A question for yall technical services librarians.

[raccoon]

In a local library's catalog, I found a book when I searched by title.

Clicked on DETAILS to see availability, and got the message, ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

So....if item is no longer available, why is it in the catalog to begin with?

[Not Me]

1. It could be that they are trying to secure another copy

which can sometimes take time, especially if it is out of print and they are looking at non-traditional sources.
That said, they should have 'suppressed' the listing so that it didn't appear in their catalog. If you engage in conversation with them, 'suppress' is the term to hit them with.

[Lisa D]

2. I'm not a librarian, but I'll make a guess

Maybe they do it so people don't come up and say, "I know you have that book--I've checked it out before. Why isn't it in the catalog?"

And the librarian says: "It's no longer available."

So maybe they keep it in the catalog to keep the library as quiet as possible by making that conversation unnecessary

But I see your point.

[MicaelS]

3. Because It may have been stolen, or....

Checked out and lost. Or it may have been damaged beyond repair. The book may be out of print, and the library can't afford to, or does not want to pay to buy what is now a rare book.

[Erose999]

4. Depends on what kind of OPAC they are using. They may not be able to suppress the record from the

catalog without deleting it. And since most libraries these days have to pay for copy calaloging they probably don't want to delete the record and have to buy it again in the event that they replace the item.

[HopeHoops]

5. Have you ever seen a library's budget?

[marlakay]

6. One good thing about living in a small tourist town

with lots of hotels to give money to city. The library is well taken care of and rich retirees have donated also. They get new cozy chairs to sit on every few years, just updated to software to have ebooks, brand new library built about 8 years ago, and best thing is someone donated for late fees, you never have to pay them even if you lose book!

I found this out when i offered to pay for a book I lost, the librarian told me, they want to do everything they can to encourage people to read in this town, nothing negative…

So I guess you can say I love my library and they just organized a shelf area for all the bookclubs including the one I am in…

[HopeHoops]

7. That isn't typical.