On Thu, Feb 02, 2006 at 01:17:21PM +0000, Paul wrote:

In order to preserve the stock of books in our public libraries, I would urge everyone to borrow at least one Linux/Unix book on a regular basis lest we lose yet more.

Blimey, that *is* a stupid policy. I'm glad that I recently took out a few books on car/automotive engineering as even though they have been in the library for about 3 years it appears I am the first person to actually remove them from the library. Of course at the same time I got what would be an "for dummies" equivalent for cars (no, it isn't a Haynes manual) which of course has been taken out dozens of times. The main reason I took these books out though was to see if I wanted to purchase them as they cost about 30 quid per volume (3 volumes!!!). Of course, there is an Alug library, perhaps we should setup in competition to the public ones ;) Thanks Adam -- jabberid = quinophex@jabber.earth.li AFFS || http://www.affs.org.uk/ || Not a filesystem

On Thursday 02 February 2006 13:17, Paul wrote:

Just returned from the library in the Forum after a fruitless attemp to borrow two volumes on network programming by Richard Stevens - The titles in question had been on the shelfs for a number of years, yet do not appear in the catalogue. A casual comment to one of the staff revealed that the books had been withdrawn..

After giving the head librarian a stern Padington Bear lecture, it would appear that even "standard texts" such as the Stevens titles are removed from circulation if they have not been taken out for some unspecified time. The range of popular titiles from the "Dummies guide to..." will be expanded (probably) at the expense of *nix related books. A short sighted policy in my opinion...

In order to preserve the stock of books in our public libraries, I would urge everyone to borrow at least one Linux/Unix book on a regular basis lest we lose yet more.

Regards, Paul.

Wow, what a really stupid and destructive policy. The natural conclusion of that strategy, I suppose, would be to have the content at our local library mirror precisely the books on sale at the local Tescos. I bet borrowing of classics is down, why not replace them all with 4000 copies of Jamie's Dinners? It's the same with filling public service broadcasts with debates on the size of genitalia and bickering about which pop musician is better looking. Looking up the food chain further, I wonder with how *exactly* our government expects to create a massive "value added" services/skills-driven economy when they set no store whatsoever by maintaining standards in public services that relate to education and the cultural well-being of people, *and* neglect basic literacy/numeracy skills through education entirely. Do they think that people will pursue "good use of leisure" and educate themselves, or that we will maintain a wide base of skilled and educated people by magic? Divine intervention perhaps? Pah. Yours, Angry of Norfolk -- There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary, and those who don't.