Tragedy has struck.
A prelude: I put holds on books at my university library many days ago so that I would have reading material ready for me on campus. Because I’ve run out of books! I know, it’s super rare for me and thus all the more horrifying. So I was feeling that anticipatory little tingle every time Bass Library sent me an email telling me one of my books was available for pickup.
BUT! Because of the long weekend (class only begins on Tuesday, post- MLK day (the only time Yale actually gives us the Monday holiday) combined with the winter hours of winter break… the library is closed.
Until Tuesday.
They’re lying about the hours online, but don’t be fooled. They have my five books in the underground (Bass is a basement library under Cross Campus). The doors are locked an the lights are off. There’s a closed sign on the door.
Here’s what they’re holding hostage:
- My Mortal Enemy, WIlla Cather
- Thus Were Their Faces, Silvina Ocampo: Inspired by reading about her in Alberto Manguel’s With Borges.
- Cornell Woolrich Omnibus: Only for Rear Window.
- This Craft of Verse, Borges: A transcription from tapes of Borges’ lectures at Harvard.
- Allure, Diana Vreeland
There are many excellent advantages to Yale’s library service (Orbis). Namely, they’ve got a lot of obscure and old books (you can’t check out the Gutenberg Bible, but we do have one) and they deliver the book to the check out desk, which is superb when the directions for finding a book among millions look like the photo above. Of course, downside: I am bookless.
List Mimsy 