Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Three Stupid Things

1. The Lincoln City Libraries don't keep any record - so they say - of what you have checked out over the years. They don't keep those records for the confidentiality of their patrons. What? Did I miss something? Confidentiality? You're in a public library, picking out public books with a mass of 'the public' all around you - what about any of this is confidential?

2. In baseball, if you're winning and are up to bat at the bottom of the 9th the game is over. I get the point of not making it any more miserable for the other team - but what about your stats? Everything in baseball is numbers... so you are cutting them off from another at bat, another potential home run, another--- you get my point.

3. Airline baggage fees really get my goat. Just add it to the cost of my freaking flight because at least that way I don't feel like I'm continually paying for the privilege of riding on your small seated, crowded, recycled air metal flying thing with crappy snacks.

5 comments:

Lincoln City Libraries said...

Regarding #1: confidentiality of public library records is mandated by the American Library Association's Code of Ethics and is codified in the Nebraska State Statutes. This really is to protect your privacy!

Jen Craun said...

Really?! As a profession centered around cataloging information, they don't even use that information for patron trending...

Lincoln City Libraries said...

Aggregate information is kept and used (how many times did this book check out, how many patrons live in this Zip Code, etc.), but information tying a particular patron to a particular book is not kept any longer than needed. Once a book is checked in (and any overdue fees or other charges relating to it are paid), that information is gone.

Anna said...

I am happy to hear that you do keep some form of information. And I do get it, really.

My point on the post is just that I think it's dumb when it relates to what I want. That's all I'm saying.

And - this is hypothetical - if my son trashes a book and its not caught before its checked in... does that mean you wouldn't be able to find me? No worries - it'll never happen. I'm just curious.

Lincoln City Libraries said...

That's right - if we don't catch the damage before it's checked in, we wouldn't have any way of determining who had the book checked out when the damage was done.