The Itchy Lot

I was looking at the new book bin, down on the first floor. This is an area where various selected new books are placed for users to browse to see if there's anything new and interesting. The thing is, all the books have had their dustjackets removed. Now, I don't know if you've ever seen a hardback book before, but if you have, you've probably noticed that all of the important information a person might want to know about a new book (reviews, plot summary, info about the author) is located on the inside flaps of the dustjacket. You don't even have a cover to judge the book by. So basically, all you have to go on is the title and the author, printed on the spine of the book. So imagine you're looking at these books. There's a book called Eclipse by John Smith, a book called Dragon Run by Julie Anderton, and a book called Living in Ken's House by Michael Cruz. Which ones are fiction? Which ones are non-fiction? What are they about? Let's say you determine that Eclipse is fiction by paging through the book. What KIND of fiction is it? Historical? Mystery? Sci-fi? Gay erotica? You really don't know, do you? How about Living in Ken's House? Maybe it has that non-fictiony look to it. But what is it? A feminist critique of Barbie dolls? Or the story of Kenneth Lay and Enron? Or something else entirely different? YOU CAN'T TELL! And partly that's because i made up the titles and authors, but even if I hadn't, you still wouldn't know jack about these books. So unless you come across a book you happen to have heard of (and a large academic research library like ours does not focus their collection on books you've heard of), you're S.O.L. Isn't that a great and useful way to display new books? That's what libraries are here for--we're experts at organizing information.