Library Runs

I learned my lesson earlier in the pandemic that it never pays to delay things.  If something is open, and you want to go, you should go.  So I had a very long list of books that I wanted to check out at Robarts (close to 18 months of backlog).  Mostly these were things either completely unavailable in the Toronto system or were reference only.  This fall, Robarts set it up so that alumni could reserve books and pick them up at the circulation desk but not go up into the stacks.  I suppose this was a reasonable compromise, but still was fairly restrictive.  You could only request 10 books at a time, though I think alumni can have 30 or so items checked out at any given time.  So that meant a lot of extra trips to the library.  I actually managed to work my way almost completely through the list by mid-December when they shut it down.  (This seems more to do with UT's winter break and less about Covid).  I think there are only 3 items that I really had hoped to check out and a handful of less pressing books.  I'll see if the reserve system opens back up in mid January, or if Covid protocols mean that Robarts is just out of reach again.  At any rate, I had a pretty good run.

As it happens, I have 4 books still out and they extended the due dates to March 1, so there is no real rush to read these books, though they are relatively short novels by Selvon, so I'll probably just go ahead and read them quickly.

I accidentally returned a Toronto Library book to Robarts.  I went back the very next day, but it was in processing, and I couldn't retrieve it.  It did eventually get returned and taken off of my card, but it was quite stressful at the time.

I've been quite pleased that a number of art exhibit catalogues have made it into the circulating collection (Picasso Painting the Blue Period, Uninvited from the McMichael, and even Surrealism Beyond Borders from the Met), so I have been indulging in those (rather than buying any more art books).

It's nice having access to both systems, though I suspect that if they don't open the Robarts stacks to alumni this fall, I probably won't renew my card there.  It's just that tiny bit too frustrating compared to how I like to use the library.  Also, it is hardly set in stone, but I may be moving offices and the new location is a lot less conducive to running up to Robarts after work.  All the more reason to try to get through everything I want to read at Robarts this summer/fall, as if such a thing were possible...