Wherin "The Man" (or Interlibrary Loan) is trying to keep me down...and how I subsequently stick it to "The Man"

I recently requested a book from ILL titled Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires. My friend Mac told me about it and it seemed like it could be a useful source for my thesis. It's a neat book containing several photos of Buenos Aires, taken by Argentine photographer Alicia D'Amico. She sent them to Julio Cortázar in Paris and he wrote a companion text to the photos. It's not an earth shattering book but it's fun to see the circa 1968 photos of Buenos Aires and to read Cortázar's reflections. He can't avoid the overwhelming feeling of nostalgia while looking at the photos and he also muses a bit on the nature of the photograph. At one point Cortázar refers to the photos as ghosts, coming back to haunt him. He also writes about the french word for ghost, revenant, which is an archaic loan word in English. This is the part that I need. And I should have scanned that section of the book when I requested it the first time, but I'm retarded.

So I decided to request the book again from ILL but my request was canceled, here is their explanation as to why it was canceled:

Dear Benjamin Cluff:

A request you have placed:
Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires. has been canceled

Reason for cancellation:
This is a duplicate request.
We have another request from you for the same piece. We just returned this exact same item for you. Unfortunately because of the cost of ILL ($35 per item) we do not reorder the same item for the same patron. It is cheaper for the patron to buy the book than it is for us to reorder the same item over and over for the patron.

Sorry,
Ti'Ata Sorensen
Borrowing Supervisor


I'm fine with what they are doing, trying to save cash, but I was a bit put off by the fact that she told me I could buy this book for less than $35 or $70. So, being the mature individual that I am, I responded in this way:

Dear "The Man",

In regards to your reason for not requesting the book. I thought you might like to know that it was printed in Buenos Aires in 1968 and has been out of print for years. It is not available for purchase anywhere and a friend of mine once saw a used copy of the book for sale, it was $2000. So, no, it is NOT cheaper for me to buy it than it is for you to request it. However I understand that my request is simply another victim of the economic downturn and not a reflection of the quality of service I receive from the ILL staff.

Best,

Ben Cluff


I'm not mad at ILL, they are doing their job. But I still need the book. So what shall I do? Friends don't let friends suffer without the books they need. My good friend, who will remain unnamed (in case "The Man" is reading this) is going to request the book for my use. I'm not usually one to stick it to the man, but in the writing of an M.A. thesis, sometimes one has to.