My apologies for not posting over the last 24 hours (my inbox is filled with emails from the masses, begging for more witty and insightful political analysis). I've had some serious problems at the Pseudo Mansion with the interweb, and now the library has seen fit to block all blogspot addresses. I asked about it, but their "tech guy" was gone today. There really is no limit to the black abyss of death that is the DC public library main branch. Speaking of which, I got an email from a reader who happens to be a librarian, and they said that the DC public system is infamous all over the country for being a cesspool. Can't say I'm shocked.
So, I now find myself in Caribou coffee, getting wired, and well...getting wired. The saddest aspect of these interweb shenanigans is that there were a ton of posts I had wanted to do. I'm putting my nose to the grindstone the next couple of hours, trying to crank out as many as I can (quantity not quality I say), so keep checking back.
Showing posts with label library blues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label library blues. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Who Needs Books Anyway?
I know I complain about the library. A lot. But, as it's functioning as my de facto office for the time being, I'd like to once again mention one of it's many, many shortcomings.
They don't have any books. Matt Yglesias' new book? Nope. The book reader 'pw' suggested, China: Fragile Superpower? Sorry. The new book The Dark Side, about the Bush/Cheney torture regime that everyone's talking about? Lost. Their only book on blogging? Lost.
My university library was connected to almost every other library in the state, and I had access to 25 million volumes. I can only remember a couple of instances (out of hundreds) where I couldn't get what I wanted, no matter how obscure, academic, or recent a publication it might have been. I would give my firstborn child to have that access again.
Not here. It's especially sad in Matt's case, as he's a DC resident. I've said it before, but if it's a public facility in DC, and it's not federally owned, it's almost certainly underfunded, understaffed, and underutilized. To all those of you that think your state's politicians are a collective bunch of incompetents -- this is what happens when you don't have anyone to advocate for you on a federal level. It's criminal that the 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia don't have a single person in Congress to represent them. And why is that? Because Republicans would never allow us to have a voice, as that voice would almost certainly be one of the most consistently Democratic voting blocks in the country. 'Cause, you know, basic democratic principles should really be subservient to the political interests of one party.
They don't have any books. Matt Yglesias' new book? Nope. The book reader 'pw' suggested, China: Fragile Superpower? Sorry. The new book The Dark Side, about the Bush/Cheney torture regime that everyone's talking about? Lost. Their only book on blogging? Lost.
My university library was connected to almost every other library in the state, and I had access to 25 million volumes. I can only remember a couple of instances (out of hundreds) where I couldn't get what I wanted, no matter how obscure, academic, or recent a publication it might have been. I would give my firstborn child to have that access again.
Not here. It's especially sad in Matt's case, as he's a DC resident. I've said it before, but if it's a public facility in DC, and it's not federally owned, it's almost certainly underfunded, understaffed, and underutilized. To all those of you that think your state's politicians are a collective bunch of incompetents -- this is what happens when you don't have anyone to advocate for you on a federal level. It's criminal that the 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia don't have a single person in Congress to represent them. And why is that? Because Republicans would never allow us to have a voice, as that voice would almost certainly be one of the most consistently Democratic voting blocks in the country. 'Cause, you know, basic democratic principles should really be subservient to the political interests of one party.
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