A good part of my reading consists of books which I would like to buy but I am slightly pressed for money. In cases such as this the archaic institution of the library comes to the rescue.
I had not been to the library of the DUT for years. It appears they have expired my card (they do that every two years) and I can only renew it if I have an ID which lists my address.
Of course I usually do not carry such ID so it’s back home to get one.
My university does not carry most of the books I want so I am filing requests to have those acquired. A quick look did show the library of the RUL does have most of them, so I will be paying them a visit in the following week.
Update: I now have procured a library card and am tracking down the books. I am hit with how archaic the concept of a library actually is. You have to walk to a physical location to get text for free. I usually get my texts for free from the internet which I think is a whole lot better.
I have found out that the collections of our various university libaries are horribly outdated. I have some suggestions for new acquisitions which I am submitting to the various authorities who decide on these matters, but I am going to get these books faster if I just hop on a train to Leiden.
I do think having an up to date library for books (which can be costly) is something the university should facilitate and I am going to follow up on this. It seems to be a big problem that my field of study is inter-facultary and that the books I am requesting could be filed under any of IT, architecture, industrial design, or policy analysis.
And these are just the books which are directly related to my reseach. I think a technical university should also carry popular scientific books to promote interest into science and society in general.
I am thinking of books like Freakonomics or Blink which I would love to read but have not yet budgetted to buy.
