Serial Holding

In the past I've written about serial borrowing, in which, drunk on the possibilities of borrowing nearly any book I want, I borrow them all at once.

A spin-off of this phenomenon is serial holding, in particular, serial holding of new books. This is a tricky proposition as new books are in greater demand than the old or merely recent, and as it is hard to gauge that demand, often enter the library's system in small quantities.

In the last month or so my holds queue has witnessed the arrival and delivery of the following titles: Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance by Dean Wareham, Kirby: King of Comics by Mark Evanier and Neil Gaiman, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu, and The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel.

While none of these titles currently top best seller lists, they share in common, that relative to their audience, they are new and in demand. They are also titles currently in my possession or recently in my possession. Finally, I have not had the chance to crack the spine on a one of them (no doubt to the annoyance of those waiting for them).

Call it a case of too many new books and not enough time. I have to admit, I'd love to have these titles aging on my shelves for just the right moment.

Coming soon: the April tally.