"Top 1000"

[Sean Mannion]

"I guess that means that librarians see themselves more as public servants 
than as educators. Too bad."

I guess that until someone someone affords librarians the same pay-scale, 
training opportunities, and correspondent professional status as other 
mainstream educators, and allocates reasonable levels of public funding to 
this purpose, that probably won't change. What's the problem in the first 
instance? I thought librarians were meant only to provide a 'public service' 
in the first place -- the role is mainly administrative. I also understood 
that libraries were places deigned for relatively autonymous 
reading/learning. Any library I've ever used have systems of ordering. If 
they don't have what you want, you request or order a book; they order it 
from another library, or they purchase it.
Any limits placed on this would surely be down to financial limitations 
rather than intellectual ones.  Sure, some may be able to recommend a good 
piece here and there, but their jobs are administrative and not educational 
- the capacity to organise efficiently is put on a slightly higher premium 
than intellectual range.

'Garfield at Large' vs. 'Gravity's Rainbow'? C'mon, get real - you're 
talking about public libraries.
"This is a list that librarians have chosen as "worth owning" in their 
library, and not one book by Pynchon!" -- yeah, where 'worth owning' is 
translated into 'what people have requested / have borrowed from us / will 
be likely to borrow from us', not 'what is necessary/complementary to have a 
satisfying intellectual existence'. It's a popularity contest. I have no 
problem with the idea that JK Rowling's books are better represented in 
libraries than Pynchon's. Maybe that's because I own my own copies of 
Pynchon, and that I'm willing to bet that most people on this list do to, 
and most people likely to approach Pynchon and likely to get past a first 
chapter will either have it on a university reading list, a recommendation 
from a friend, or a comparison to a similar author, or some such. On the 
other hand, a kid just starting out on non-school reading, on their way to 
better things might benefit more from free resources more than I do. Simple 
as that. The overwhelming majority of library-users in my area are the 
young, the elderly and the unemployment. I'm not gonna tell them what they 
SHOULD be reading. Neither will librarians.

Actually as a point, the copies of 'Gravity's Rainbow' and 'Lot 49' 
circulating in my local system haven't been checked out once in the last six 
years. I believe that for a financially pressured institution whose funding 
is normally the first to be slashed to the bone, this would probably be 
called a waste of resources.

The idea that diahorretics is in there is far more disturbing, though.





>From: kelber at mindspring.com
>Reply-To: kelber at mindspring.com
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: RE: "Top 1000"
>Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 12:53:21 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
>
>
>It seems the list reflects not what librarians think people SHOULD read, 
>but what they WILL read.  I guess that means that librarians see themselves 
>more as public servants than as educators.  Too bad.  My own local branch 
>library contains a huge collection of books in Hebrew, Russian and Urdu -- 
>it would definitely skew the list.
>
>Laura
>-----Original Message-----
> >From: Ghetta Life <ghetta_outta at hotmail.com>
> >Sent: Mar 21, 2006 10:39 AM
> >To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> >Subject: RE: "Top 1000"
> >
> >
> >Note, not one book by Pynchon is included in this Top 1000 list.  It does
> >contain many great works, also including audio recordings of ceratin
> >symphonies.  But it ranks "Garfield at Large" as #15!  It also includes
> >other comic strip collections (Doonesbury,Far Side, Dilbert).  And it
> >includes FIVE Harry Potter books.  And let's not forget to include "Left
> >Behind" and "Dianetics."
> >
> >This is a list that librarians have chosen as "worth owning" in their
> >library, and not one book by Pynchon!
> >
> >Ghetta
> >
> >>From: "Ghetta Life" <ghetta_outta at hotmail.com>>
> >>
> >>http://www.oclc.org/research/top1000/complete.htm
> >>
> >>This list, updated for 2005, contains the "Top 1000" titles owned by 
>OCLC
> >>(Online Computer Library Center) member libraries—the intellectual works
> >>that have been judged to be worth owning by the "purchase vote" of
> >>libraries around the globe.
> >
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>
>