Re: ATM and LIbRARIES

[Kyle Barger <kbarger@navpoint.com>]

At 07:23 PM 12/9/98 -0800, Richard Schwartz wrote:
>That is the sad truth about how libraries work.   If you want to become
>a real pessimist, just compare the number of astronomy books with the
>number of astrology books.   Groovy, what's yer sighin', dood?

Well Richard you'll be happy to know our astronomy club once received a for
sale notice from a guy whose wife gave him a 10" Meade LX200 with a
boatload of astro books & accessories for Christmas....  He said "I looked
at Comet Hale-Bopp with it a couple times but I'm just not into astrology.
It's a very nice telescope and I thought it should be with somebody who is
a true aficianado of astrology."

I'm afraid Richard is right...  while libraries have good reason to be
picky about what they accept as donations (the music library I used to work
at did NOT need yet another recording of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, for
example), if the librarians are convinced that astronomy books won't get
used or that they don't need them, right or wrong, then it's a waste to
donate to that library.

Speaking of libraries, if you are looking for astronomy books for your own
use, you should always check out a local college or university if you live
near one.  You can almost always search the library over the Internet to
see if they have anything interesting, you can usually go in and use the
books there, and you can sometimes buy borrowing privileges for a moderate
fee of $25 per year or so.  If they have any astronomy program at all they
probably have a better selection of advanced astronomy books than most
public libraries.