"Just Go To Your Local Library"

"Just Go To Your Local Library"

How often have I seen us offer this simple, heartfelt advice.

My local library has 62 branches, and circulates ~16m items per year from a collection of ~8m items ... of which precisely one is a Scott Catalog (vol 140, pt 2, 1984), one is a Stanley Gibbons (no date), etc.

I suspected a cataloging or search engine failure, so I checked and, yes, the cupboards are bare.

(Oddly, the coin people do a lot better.)

And I am just 45 minutes from Nassau Street, as the old song did not quite go.

Begging the question(s):

Q/ Does your local library's collection include the preferred stamp catalog of your country? (Feel free to add details)

Q/ If the catalog(s) are in the reference collection, would you prefer that they circulate? (I ask because I would prefer to use a stamp catalog in the privacy of my home, rather than in front of some silly twit who knows only that those stamps could be worth a fortune! ... and who, after murdering me for my stamps, will show-up here as DumbThug22, wondering how much he can get for them. But that's me.)

Q/ Have you donated stamp catalogs to your local library and, if 'yes', are they still there?

Q/ Any other questions that I should have asked?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Michael, my local library's reference section holds the 5 volume Stanley Gibbons world catalogue, dated 2014. This replaced the 2010 edition, which gives you some idea of how regularly change occurs. Having said that, I have had to wait for some volumes before now and all in all it does seem to be well used. I photocopy bits that I need which I don't have at home.

I wouldn't donate my old catalogues because of the vast amount of scribbling in them.

I guess I'm lucky. The library I use has the latest Scott's catalog which they replace every year. It's in the reference collection but I use the copier for pages I need. I have taken postcards in to look up stamps but it's usually quiet enough in there where I don't have to worry about anyone looking over my shoulder and trying to figure out if I'm worth mugging on the way out.

My gosh, I live in a small city of a bit over 20,000 people, way north on the shore of Lake Superior. Has a current Scott's, all - What? -- six volumes. They are in the reference section, so cannot be taken out. But on the shelves is last year's, free to be taken out.

Don

The library that is withing 45 minutes of Nassau St does have them, but only on the 4th floor reference section of Mid-Manhattan. How long would it last if it circulated? Not long before pages would start to disappear, especially by non collectors who think they have some rarity (but of course do not).

I have donated a set of older (2000) WW Scott catalogs to our local library, but haven't checked recently to see if they are still there or intact.... Hopefully some folks are getting good use of them!

Someone under 20...
What are books? Can I view them on my cell phone? I know where the library is, I sometimes go there to use the internet.

My local branch has nothing.

It might be interesting and helpful if folks said what city-town/state/country they are referring to in this answer. My longtime hometown of Syracuse, NY has a countywide circulation system for all the branches. At least two have full sets of current Scotts with older years available for circulation. I used them many times when I lived there.

Our community fund donates money to the library each year. I am the Allocations Chair and I am sorely tempted to make Scott catalogues a deal breaker. I don't have that power, of course, nor the untethered moral compass, but I admit to such a devil speaking from my shoulder.

The library that serves Manhattan & The Bronx is the NYPL; I am 'out' in Queens.




Ouch! What a thought! I am happy to see that no one has yet reported missing pages in this thread, though no one has reported being mugged on the way home, either.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

My local branch of the Rochester NY public library [within walking distance] buys the full set of Scotts every year. I have access to the 2016 set in the reference department and 2015 circulating. They sell the older ones at the book sale for very reasonable prices. We are blessed here.

Our local library gets a new set of Scotts (world-wide & US specialized) every year. Don't know what they do with the old ones though. I use info from these to supplement my every-5-years purchase of a Scott US specialized.

I just checked and the local library has just one title about stamps. It's "A history of Britain in thirty-six postage stamps."

I should add, though, that we belong to a two-county cooperative library system, so many titles are available. We can even access the state's system for titles that are hard to find.

I think it's all about what size city or town you live in. I know my library doesn't have scotts.

My local library carries nothing, but they often have sets of Scott Catalogs at their bi-yearly book sale. Last year I found a complete (2006) set, including a hardbound classic specialized for $1 ea, so I donated my 1999 set back to the sale.