spelled the name of the title character correctly? Does it have this novel, but perhaps bound in a collection of other novels?

 

I think we get spoiled by how forgiving google search is, and forget that other search systems aren't nearly so easy to use. More than once, I've been unable to find a book that our library actually had, because of typos or other searching errors.

[Heather in VA]

So true! :tongue_smilie:

And the know-nots are taking over, at least around here.

 

 

 

I completely agree. I was really sad the other day to see a comment on a friend of mine's facebook. We went to high school together and she was lamenting the "time we wasted" in high school reading stuff like "Romeo and Juliet". Before she moved to high school with me (in the US) she lived in Vancouver and they read lots of very modern books that in her words 'a high schooler could relate to'. She thought it was a complete waste of time to read things in high school that a high schooler couldn't relate to.

 

I was just blown away by the comment. Beyond the idea that of course a high schooler can relate to a story of falling in love with a guy her parents won't permit, it's school. It's education. We can't limit our education to things we can relate to. That's a recipe for the 'know-nots' to take over.

 

Heather