MetaChat - Interlibrary Loan Is Your Friend.

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

11 June 2007

Interlibrary Loan Is Your Friend. I love my local library systems. 95% of the time, they have what I want. Sometimes, though, my interests outpace their holdings. And for those occasions, there’s Interlibrary Loan→[More:]

Here are some of the oddball titles I have obtained through the courtesy of librarians in faraway places.

Submarine Technology for the 21st Century

A very interesting read, mainly for the sections about the new advances in Air-Independent technology, which have made it possible for developing nations to field real submarine fleets. I probably would have appreciated this book a little more if I'd had an engineering background.

Cold Water Diving:

Are you tired of skiing and snowboarding? Me too. Hey, why don’t we drive out onto a frozen lake, saw a hole in the ice, and dive into the freezing water?

Rock, Iron Steel: The Book of Strength

IT’S THE HIGH PLAINS HEAVY METAL IRON MASTER, BOY!! AND THIS IS HIS BOOK OF WEIGHTLIFTING THEORY!

Meet Steve Justa, the insane weighlifting guru I made fun of over at MetaFilter. I finally got around to reading his book. Kind of mixed feelings about this one. On a purely stylistic level, this book sucks. The prose would embarrass an eighth-grader. But there are interesting ideas here. I liked the emphasis on functional strength, on whole-body work, on gradual development of strength.

Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So what kinds of material have you been able to get through Interlibrary Loan?

post by: jason's_planet at: 10:57 | 8 comments

I'm still waiting for a journal article I requested my junior year of college, from a biology conference proceedings published in 1848. I'm afraid I'll have to drive out to Cambridge, MA to read it :(

posted by muddgirl 11 June | 11:29

Submarine Technology for the 21st Century

Planning to invade Staten Island?

posted by jonmc 11 June | 11:45

Thanks for reminding me -- I have a few J.C. Smuts-related titles pending. I've been trying to move past my prejudice against white SAs by writing a play about the architect of Apartheid.

Think I might just pony up the big bucks to buy 'em myself from antique bookeries, as my ILL requests've been in for more than a year.

posted by Hugh Janus 11 June | 12:28

More than I can possibly list here -- I get 2 or 3 ILL books a week. I've been getting a lot of cookbooks lately. It's great to work next door to the library.

posted by JanetLand 11 June | 12:43

It IS your friend, but my interlibrary loan system has been down since APRIL and it's really killing me.

posted by viachicago 11 June | 13:27

Not nearly as exciting as the items you mention j_p I have ordered an assortment of books and technical reports from government labs or seminal papers from the early 20th century.

My most precious acquisitions (actually i am slowly building a nice "library" with this stuff and interlibrary loan is the only way to work it --loan & xerox!)

Incompressible fluids and turburlence (or something like that) by Osborne Reynolds. (1895) Philosophical Transactions.

Motion of solids in fluids when the flow is not irrotational, by G. I. Taylor (1917) from the Royal Proceedings in London. If you think the title is awkward wording, wait till you read the whole thing!

Nature of Turbulence by Monin (1978). This is an amazing translation of some soviet-era scientist's work from the 70's. It is like the classics!

posted by carmina 11 June | 13:57

I love Interlibrary Loan, too! Always have- at my old college, I got so many sent to the college library the librarian called me her "best customer". Recently, I've been reading books about business- several from the Harvard Business Review series, which were fine reading. I also got Fame Junkies: The Hidden Truths Behind America's Favorite Addiction, which was very thoughtful and interesting. And I'm trying to finish up Inside the House of Money: Top Hedge Fund Traders on Profiting in the Global Markets, but it's due tomorrow and there's other people who want it, so I can't renew, therefore that one might go back unfinished.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 11 June | 15:05

Planning to invade Staten Island?

Why would I waste my time with Staten Island? If I had a sub, I'd plant myself in the shipping lanes and threaten to sink a cargo ship every hour until my demands were met.

Think I might just pony up the big bucks to buy 'em myself from antique bookeries, as my ILL requests've been in for more than a year.

Hugh, before you pony up the big bucks, check out http://used.addall.com/
There are plenty of gougers out there, but there might just be a couple of estates who inherited the books you need and want to convert them to cash ASAP.

Or, here in New York, you could use the MetroPass, which would allow you to use your Queens Library card to visit, say, NYU or Columbia if they have the books you need. (The Humanities library on 42nd street is very generous with these.)

Not nearly as exciting as the items you mention j_p I have ordered an assortment of books and technical reports from government labs or seminal papers from the early 20th century.

Well, you taught me what "irrotational" means, if that makes you feel better. Looks pretty neat, even if I don't have the background to understand this material.

Recently, I've been reading books about business- several from the Harvard Business Review series, which were fine reading.

Please keep reading this stuff, TPS. Kick some ass and climb that corporate ladder; I need somebody to be in a position to hire me when I'm old ;) Rock on with your capitalist self.

posted by jason's_planet 11 June | 22:53

← Help out a charity via eBay. || I am the cook in the family →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN