Emily VelascoMLE_online
Sep 8, 2026, 3:21 PMThere's a phenomenon I don't understand in which public libraries always have multiple copies of Lost World by Michael Crichton, but they never have copies of Jurassic Park
Replies
Sep 8, 2026, 3:26 PM@MLE_online eaten by dinosaurs
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 3:31 PM
@fredy The publisher should have never included one real dinosaur egg with each copy of jurassic park. What a terrible marketing blunder
- Sep 8, 2026, 3:33 PM
@MLE_online what were they thinking
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 3:38 PM
@fredy The book is about how much the public loves real live dinosaurs, right? So why wouldn't the public enjoy real live dinosaurs?
- Sep 8, 2026, 3:39 PM
@MLE_online exactly!
2xfoRnDanger@infosec.exchangeSep 8, 2026, 6:26 PM@fredy @MLE_online
Obviously they thought too much about what they could do and they never stopped to think what they should do
Debvoxdeb@post.lurk.orgSep 8, 2026, 4:06 PM@MLE_online In the catalog or on the shelf/currently available to borrow electronically?
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 4:08 PM
@voxdeb on the shelf!
I don't have an e-reader, and i'm kind of skeptical of them
- Debvoxdeb@post.lurk.orgSep 8, 2026, 5:23 PM
@MLE_online This is a pretty common pattern — the first (or best-known) book of a series always has the most demand (more holds, longer wait), because everyone starts there and then readers drop off. No one is going to read LOST WORLD without having first read JURASSIC PARK.
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 5:27 PM
@voxdeb Right, but! When you look at the catalog itself, they will possess multiple copies of Lost World and zero copies of Jurassic Park. It's not that the copies of Jurassic Park are checked out. It's that they just don't have them.
- Debvoxdeb@post.lurk.orgSep 8, 2026, 5:32 PM
@MLE_online Oh got it! I wonder if the physical copies of JURASSIC PARK got read and beat up and slowly taken out of circulation and then not replaced, while THE LOST WORLD has a longer shelf life. A little surprised it’s *zero* copies though.
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 5:34 PM
@voxdeb It's always like that! You name a book and its sequel and they will have one or zero of the first one and like seven of the second one. It's baffling
- Debvoxdeb@post.lurk.orgSep 8, 2026, 5:39 PM
@MLE_online That’s *not* true for audiobooks and e-books — there’s just many more holds/much longer wait time for the first in a series — so I suspect it has to do with the lifespan of codices/physical books.
- Debvoxdeb@post.lurk.orgSep 8, 2026, 5:29 PM
@MLE_online FWIW I *love* e-ink readers for fiction — light and durable, excellent reading whether it’s sunny or dark, adjustable text size, always have another book lined up. I’ve had a Kindle forever but my next e-reader won’t be, partly because Amazon and partly because Canadian libraries don’t lend e-books to Kindles (also, presumably, because Amazon).
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 5:32 PM
@voxdeb If I could find an open source e-reader that I didn't have to build myself by soldering tiny components, and that wasn't prohibitively expensive, i would consider it.
- Debvoxdeb@post.lurk.orgSep 8, 2026, 5:36 PM
@MLE_online I haven’t started digging, but that’s the kind of thing I’m after too, also it needs to be dead easy to get library books on it. (Kindle handles syncing to my phone beautifully so I *really* always have a book with me, but I can always manually sync in Libby — find my spot in the book! — if need be.) I have friends who have pocket-sized open e-readers they love — want me to get details for you?
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 5:44 PM
@voxdeb Sure! But if they start saying anything about how I simply need to bootload debian or something, I'm out lol
- Debvoxdeb@post.lurk.orgSep 8, 2026, 6:26 PM
@MLE_online Oh gods me neither! My Kindle is starting to get finicky about recharging and especially if I stay in Canada I’ll need to replace it with a not-Kindle, so I’ll keep you updated about what I find.
- Emily VelascoMLE_onlineSep 8, 2026, 7:09 PM
@voxdeb thanks!
me_valentijnme_valentijn@m.ai6yr.orgSep 8, 2026, 4:43 PM@MLE_online
Jurassic Park copies got stolen or worn out. Less interest in the sequel 😂
RealGene ☣️RealGene@hachyderm.ioSep 8, 2026, 5:25 PM@MLE_online
…because nobody really liked The Lost World? It's a 393-page screenplay.
Binkbink@defcon.socialSep 8, 2026, 7:21 PM@MLE_online If you can't find a paper copy, The Archive has (at least) one you can borrow.