[ILL-L] Not in any library

[Charlie Brenner]

ILL community-

Has anyone been unable to locate a patron's requested material in LOC  
or the OCLC system?

Recently I purchased a copy of a patron-requested title out of  
curiosity and a desire to help. LOC had only one title by this author  
and OCLC as well.

I cannot help but think that a question of professional ethics  and  
intellectual freedom might be present here. Surely one brave  
cataloguer, acquisitions librarian, etc. would tackle this. Could  
books be "banned" and "burned" by professional neglect in this modern  
age?

Some of the problem might be the jobbers. What percentage of the  
books in print are covered by Ingram or Baker and Taylor? If you  
start out with 90% of the book universe you will always have this  
problem. Bowkers acquisition system it seems would approach the book  
universe issue with something closer to 100% coverage.

Some public libraries include in their job description for  
cataloguers that they perform original cataloguing but you still have  
to make an effort to find the material.

Charlie Brenner
Interlibrary Loan Manager
Jackson/Hinds Library System
300 N. State St.
Jackson, MS 39201
601-968-5805
cbrenner at jhlibrary.com





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