Note: We have a bulletin board outside the first-floor map room where people can leave their questions or comments and Chas, the statue of Charles Leaming Tutt that stands outside the library, responds. Chas was wondering why he couldn't post his answers to the internets, and we thought we'd go ahead and help him out. Here' s the most recent question and answer for "Ask Chas."
Question: What's the most used library book? And movie?
Chas answers: A fascinating question. I asked the librarians to go through every book in the library and check the number of due dates stamped in the back, but they told me that’s not how it works anymore. They ran a little report instead.
This isn’t very scientific. If a book or video is lost and replaced, it’s likely that the checkout counter would get reset to zero. But it’s close enough for now.
In the top five we have two titles that are really multiple copies of the same out-of-print book that faculty ask us to keep on permanent reserve so they can use as textbooks (A History of Argentine Political Thought, and Introduction to Modern Behaviorism), the binder of Venture Grant Applications (now available as PDFs on the library web site) and two classic movies that make an odd couple: Schindler’s List just edges out Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the most checked-out movie.
And then it’s lots of movies. Lots and lots of movies. And then a 24-volume set of Freud, then lots more movies. Finally, with 108 checkouts, we get to the first appearance of a book that’s not a textbook or multi-volume set. You may not be surprised to learn that Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire is Tutt Library’s most used library book.
