Relief

The Acq. Team are a little less rattled: a small shipment of new books have arrived so the cupboard isn't entirely bare any more.

"It isn't anywhere near as bad as last year's stupidity - that was just awful - but it's still very unnerving," says Noreen.

It has been a bit strange, I admit. In jocular mood I point out:

"I hope there's none for Catty Library. They'll be sending it back with a message to say that there's not enough room on the shelves, what with all the new stock they got for the re-opening."

"What new stock for the re-opening?" asks Bronwyn.

"Didn't they get any new stock?" I ask, puzzled.

"No. That's one of the bones of contention with them. Somebody was supposed to be ordering new stock for the adult lending library and they didn't bother."

"In that case, why do I keep hearing that they've got lots of minty-fresh books on the shelves?"

"Because they've never been used."

I do the numbers, they're right. The disgracefully old rubbish has been withdrawn in the process of closing the library, leaving behind a rump of stuff that would have been OK at time of buying a few years ago had it not been diluted by old tat that's not exactly setting the world alight. Yet another in a long, long list of lost opportunities with this particular piece of work.