sigh

[james_davis_nicoll]

Seen in email:

Please be advised that the titles you requested cannot be borrowed.

1) Electric Forest - owned by Toronto Public Library, reference only
2) Night's Sorceries - owned by Toronto Public Library, reference only
3) Lycanthia - owned by Toronto Public Library, reference only
4) Kill the Dead - owned by Toronto Public Library, reference only
5) Dreams of Dark and Light - No locations own this title

Comments

[bibliofile]

Do you know about worldcat.org? Worldwide library catalog from the OCLC (actual library) folks. For a given item, it lists copies starting with the ones physically closest to your location (and you can edit the location).

For Dreams of Dark and Light, the nearest copy seems to be the Robarts Library at the Univ. of Toronto. (I've seen worse -- one book I looked up recently had three copies listed, all in Germany.)

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I have a copy of Night's Sorceries which you can have, if you want. I'm not likely to read the series again.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Well, that's annoying.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Is borrowing very important? Or does "cannot be borrowed" also mean, "cannot be read on site"?

I read some books by whatchamacallit, oh yeah, microfilm/microfiche. While I did enjoy at least one of the the books, I did not enjoy the medium or the requirement to read on-site within a limited amount of time.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

The issue is they are in a library 100km away.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's kind of a long walk from Kitchener to Toronto.

[ross-smith.livejournal.com]

Nah, everyone knows all them Foreign Places are really just different corners of the Universal Studios backlot.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

But all outdoor scenes are shot in Vancouver. I swear I recognize individual trees in SG-1.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

100km? For some reason I thought James was closer to Toronto. My lack of geographical knowledge lets me down again.

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

There's regular commuter bus (and lately train) service. This has to qualify as close for some values of close.

Pretty straightforward for James to make a day trip, but even James isn't going to read six books in a day.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

... but even James isn't going to read six books in a day.

Bring camping equipment. Arrange to elude library security, and remain there for as long as it takes to read the six books.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Greater Toronto must be swarming with agents of the MW,DH Commentariat. Could one get volunteers to visit the library, read the books aloud (perhaps working in shifts), and transmit recorded audio to James?

[(Anonymous)]

You can get to KW from my house in Toronto in 45 minutes, at least in the middle of the night. This is not recommended either from a legal or a survivalist point of view, but it has been done.

Personally, I prefer the train, or even the bus.

William Hyde

[ironyoxide.livejournal.com]

Why would works of fiction be "reference only"?

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Sometimes first editions, especially signed ones, that a library somehow acquires don't get loaned.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Often, groups of connected Libraries Organize to preserve an LRC -- "Last Remaining Copy" -- when they do their (sadly) necessary discarding to Make Space. When this happens, yeah, the volume often goes into non-circulating mode. Their budget simply doesn't cover replacing anything like this that goes missing. (Not that the book itself is necessarily all that expensive, but the in-house paperwork for re-acccessioning is probably above $20.00, on top of any book cost, and....)

Basically, the function of Public Libraries is to get books read -- primarily new & recent books. Preserving books for all eternity is a function of Academic Libraries (not that all of them do it well). And the latter often limit access to on-site usage.

[rwpikul.livejournal.com]

The Toronto Public Library has long had a reference-only collection of SF, fantasy, etc. that contains many hard to acquire books and editions. The core of the collection is of significant value simply because of how the TPL got it in the first place, (it was donated by Judith Merril in 1970).

http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/merril/

[melita66.livejournal.com]

Hah! A bookstore is selling the *dust jacket only* of Dreams of Dark and Light for $20 on Ebay. The cheapest one available on ABEbooks is around US$50. It looks like that only edition is an Arkham House one.

[(Anonymous)]

James has read about 80% of Dreams of Dark and Light since it’s mostly stories from Cyrion, The Gorgon, Tamastara and Red as Blood which he’s already reviewed. The other stories are mostly collected in later and more easily available Tanith Lee collections.

As a result of his reviews I’ve read three collections-worth by Lee last month and really appreciated it, so thanks to James for the prompt.

- matthew davis

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

Kill the Dead is reference only? I mean, I like Richard Kadrey quite a bit, but this isn't a book I would expect anyone to *reference*.

[jsburbidge.livejournal.com]

I have a copy I'd be happy to lend James, but I'm about as far away from him as the Merrill Collection is.

[beefi-xxx.livejournal.com]

(http://info.flagcounter.com/BDyO)

[nelc.livejournal.com]

Spam?

but sometimes it works

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

A couple weeks ago I requested that the local PL get a certain recent book, and last Friday they let me know they had it on hold. I picked it up. Turns out it is on ILL from a private academic institution 3,000 miles away.

I love libraries...

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Do you not have access to interlibrary loan?

[(Anonymous)]

That's what I was going to say.

And now I realized that my library has got rid of all the (hardcover) copies of Tanith Lee's books I happily read as a teenager... :-( That makes me very sad, I mean, I know they can't keep everything forever, but still...

Lin

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Not all books are allowed to leave their home libraries. My guess is that these are the only copies the Merril has.

[julesjones]

Amazon Canada appears to have a reasonably priced copy of Kill the Dead. Would you care for a Paypal donation to acquire it?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Here's a copy of Kill the Dead for sale in Canada for three bucks plus shipping.

ABE Copies

[(Anonymous)]

It looks like all the books are available through ABE books in DAW copies via Canadian sellers. I could double my Patreon for next month if that would cover it.

Graycat