discovered: large buildings full of books!

I didn't know that places like this still existed, but I found several large buildings in and around the Metroplex which contain - apparently - hundreds of thousands of books! And it appears that other people already knew about these places, since the parking lots were full.

I had assumed that all the world's knowledge (all those old books made of paper and bound with leather) was now online (including OCR scans where possible, and transcriptions where not). But nooo ...

I made this discovery quite by accident. I had Google'd for the history of a nearby undeveloped park, and wasn't finding the information I wanted. So (in desperation) I completed a web form (at 0'dark:30) which magically sent an email to the Dallas Parks & Recreation Department. Imagine my shock when, a few hours later, I received a reply with the answer! Wow .. this was very cool. In composing my Thank You Note (via email, natch) I asked about another park (overextending my welcome, pressing my luck - you name it).

I nearly fell off my chair when (just a few minutes later - mind you, this was between 9 and 5 on a weekday) I received a reply, including the citation of a probable best-seller entitled Centennial History of the Dallas, Texas Park System, 1876-1976 which is out of print and - dig this - Not On amazon.com. How is this possible??!

I decided to throw caution to wind, and Do The Unthinkable: get in my car and drive to a place called The Branch Library⁰, asking to see a copy. When I arrived, I noticed a lot of apparent theft taking place; people were leaving the building with books tucked under their arms. They all looked very suspicious to me.

Inside, the Nice Man™ at The Information Booth (a strange little place where a knowledgable person will answer your questions - in person) punched the title into his computer and informed me that while his branch didn't have the book, there were copies in the Central Library (12 miles and 22 minutes away) and at the Audelia Road (south of Royal) Branch, a mere 6 miles and 12 minutes away. Hmm. Trying to remember those Ancient Lessons of Arithmetic, I surmised that this Branch Library (the large building full of books) was closer (6<12 and 12<22) so I journeyed forthwith¹.

Imagine my stunned shock and awe when this Branch Library had a similar (to my nearby branch) Information Booth with a similar (yet different) Nice Man™ who initially mused "this is surely downtown" but then wiggled with delight when he discovered that Yes! Indeed! They Had A Copy! but no one has asked to see it in probably 25 years! He wrote down some numbers (apparently a secret code called the Dewey Decimal Classification System) and moseyed to a nearby rack, fetching the 900-page book. At this stage, I was effervescing with delight, but still perplexed about it not being online.

There's always a catch. This book was something called a "Reference Book", meaning I couldn't take it home (as I noticed others were doing, when I walked in) but that I could take it to a nice, quiet table and read and make notes and even photocopy it, if that was my pleasure. The Nice Man™ confessed that the photocopier was a Smudger and only took 25c coins (of which I had none in my possession). Knowing that this tactic would produce a smudged piece of paper, which I would need to subsequently OCR, I decided to scribble the pertinent passages into my PDA and HotSync™ it when I returned home. Naturally, I took a digital photo of the exterior of This Book, to prove to others that I wasn't fibbing about these prehistoric artifacts.

So, the culled information is now available electronically, and The World Is A Happier Place. Tonight, there is Frabjous Joy here in Dallas.

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0) I have no idea why it is called a Branch, since it was neither attached to a tree, nor made of wood. I didn't ask.

1) "journey forthwith" is an English phrase first used in Medieval Times (not the restaurant) meaning "go now". In the past, words were longer and had more syllables than are needed today. Got dat?