Pop Culture Update

A guy came into the library and asked if we had any copies of the Harry Potter movies. The other librarian said, I'll check for you. I looked at The Guy and said, The library owns copies of the movies, but at this particular point in time, I'll be really surprised if there are any copies in any of the branches. The other librarian turned to him, and said, They're all checked out. The Guy said, How many copies of the latest books do you have on the shelves? I chuckled and said, We have 35 copies and they never made it to the shelves. There were over 80 holds on those 35 copies. I would imagine that anybody who really really wants the book right away would go out and buy it. He said, Hardbacks are expensive. The Other Librarian said, It's $22.04. I got my copy yesterday morning. The Guy laughed and walked away.

After I left the library, I stopped to get dinner, and as I was waiting at the bar for my order, I pulled out a copy of the first Harry Potter book. The guy behind the bar looked at the book and said, So, you're getting caught up? And I responded, I've seen all of the movies, but I haven't read any of the books. This is the first one. He smiled and said, The movies were good, but the books are even better.

Everybody keeps telling me that. I'm willing to invest the time to find out if I agree with them.

Comments

Unknown said…
Hi Regina! I'm interested hearing how many copies of the book different libraries have, and how popular they are. When I checked about 1.5 weeks ago, the Seattle library had 1400 holds for their 200 copies (we are big library users here). In Greensboro, my parents tell me there were 100 copies, and still some available Saturday afternoon...I agree with others you've talked to, the books are better. :)
Lisa said…
Cass, you are always very pro-public library and very curious about cool facts like that. Someone needs to snap you up for the Friends of the Library board!
BiblioDiva said…
1400 holds for 200 copies? That's crazy. I hope they bought some more copies. I believe my library's guideline is there should be 1 copy for every 10 holds or something along those lines. And I believe that after a certain number of holds, more copies are purchased. I'll look into it and update my blog with my findings.

And I agree with Lisa...you should become a Friend of the Library.