I like, use and enjoy my local library system, but every once in a while I get just a wee bit annoyed with them. I wanted to ILL a book that was not purchased (yet, more on that in a bit) for inclusion in the collection. But the request was refused:
Due to the following reason: This item is too new for interlibrary loan.
Okay, fine, so I called to ask why a book published last month is too new for ILL, and the ILL person let me go to voice message. Not to be undaunted, I made a request to have it added to the collection, after telling the ILL librarian I was doing so.
Why not just go buy it myself? Well:
The book is called Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment by Rhae Lynn Barnes, and it's $39.99 as a hardcover and $37.99 as an ebook. I'm not paying that much.
It's about the history of how slaves and free blacks were exploited for "entertainment" in the U.S. and abroad. Even "Jim Crow" is derived from Minstrelsy's founding. I'm interested in history, and so...
And so, it might be of historical interest to people in the area besides myself.
On the plus side, the Libby App has it, and this request might get the Library to add it digitally, if not physically, as well.
