Once in the while something doesn't go quite according to plan. While this is always annoying, sometimes it does work out in the end. I am thinking of a couple of minor examples from this week.
First, I had been very tempted to buy the 2nd edition of an academic book called Metropolitan Governance. The 1st edition is at Robarts, but it took a while for me to actually borrow it (last night actually). In the meantime, the low cost version of the 2nd edition jumped from $12 to $37! Now I could still order a relatively inexpensive version and have it shipped to the States, but I am getting a little weary of waiting for someone to be able to deliver it to me. In addition, this is really within a line of research I am unlikely to pursue, so that I can take this as a message to just drop it (that old line of research). And I have been struggling to get rid of dozens of academic books, so adding another one to the pile seems perverse. The final consideration is that it is incredibly difficult these days to donate books to libraries and have them added to their collection (and here I am speaking specifically of books that the library doesn't own). Robarts has completely paused its donation program and the Toronto Public Library never had much of a donation program to begin with (everything just goes into the library book sale!). If either accepted donations, then my decision would be different.
As it happens I ordered a book (or really a catalog) on Romare Bearden and his lesser known abstract work . While it is ok, I don't love it and I'd prefer it go into a library. I think my best case for making a donation is the AGO library, and I'll touch base with them later.
But back to the Metropolitan Governance book. There are a few copies of the edition I want in academic libraries in Canada, though sadly not in Toronto. I'll go ahead and see if I can get it through inter-library loan, but, if not, then that is also a bit of a sign, I suppose.
The second thing is that I had quite the adventure planned out for tonight: first dropping in at a work holiday party (yes, it seems much too early to me too!), then going swimming in Regent Park, then back-tracking to Tarragon to see if I could get rush tickets for Buffoon. I thought about it, and how much trouble I've been having with transit these days (with only a small amount of snow) and decided I couldn't count on the TTC getting me there. Instead I would just go swimming and then head over to the mall instead for a few last minute gifts. I'll see about rush tickets on Friday when I won't be running around so much. I still have one more week to try to rush the show if Friday doesn't work out. I think I'll be a lot happier not trying to cram quite so much stuff into one evening.
Update: I definitely made the right call tonight. I only stayed at the holiday party for 30 minutes. Then it took quite a while just to catch a bus to take me north from Front to Dundas. I ended up walking from Sherbourne to the pool and no bus turned up at all in that time (going east anyway). I was able to get my laps in (though unfortunately the warm water spa is closed for repairs), and then I got a few things at the mall. I would never have made it back to Tarragon in time.
Also, as I was going through some files, I realized that in my grad student heyday, I actually copied several chapters out of the Metropolitan Governance book, so I won't even need to ask about inter-library loan. This came as a bit of a surprise, as I don't think this particular edition was in the Northwestern Library, though I suppose I had borrowing privileges at University of Chicago (which did have the volume) and I might have gotten it there. At any rate, I am even more glad I didn't attempt to order the book!
No comments:
Post a Comment