Library Scripophily
August 18th, 2010 by Larry T. Nix No comments »Membership libraries which required the purchase of stock or payment of a subscription fee preceded free public libraries. Library stock certificates for these libraries are very collectible items. Ronald Rayman in an article entitled "Taking Stock: Financing Libraries in the 19th Century in the November 15, 1982 issue of Library Journal discussed these stock certificates. He indicated that library related stock certificates were uncommon, and that a dealer in stock certificates had indicated that only about one certificate in 10,000 might be a library issue. The collecting of stock certificates is part of a hobby called "scripophily". The Mercantile Library Company of Philadelphia was founded in 1821under the name "Philadelphia Library Association". It started out as a subscription library but started issuing stock in 1826. The Library was quite prominent for a period but faded in the twentieth century. It eventually became part of the Free Library of Philadelphia and operated as a branch library for the business community. The branch closed in the late 1970s. Many of its former books can be found in the used book and rare book market. This stock certificate is dated May 21, 1864 and has a revenue stamp affixed. Revenue stamps were introduced during the Civil War to help pay for the war. More library stock certificates can be seen HERE.
The e-readers are coming! The e-readers are coming!
August 17th, 2010 by Kelci No comments »
Over here in Gleeson we’ve purchased 1 Kindle and 3 iPads that we are getting ready to loan to patrons. Yep, that’s right — soon you’ll be able to check out this hardware from the Circulation Desk for 5 days. Are you excited? I sure am! Anyone have thoughts or a wish list related to these? If you have a Kindle or an iPad, what e-books are you reading? What apps have you downloaded? We’re all ears!
Holds, Pages, and Deliveries Service Interruption — Update: It’s Fixed!
August 13th, 2010 by Colette Hayes No comments »UPDATE:
It’s fixed! Requests for holds, pages, and deliveries placed online are now going through. Feel free to use the “Request It” links and buttons in the library catalog!
Until today, we didn’t know the links and buttons had been malfunctioning and it looks as though the problem had been going on for about a week. Luckily, all holds, paging, and delivery requests that were made during the down time have been recovered, and we’re currently processing these requests. Thank you for your patience. If you have any questions, please email us at access_services@usfca.edu or call 415-422-2662.
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We’ve discovered that requests for holds, pages, and deliveries placed online today are not going through. Please don’t use the “Request It” links and buttons in the library catalog until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience; we will, of course, let you know as soon as we get this fixed!
Library Hours – Fall 2010
August 10th, 2010 by Colette Hayes No comments »In the Library
by Dorothea Grossman
The library always smells like this:
an ancient stew of vinegar and wood.
It’s autumn again,
and I can do anything.
Click Here to view Gleeson Library/Geschke Center Hours for Fall 2010
p.s. Don’t worry, Gleeson doesn’t have the pervasive smell Grossman’s poem describes, but you might say the Fall Semester – new classes! new friends! new books! new projects! – is a little bit, well, magical around here…
See you soon!
