WTF?

Any time I actually go to LRU's library, it will take me double the amount of time I think it ought to take in order to actually find what I'm there for. I resigned myself to this long ago, and in the past few years the average time has declined slightly, since if I need a book I can look up a call number faster in my office than on the library machines.

But tonight I'm trying to get a recent article online, at home, through the library database. I have obtained the exact same article twice before, at home, through the same database, and both times lost it to one of those damned "automatic updates" on my computer. I'm logged in, authenticated, the whole nine yards; but instead of loading, I get pages from the press or other institution wanting me to log in or pay. Have we lost subscriptions again, or are too many other people logged in (on Thanksgiving?), or what the hell? I am peeved. Next time I get the article, I will be sure to save it.

Um, yeah, of course I'm thankful to be employed and all that; but it really is annoying to have the library behave so capriciously. They're dumping all hard copies to which they have (they THINK they have) online subscriptions, so the trouble I'm having REALLY makes me gnash my teeth. It's the Franz Kafka Memorial Library: sure, you can get this article . . . if you pay for it, like any non-academic.

At least I managed to read half of it, last time I had it.

Gnash.