I can't be bought but a loan is negotiable

[rattfan]

A piece of history ended last Friday when I was persuaded to retire my library card and get one of the nice new ones. I was in shock after realising that one no longer carried the books one wanted to borrow to the desk, to be checked out by a librarian. No, one waved them over a device which reminds me of the price checker on a supermarket checkout. I had gone right past it, the concept of such not having entered my brain.

My old yellow card was one of the last in circulation and was issued some years before the 9 was added to the beginning of phone numbers. The sticker was a makeshift patch job. Maybe the card could become part of Lost Perth? They let me keep it when I admitted a certain attachment. I guess after, let's see, roughly 40 odd years of book-borrowing, they trust me not to double dip.

Our city library itself is having an upgrade. It moved from the "bunker," the underground realm reached by a narrow set of yellow stairs, to temporary quarters about two years ago, with some of their books still in storage, but is supposed to move into a building resembling a cross between something vaguely Greek and columnar, and a spiky tin can, once it is finished. I will take a picture of this at some point. It's going to provide more space than the library has ever had, as well as putting it in a convenient central location for me, but I rather miss the bunker.

Comments

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

I retired mine a few years ago because the lamination was peeling, presumably from overuse. Bassendean Library still uses laminated cards and a check-out desk, if you're feeling nostalgic.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know, I use that one quite a bit. Time to find out if the new card works for their system, I guess.

[sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com]

My own library, in St Kilda, has had the self service checkout for quite a while. It's not such a big deal, though it feels weird for a while after it first happens. I thought they might be doing it to save money on staffing, though the staff told me that no, they would have more time to do their other work if they didn't have to do the desk. Not sure I believe that, but there is still a reference desk.

I hope your new library will be worth the wait! :-)

[merilune.livejournal.com]

I still have mine from when I was a kid. It's probably about twenty years old give or take a few. I'm not even sure if my local library still uses the same ones, since it's a bit of a pain to get to the library I usually order books online and my Mum picks them up for me when she's borrowing books.

Even though I lived in Perth for two years, I never went to a library there. I was missing out!

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

What's the penalty for a late return of an Alex Isle?