Dr. Robert Brodsky writes:
You may recall that several days ago I wrote to inform you that, after reading the post describing the Brooklyn Public Library’s excuse for not having Melanie Phillips’s Londonistan on its shelves, I was able to reserve the single copy that had been ordered on 07/31/06.
I assume that this copy was ordered in response to the reporting of a library patron’s complaint that was reported by Roger Kimball at Armavirumque and by Power Line. The book was delivered to my neighborhood branch yesterday. This establishes an all time speed record for a new item, going from ordered, to in process, to delivered, in under a week. Usually, as in the case of “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus” CD, items are “in process” for over a month.
The really interesting thing is that when I went to pick up the book, coincidentally with Bill James’s New Historical Baseball Abstract, my friend the librarian approached me and with apparent concern asked: “Bob, what happened with the book Arlyne ordered?” After a few puzzling moments I realized that I had reserved the Phillips book on my wife’s library card.
Apparently, the BPL bigshots assumed that the first reserve on the book must have been by the same person that made the complaint that Kimball and you guys passed along. They then followed the reserve to the branch where it was reserved to, and made inquiries with the librarian on site into the identity of the patron who reserved it.
So what we have here are the purported defenders of free speech and privacy delving into the records of a library patron to dig up information. Not concerning national security, but concerning the embarassment of the p.c. cockroaches that do their dirty work in the dark.
I do like the folks I deal with at the library and they share my concerns that the BPL is on a negative trajectory, from a once great library system to a politically correct propaganda organization.
Sounds a lot like the NY Times.
Dr Bob Brodsky
Brooklyn NY
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