Things I've Noticed: Hovering at the top of my hold queue can be frustrating

All right, let's start by admitting that this really isn't a problem.

That when it comes to getting (effectively) free stuff from the library should not lead to me complaining.

And most importantly, that my problem is entirely a problem of my own making.

Good.

So my local library (which is wonderful, by the way) allows you to put holds on titles you might like to take out (pretty much like every other library), and even allows you to put holds on items they have ordered, but which have not yet entered the actual collection.

My problem is that my account lets me put twenty five items on hold at one time, and as I regularly check on "just ordered" items and also make use of my library's Inter-Library Loan policy (where one library borrows an item from another library), I tend to have a lot of items on hold at any given time.

Like say, twenty five.

Which means that when new stuff shows up - and yes, I know complaining about my library getting new stuff that they are willing to loan me for free makes me sound pretty terrible - I cannot put holds on anything and instead have to add it to my "for later" shelf - which allows me to keep track of things I'd like to check out someday, but not today (also an amazing service, by the way).

Which leaves me with maybe one or two slots available at any given time to put one or two of the fifty or so items I want on hold...

Aw man - looking back at my complaint I'm pretty sure I've just written a decent advertisement for my local library.

So there you go.

Vending Machine Review: The EPL Lending Machine

I'm always happy to see my city come up with new ideas, or perhaps a new twist on an old idea, like the Edmonton Public Library's new Lending Machine. The premise is pretty simple; take the technology used for candy vending machines and fill it up with materials from the library (books, music, DVDs, video games, etc.), attach a return chute to the machine and then put it in one of our LRT (basically a subway) stations.

Suddenly you've given library access to people using our mass transit system, so then can sign out and return items during their daily commute. The machine looks pretty nice and my daughter Lorisia (who used the machine last Friday - pictured above) said it was pretty easy to use and kind of fun.

I hope the project works out well and we get more of these machines in our city, because the idea is really kind of cool.