No, We Don't Own That
(Happy New Year Everybody!)
Student called to ask if we had a DVD that he wanted. He said he'd searched the catalog, but our catalog sucked and would I look it up for him. I bit my tongue to keep from telling him that maybe his search terms sucked.
"Okay, what's the title?"
"UHF."
I type in the title and restrict to visual materials. Nothing with that title appears.
"I'm sorry, but it appears we don't own it."
"Are you sure? I think it would be something the library should own."
I double check. Still nothing. I wonder if maybe the student has the title wrong.
"Can you tell me more about the movie? Who's in it? What's it about?"
"It stars Weird Al Yankovic. I searched under his name, but found nothing."
In my head, I respond, "Thank God," and then, "What's the proper way to search for 'Weird Al' Yankovic?" (And the answer is: Yankovic, Al)
"I'm sorry, but the library doesn't own it. You can submit a purchase request."
"Huh, yeah, I really think the library should own it."
I think, "Why?????"
"Okay, do you know how to make a purchase request?"
"Yeah, I've done it before. Thanks."
"No problem. Bye."
God, the thought that this movie could be entering our collection scares me. I mean we already have The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (Thanks to Kyle). I think we've reached ourcraptastic limit.
Student called to ask if we had a DVD that he wanted. He said he'd searched the catalog, but our catalog sucked and would I look it up for him. I bit my tongue to keep from telling him that maybe his search terms sucked.
"Okay, what's the title?"
"UHF."
I type in the title and restrict to visual materials. Nothing with that title appears.
"I'm sorry, but it appears we don't own it."
"Are you sure? I think it would be something the library should own."
I double check. Still nothing. I wonder if maybe the student has the title wrong.
"Can you tell me more about the movie? Who's in it? What's it about?"
"It stars Weird Al Yankovic. I searched under his name, but found nothing."
In my head, I respond, "Thank God," and then, "What's the proper way to search for 'Weird Al' Yankovic?" (And the answer is: Yankovic, Al)
"I'm sorry, but the library doesn't own it. You can submit a purchase request."
"Huh, yeah, I really think the library should own it."
I think, "Why?????"
"Okay, do you know how to make a purchase request?"
"Yeah, I've done it before. Thanks."
"No problem. Bye."
God, the thought that this movie could be entering our collection scares me. I mean we already have The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (Thanks to Kyle). I think we've reached our
posted by Vampire Librarian at 4:38 PM
10 Comments:
Have you actually ever watched the movie? It's great!
Great or craptastic, it's not really an academic library sorta item.
P.S. Javva good Chrissy, Vamp?
The Garbage Pail kids Movie?
I'd think UHF was Oscar-worthy in comparison (though, to be fair, I haven't seen either one).
I'd agree that it's not an academic library movie unless you have a film school--but it was actually quite a good movie, with some hilarious sendups of secondary-TV-channel shows. And, by the way, Conan the Librarian was part of UHF.
I knew there were a lot of fans for this movie. I just am not one of them. Sorry for calling it craptastic. I have watched it, and did not like it. I am not a Weird Al fan. But still, why does Library X HAVE to own this?
There's actually scarier stuff in our collection. _Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter_ springs to mind. I have no idea who requested it or why.
I'll retract the craptastic comment for UHF but double it for Garbage Pail Kids.
Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter?
THAT I have to see!
My question tonight is (and it's been the exact same question all night -- 20 times):
"Do you have such-and-such a textbook?"
"No, we don't carry textbooks but I'll check to see if we might have been given a copy or if it's on reserve. No, we don't have it."
"Are you sure? Will you look it up by the author?" Like I didn't already do that just to be double sure, but I do it again.
"No, we don't have that book."
"But my professor wants us to have it for our class."
"I'm sorry, but we don't have it and your professor didn't put it on reserve."
Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter? Talk about your cross-genre fillums. That takes the biscuit.
JC Vampire Hunter is quite the B-movie fun-ride! That aside, I think popular movies are perfectly acceptable in an academic collection for many reasons, one being the study of film and/or popular culture and the other--free movie rentals for the weekend. I find our students like the fact that we not only offer them scholarly resources but also "fun" stuff to relax with. Think of it as a little good-natured PR for the library.
As for textbooks, I don't know of any library that collects them. They'd "disappear" two seconds after they were shelved anyway.
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