me vs the ipad: round six

Okay, Henry could have won this one.  But he has a small disadvantage.  He's too big.  We have a basement in this library.  And I mean a basement, don't stop on the landing, go allllll the way down.  It is a maze.  Look for the wall of red books (American Supreme Court something-a-ruthers for those who are interested) and you will find the exit.  Otherwise it is a "bodies of students lost in this library will be retrieved Mondays and Thursdays only, no exceptions" kind of basement. (One poor young foreign student thought I was serious! eek).  I go down into the basement, in which I could find my way out blindfolded, one a week to seek out books which are labeled "missing".  Ie, we have no idea where they have ended up.  It is true, humans work here, no digital breakdown required, we don't have to be rebooted, we do this naturally: we make mistakes. 

So, there I am, in the basement, and low a student appears.  "Can I help you?"  Yup.  So I charge about the back roads of the basement and pull out the books he needs.  But there is a problem, he's new in life and missed that part of education which demanded handwriting was something you could actually read.  Especially if it was your own.  And here is where Henry would have had his moment.  I could have looked up the book and got the call number* by using Henry, who, bright little bug that he is, has access to the internet.  But I was searching for missing books and had that list in my hands, as I have to make a note of each time I look for them.  Carrying the list and Henry around with me was not a happening thing. So, I had to send the poor student all the way up the long staircase, step by step, on foot, to the main level where the computers are.  Sigh.

Now you will say I could use Henry to hold the book search list and mark off the dates on which I had checked for the books.  And I don't doubt you are right. But given that we are not allow aps due to the need for credit card back up and due to the fact that I have already stated the difficulties of Henry's note taking abilities....I will leave you with this little story.  Belonged to a group that send out a few hard copy newsletters to the luddites among us.  A friend in the group said she could print out the mailing list for me on stickies so I would not have to slave away by hand with the envelopes.  After four hours she had not sorted out how to get her computer, printer, and paper to work in concert.  I wrote the envelopes out by hand each month for five years, and still hadn't used up four hours of my time doing it.

*Yup its true, with hundred and eighty thousand, give or take, titles we do not sort them by colour but by library of congress call number.