Year Ends & Odds

    There has been enough ranting this year so I will usher it out by offering some short posts related to past ones. They are meant as rewards for my loyal readers, but those of you who are locked in and desperate for something to do are welcome to read along. 

Book Thieves Caught!

   First, some good news. A while back I posted about the big book heist at Heathrow, during which several rare and very valuable books were stolen in a 'Mission Impossible Raid' - see The Great British Book Burglary.  Using surveillance footage and the latest in DNA analysis it was finally determined that the culprits were not the usual suspects (cardigan wearing bibliophiles), but Romanian nationals. 300 officers in three countries searched 45 addresses and twelve men have been put away for almost 50 years. "Of around 240 books that were stolen, four were still missing, according to the Met police. One in three had suffered some kind of damage." See: "Tome Raiders: Solving the Great Book Heist," Mark Wilding, The Guardian, Dec. 13, 2020.

The History of Smell

   To help you through the pandemic I posted about The History of Everything, to which was attached "A History for Every Letter" (28pp).  For the letter "S" I included, Sleep, Salt, Seduction, Solitude and Snow, but nothing stinky. Studying the smells of the past is rather tricky, but now olfactory assistance is on the way since over $3 million has been awarded for a project, "on the collection and recreation of smells in 16th- to early 20th-century Europe that will marry historical and literary analysis with machine learning and chemistry." For all the details see: ODEUROPA.  Here are two books on the subject for those of you who can't wait:

Skin Books

 

Skin Books (not pornography)

   In my series "The University of the Unusual (4)", the subject of Anthropodermic Bibliopegy was covered. It will be of interest to those who want to know more about books that are bound with human skin. A new book on the subject is now available, but I think the binding is a normal one. See: Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin, by Megan Rosenbloom. ( I also mention in my post that heavily tattooed individuals can now leave behind their skin so their next of kin can continue to enjoy the art work.)

The Dreaded Name Problem

   During our delicate times there are many delicate people who are offended by the names of many of our ancestors, or towns, or buildings, etc. and I have offered many, related indelicate posts. I will not link to them, but instead point you to two solutions to the problem which come from unlikely places.

   The first is from the Baseball Hall of Fame which contains many now problematic names. Instead of removing them, patrons are reminded that the recipients of the awards were given them for their accomplishments in the game and that details about their dark side will be found elsewhere in the museum. The suggestion, by the way, is approved of by Jane Forbes Clark, the chairman of the HOF board of directors, who is likely a woman. For more details see: "The Hall of Fame Tries to Contextualize Baseball’s Racist Past Rather Than Remove the Plaques of its Most Problematic Inductees, the Baseball Hall of Fame is hoping to Explain Them,"Tyler Kepner, NYT, Dec. 21, 2020.

   The second solution is from Down Under. Down there they are way ahead of us in terms of digitizing the past. Millions of old newspapers, magazines, etc. are viewable for free on TROVE. Naturally most of those publications will contain material that is now not acceptable, particularly for the "First Australians" (Indigenous peoples) and some members of the professoriate. So, warnings are provided and "Cultural Advice" is given, to wit: 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that Trove contains images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, websites, film, audio recordings or printed material.

Some material contains terms that reflect authors’ views, or those of the period in which the item was written or recorded, but may not be considered appropriate today. These views are not necessarily the views of the National Library of Australia or Trove Partners. While the information may not reflect current understanding, it is provided in an historical context.

By selecting "Show cultural advice", please be advised that you will continue to receive subsequent cultural advice notices before viewing materials on Trove that may be considered culturally sensitive. You can opt out at any time.

Rather sensible, don't you think?

Downtown Dollars

   Near the beginning of the month I wrote about LETS - Local Currencies.  A few days later I noticed this letter in the London Free Press (Dec.11). It shows how they can be used:

I am a server at a downtown restaurant. Saturday night a customer paid his bill using downtown dollars. He told me that because of COVID his company was not having a Christmas party, instead giving all its employees downtown dollars to spend locally.

What a great idea.

New Initialisms You Should Know

   Continuing on the subject of nomenclature, here are some new abbreviations which will be handy in the new year:

BAME - Black Asian Minority Ethnic

AAPI - Asian-American and Pacific Islanders

IBPOC - Indigenous Black People of Color (colour may be too colonial)

   While people of color may be appropriate, women of color may not be. This is getting to be almost as complicated as gender. Here is a relevant article:

"We Are Black Women: Stop Calling Us Women of Color." Donna F. Edwards & Gwen McKinney, Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2020:

  Ironically, the WOC terminology was coined by Black women in the late 1970s as a rejection of the disparaging label “minority.” Similar to notions of “post-racial” and "colorblind," the term “WOC” negates racial identity in the service of racial unity. Over time, the contrast has become not one of multiethnicities but simply a White/non-White binary.

We are Black. The term is direct and invokes something visceral and difficult for those who are non-Black to embrace or understand. In our lifetime, the more comfortable identifiers have morphed from “Colored,” to “Negro,” to “Afro-American,” to “African American.” The explosion of multiculturalism created a “we are the world” rainbow. Through it all, we remained Black. Not a label or a color, Black is an experience; it is the glue of our unique legacy in this country.

WAP - This is an acronym you do not need to know since it does not apply to a person, only to a part of a person.

Another Major Hacking

   Back in the spring of 2018 I noted that even the Island of Prince Edward was not isolated enough to avoid a ransomware attack - see Cybercrime & Cyberwarfare.  Although most of the news about the recent major episode has come from the United States, Canada did not escape the latest internet attack since SolarWinds, the company whose code was hacked, has 18,000 customers, including the U.S. Treasury and the Department of Commerce. It gets worse: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to buy a stake in SolarWinds Corp. for U.S. $315 million just days before the company disclosed it was the target of a major global hacking campaign that has compromised multiple U.S. computer systems. "To say the timing is unfortunate is an understatement," CPPIB spokesman Michael Leduc said Friday." "CPPIB Agrees to Buy Stake in SolarWinds Days Before Firm Discloses Major Hack," David Milstead, G&M, Dec. 19, 2020.

BIG WATER

   I recently wrote about "Long Tail" (Lake Erie) and provided in that post links to the others I have done on the Great Lakes. The question now is "Can We Make These Lakes Great Again?"  particularly since we can't drive long distances to swim and fish in others. That question was addressed in the latest National Geographic and the cover story is "Saving the Great Lakes: The Irreplaceable Fragile Ecosystem Holds Six Quadrillion gallons of Freshwater That Our Planet Needs to Survive," -see, "So Great, So Fragile," by Tim Folger in the December issue. It is full of interesting statistics and photos. 

   Less Poop in the Pacific

 

      Thanks partially to POOP - People Opposed to Outflow Pollution - there is some good news from the West Coast. People living in the Victoria area have been crapping in the Strait of Juan de Fuca since the 19th century. Finally, a Wastewater Treatment Project has been completed and the sewage treated. See: "I Was Wondering Why the Water Looked So Clean [said the Governor of Washington State]: CRD's Sewage Treatment Plant Up and Running," Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist, Dec. 5, 2020.

Mr. Floatie, the man-sized turd, who used to show up to draw attention to the problem is pictured above.

   About the Gulf of Mexico - I'm Not So Sure

     The Deepwater Horizon Disaster was ten years ago, but I wouldn't rush to buy property in Louisiana when the border reopens. Back in 2004 Hurricane Ivan destroyed Taylor Energy's oil platform, but not much was said about it. More recently, two scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with and a Florida State University professor, found that up to 108 barrels of oil, or more than 4,500 gallons, is being released from the site off of the Louisiana coast every day. That is not something Taylor Energy really wanted to let the world know. The oil spill went undiscovered until about a decade ago when environmental watchdog groups found oil slicks while monitoring the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. "The Energy 202: The Truth Comes Out About the Longest Lasting Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico, Washington Post, June 25, 2019.

Bruce McCall

   I began the year with a post about Bruce McCall and also included him in an earlier one about Canadian Cartoonists.  I will end it by calling attention to his second memoir which is now available and which will give you something else to read in the new year. 

HOW DID I GET HERE? A Memoir, by Bruce McCall. (Blue Rider, $27.) The writer and illustrator looks back on a career that took him from advertising to comedy writing for National Lampoon and ''Saturday Night Live'' to his current work for The New Yorker and other magazines.

For a recent interview with him see: "New Yorker Writer and Artist Bruce McCall: 'I'm Proud to be Canadian, but I Don't Want to Live in Canada," Emily Donaldson, Globe & Mail, Dec. 17, 2020. For a brief review see: "How Did I Get Here: A Review, Marissa Moss, The New York Journal of Books. 

Post Script: 

   An excerpt from the book appears in The New Yorker and it has to do with McCall's fascination with automobiles and the drawing of them: "My Life in Cars: I Tucked Into the Romance of Driving at its Fervent Peak," (Dec. 12, 2020). Here is the first sentence:

Cars had gripped my imagination almost since I had one, as a boy growing up in Ontario. I loved to draw them as they appeared on the pages of magazines. First, in the immediate postwar era, the foggy reprints from British racing journals of prewar Grand Prix.

   And here are a few about his exit from Canada:

Canada jiggled in the rearview mirror, receded, and disappeared as I drove into the tunnel conveying me from Windsor to Detroit on a gray afternoon in December, 1962. By this time, the suspicion that I wasn’t cut out for a contented Canadian life had become a conviction. I was temperamentally too antsy for that conspiracy of calm, phlegmatism, and compulsive self-effacement. It increasingly irked me that Canada shunned all extremes, breeding what I saw as a wallflower mentality and a bland tolerance for mediocrity. With J.F.K. cheering up the White House, it felt like a propitious moment to immigrate to America. I exited the tunnel in the unglamorous Volvo I was driving then and found no welcoming committee, no Emma Lazarus scenario. A customs officer waved me through, and the most significant act of my life passed with all the drama of paying last month’s water bill.

All the best in 2021.

The Mystery of the Missing Books

   
     I read an old review of a book that appeared to be very interesting so I went searching for it and found a copy in the local London Public Library system which, I should mention, is a good one. During the search I learned that the book was out-of-print, but apparently  still much in demand since the price for used copies was in the three figure range. I then found the book in the stacks which is not the same as finding it listed on the online library catalogue. I was somewhat surprised since I noticed a while back that the public library system here does not have either a machine or a person to check to see if you have any library material as you exit. That is, I did not have to sign out the book; I simply could have walked out with it. The book I wanted was there, so there is no mystery involved with it, but still I wondered - What books are not there and are many being stolen?

     Last year the central branch of the public library system in London was undergoing major renovations and I noticed that one could wander from the stacks into the adjacent shopping mall without going through any security. When I asked a staff member about it I was told that I could walk directly out without signing out a book and that that was the case in the branch libraries as well. She trusted the patrons and I felt a little guilty about implying that some of them might not be so trustworthy. Needless to say, her conception of human nature was more positive than mine. That is the reason I did not reveal the title of the book above, since I figured that once you saw how valuable it was and how easy it would be to steal it, you would do so.

     Surely it must be somewhat tempting to forego signing out one of those high-demand books which you happened to see resting very temporarily on the shelf. Or, to perhaps keep a little longer one of those short-loan XXX For Dummies books that you may need for more than seven days. Apart from those hypothetical scenarios I could present some real ones from academic libraries where the security alarms often sounded as forgetful students simply forgot to sign out the books that were hidden in their coats.

     As for the mystery about what is missing I will say that I am sure that the library system here is well-managed. I am also sure the volumes that have gone missing which have been checked out have been tracked, due diligence done and fines levied. I am also certain the costs of machines or people to  prevent theft have been considered. I am not so sure that one can know what is missing until one goes looking for it since it is highly likely that there are not enough staff to do a thorough inventory.

      I have gone on long enough about this and will say only that I do hope that material is not being stolen from our public libraries and that the librarian is a better judge of character than I. As some of the sources below indicate, there may be cause for concern.

Sources:
     It should be remembered that this post is written out of concern and not as a critique. I did not, for example, ask anyone in the LPL system about the security procedures. As well, this is a rather perfunctory search. I went looking for information about public library thefts and, unsurprisingly, found some. I am sure a more thorough search of the library literature would have uncovered many articles  about the steps and methods uses to protect the inventory.
    The items are presented in reverse chronological order. A couple relate to Canada.

I wrote about The Great British Book Burglary last year.

This year there was a big one in Pittsburgh, but perhaps our citizens are more solid:"The Pittsburgh Case  an Inside Job: ‘Greed Came Over Me’: $8 Million in Rarities Stolen From Pittsburgh Library,” Sarah Mervosh, New York Times, July 21, 2018.
“The archivist who oversaw a special collection of rare books at the central library in Pittsburgh walked out of the building with these and other items — sometimes in plain sight — and sold them to a local bookstore owner, the authorities said, in a scheme that lasted nearly 20 years.

“Unsolved Mystery: The Case of 100,000 Missing Library Books,” The Daily Gleaner/Telegraph-Journal, Fredericton NB, Mar 21, 2017
[I was unable to access this complete article.]
“Nearly 100,000 books were marked missing from New Brunswick's public libraries from 2007 to 2016, according to data obtained through a …”

“Thousands of Items Taken from Edmonton Public Library in Past 3 years,” Julie Wong, Global News,
“More than 3,000 items have gone missing from the Edmonton Public Library (EPL) system from 2014 to 2017, according to data obtained by Global News.”

This library even has security: “The library takes some measures to prevent items from being taken, including security tags on items, security gates at entrances and a tracking system that alerts EPL when an item is not returned. The user is contacted and reminded about the missing item; if it is not returned, the user is then charged for the replacement.”

[The next few are about the same British 'issue'. There is a slight sub-text which relates to the loss of library staff and funding, not just the loss of books.]

“25 Million Books are Missing From UK libraries – But Who's Counting? Librarians Call for a National Audit after Inventory Count of Suffolk libraries Reveals 10,000 Books are Missing, Despite Computer Records Saying Otherwise,” Danuta Kean, The Guardian,, Feb 23, 2017,
“The decline in books stocked by public libraries may be far worse than official figures indicate, with industry sources claiming that it may be many millions higher than the 25 million books recorded as missing, meaning that the number of books available to borrowers has plummeted by more than 50% since 1996.
Official figures from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (Cipfa) for library books stood at 52.3 million at the end of 2016, a drop of almost 25 million since 1996. But that number reflects computer records rather than physical stock checks made by librarians. Earlier this week, it emerged that libraries in Suffolk had 10,000 fewer books than listed on its database after an inventory count by librarians. Insiders said similar disparities were likely to be reflected across the 151 library authorities in England and Wales because cutbacks had reduced librarians’ ability to do shelf counts.”

“Thousands of Books Misplaced, Lost or Stolen from Suffolk’s Libraries Between 2014 and 2017,”Emily Townsend, East Anglian Daily Times, Feb, 20, 2017
“Nearly 10,000 books, CDs and DVDs have gone missing from Suffolk libraries in three years, new figures show.”

“Libraries Are Missing 25m Overdue Books,” Caroline Argyropulo-Palmer, The Times,
24 February 2017
"Public libraries are missing 25 million books, official figures show but the true number could be much higher.
At the end of last year libraries held 52.3 million books, a fall of 25 million from 1996. That reflects the number of books logged in library computer records, however, and there are concerns that stock checks would find that many more books are off the shelves.
It emerged this week that an inventory held in Suffolk had found that there were 10,000 fewer books, CDs and DVDs in the county's libraries than listed on its database.
Tim Coates, a library campaigner and former head of Waterstones, told The Guardian that similar disparities were likely to be found in libraries across the country.
"It's not just Suffolk that has this problem," he said. "This is a national issue because librarians are not doing enough stock checks because cuts mean they can't do their job properly."
Since 2010 about 8,000 librarians have been made redundant in England and Wales while funding for public libraries fell by £25 million from 2014-2015 to 2015-2016. The stock has vanished.”

“20,000 Books Missing From Libraries,” Bilal Kuchay, Kashmir Monitor, Jan.28, 2013.
By Bilal Kuchay

“284,000 Library Books Stolen / Pilfered Texts Worth More Than 400 mil. Yen, Local Govts Say in Survey, Daily Yomiuri, Nov. 11, 2008.

“Stealing Beats Borrowing: Selfishness is Trumping Sharing as Pounds 150m Worth of Books are Filched from Local Libraries Every Year,” Rose George, The Guardian, April 4, 2006.

Libraries Take Aim at Theft, Vandalism,”by Gail Swainson, Toronto Star, Aug. 28, 1996.
“Public libraries in Metro have launched a campaign in the hopes of reducing the more than $1 million a year lost to vandalism and theft.
``Unfortunately, there appears to be a real disrespect out there for public property,'' said Mario Bernardi, manager of communications and development for the Metro Toronto Reference Library.
Reference library losses include valuable reference books, recipe books, atlases, art books and encyclopedias, which routinely have pages torn out or are covered in scribbled graffiti, Bernardi said.
At Metro's lending libraries, videocassettes, CDs and books are signed out but never returned.
It all adds up to an estimated $1 million-a-year loss to the system, so six Metropolitan public library systems - East York, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, York, and the reference library - have decided to fight back by asking users to respect library property - or report those who don't.
``We really can't afford these kinds of losses,'' Bernardi said. ``When we're cutting left and right, the last thing we need is to have this happen.''

“Libraries Suffer From Thefts,” The Windsor Star, July 1994 (article by Rachel Gordon San Francisco Examiner)
SAN FRANCISCO - "Paul John Smith isn't a household name - but he's the San Francisco Public Library's most wanted man.
Smith has more overdue library items - 238 - than any other San Franciscan, and owes $6,331 in overdue book fines and replacement costs, more than anyone else.
While Smith leads the pack of library scofflaws, he is far from alone. Thirteen people owe the library more than $1,000, accounting for 1,175 lost or stolen items - books, videos, records, tapes, periodicals and sheet music worth nearly $30,000, according to a records search conducted for The San Francisco Examiner.
In addition, 225 patrons each owe $300 or more for 4,503 lost and stolen library items worth $123,886 - money and materials the city is not counting on collecting.”


Theft and Loss From UK Libraries: A National Survey, John Burrows, Diane Cooper. 1992 Study
From the Foreward:
“While the problems of theft and of the mutilation of books and other materials in our libraries seldom attract national headlines, they represent a growing concern to those responsible for the provision of library services. This report details the findings of the first comprehensive survey of the financial loss borne by the main sectors of the library service, and the actions they are taking to combat these problems (previous, smaller, surveys have been more broadly focused on crimes committed in libraries). It concludes that libraries are indeed suffering substantially and estimates that losses of books alone exceed £150 million each year. Book mutilation, too, is widespread.These losses to the public purse are occurring despite a sizeable, and burgeoning, investment by libraries in measures to prevent theft and retrieve material not returned from loan. The report documents librarians’ views of these various countermeasures. But, above all, it makes the point that count and inventory practices in libraries are often sadly deficient, and that this severely hinders many institutions from directing their efforts at targetting the type of material, particular borrowers, or circumstances that give rise to the greatest loss.”