Eileen:

Credit for that discarded microfilm reader lays right at the feet of the N.Y.State
Library Policy makers who changed the N.Y.Library STANDARDS C 1999 from
the requirements that all libraries (chartered by the N.Y. State regents ) have
Microfilm Readers to read that all libraries are required to have FAX machines
........................go figure?

Leigh C. Eckmair, Historian
Town of Butternuts &
The Local History Collection
THE GILBERTSVILLE FREE LIBRARY
e-mail:[log in to unmask]

On Monday, November 27, 2000 3:12 PM, [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] wrote:
> In a message dated 11/27/00 11:50:14 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> << Often it is the mechanical application of these rules across the board,
> instead of the examination of a situation by a thinking human being, that
> causes the unthinkable to happen.
>  >>
>
> I am a member of the NY Public Library and my nearest branch is in a corner
> of the NE Bronx.  They relocated a few years ago from a small storefront to
> an elaborate new building a few blocks away.  When I asked to use their
> microfilm reader, they looked at me like I was an alien from another planet.
> They told me that their microfilm reader was discarded because it was no
> longer needed, as they now have computers.  How ridiculous is that?  I had
> asked about an inter-library loan for newspapers and was told that newspapers
> could not be sent by mail  Hello? Don't they know that films are
> sent?........I guess not; that would require a film reader. I purchased a
> reader, since then but it is worthless if I can't take the film out of the
> library...a catch 22.
>
> Eileen in NY