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It would've been interesting if they'd tried to compile a list of all the books that existed at all the closed libraries, and then only lent up to the limits of

It would've been interesting if they'd tried to compile a list of all the books that existed at all the closed libraries, and then only lent up to the limits of that list (which would continue to expand as more data were added), but I don't think anyone would argue that was practical to do at the time. The whole country can be shuttered at a moment's notice, compiling data like that takes tremendous effort. However, in retrospect, I suspect the case might hinge on someone actually compiling that data. Did they, at any point, lend more copies of any particular title than existed at the time within all the shuttered libraries combined?

tluyben2 6y ago
> compiling data like that takes tremendous effort. It is a lifetime ago, but when I still went to the library in my country, about 27 years ago for the last time, there was already a system which had all books of all libaries at every library, where you could look up which copy of what book was in which library, how many of those author’s books all libraries had together etc. This was 27 years (and longer) ago; you are saying that, in 2020, I cannot press one button and get this info in all, at least, western countries? That is pretty depressing if so. Edit; come to think of it, it must be longer ago as I tried to copy (the UI and functionality without networking of) that system for my own books at home on my MSX; I stopped using that system when I got an Amiga more than 30 years ago.