My name is […]. I sugested to purchase “Modern Organic Synthesis” around two weeks ago, and it is still on oder, even though Duke Book store already has this book.

When do you expect that I can get this book?
Could you explain why it takes long time?

Thank you.

PS – you can email me, if you have any question.
Thank you.
[email address]

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The appropriate subject librarian has been asked to “rush” catalog this book and you’ll be notified when it’s ready for you. It appears to be in a processing backlog.

The library gets books from intermediate vendors, not directly from the publishers. If the book isn’t ordered “rush,” then it won’t be shipped by itself immediately, but will wait to be included in a large shipment from that vendor, maybe even a week or two or more. Then, the shipments have to be unpacked, then the invoices paid, and the books put in a queue to be cataloged, and then the call number labels need to be applied, and then the books need to be shelved. If the book comes through an automatic approval plan, as did this one, it is also reviewed by subject librarians for appropriateness for our collection. All this takes much longer than the process in a bookstore, especially given staffing and funding shortages at the library that create cataloging backlogs, where the book may sit for several weeks on a shelf. The time in various backlogs depends a lot on issues with the particular book (whether it’s been cataloged already by another library, what language it’s in, whether it has supplemental material such as a CD or map). A softcover book may need to be sent off to a bindery to have a hard binding put on it.

The online “suggest a purchase” form will not guarantee that the book is ordered and cataloged quickly. If you need a book quickly, then you should indicate this on the form or contact one of the subject librarians directly: http://library.duke.edu/about/directory/subject_librarians.html

[A library employee] is extraordinarily rude to patrons.

[…]

Is there anything that can be done about this?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Your complaint has been passed on to the employee’s supervisor.

did you watch the blue devil marching band win 3rd place in the dci championship last night? can you think of a more invigorating way to spend the evening! i bet you cant! oh it was a spectacle!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I hate to spoil your fun, but this is a group of “Blue Devils” from Concord, California. Their website: http://www.bluedevils.org/ In any case, you can catch it all again. The ESPN2 website says “The first half of the program can be seen on Monday, Sept. 11, at 2 p.m. Eastern time (ET). The second half will air on Monday, Sept. 18, at 2 p.m. ET.”

Can yoga actually make you taller? I heard a claim that it could make you up to 4 inches taller. If you do get taller, how long would the height last?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: It may not physically stretch your bones, but to the extent that it improves your posture the top of your head may become farther from the ground. For as long as your posture remains better. Four inches isn’t possible from what I’ve seen, unless you’re just 10 years old. In that case, just wait several years.

Was Hitler a virgin? If so, did that add to his craziness?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I think you’d have to ask Eva Braun that question. Another woman, merely rumored to be his mistress, was his niece Geli Raubal. Historians generally seem to believe the answer to your first question is “no.”

Is it true that the Manhattan Project started in a building owned by Columbia University on 125th St in Harlem? Is there a plaque or something somewhere there?

You are da bomb!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: It was called the Manhattan Project due to its beginnings in Manhattan, even before the U.S. entry into WWII, in 1939.

Pupin Hall, on 120th Street at Broadway, is a designated National Historic Landmark. The statement of significance reads: “Initial experiments on the nuclear fission of uranium were conducted here by Enrico Fermi. The uranium atom was split here on January 25, 1939, ten days after the world’s first atom-splitting in Copenhagen, Denmark.”

Here’s a photo of a plaque at the building: http://www.atomictraveler.com/pgcolumbia5.jpg

There was also Manahattan Project research that went on at the Havemeyer Building, at 3200 Broadway between 116th and 120th.

Is it true that it’s legal for women to go topless in New York? I heard there was a legal battle a long time ago, and the courts decided that if men could be topless, when could be too. If so, where are all the topless women?

QP

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: They legally can, if they avoid lewd behavior and it’s not for commercial purposes. (The intent might be a little fuzzy in many cases.) I suspect that most women are uncomfortable going topless in public, hence the reason you don’t see many.

This goes back to a New York Court of Appeals opinion of July 7, 1992:

80 N.Y.2d 875 or 600 N.E.2d 232

The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Ramona SANTORELLI and Mary Lou Schloss, Appellants, et al., Defendants.

The majority opinion and concurrence can be found at Cornell’s FindLaw site:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I92_0160.htm

A summary from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on March 22, 2006:

“In June 1986, seven women at Cobbs Hill Park [in Rochester] removed their shirts to protest a state law prohibiting public breast-baring. They were arrested for indecent exposure. City Court Judge Herman J. Walz dismissed the charges six months later, ruling that the protesters were exercising their right to freedom of speech. But he didn’t concede their main argument — that the breast-baring law was unconstitutional.

“Topfree 7 leaders Mary Lou Schloss and Ramona Santorelli waged a six-year court battle that ended with victory in 1992. The Court of Appeals gave women the right to appear topless in public if they avoided lewd behavior or exposure for commercial purposes.”

If you look at the opinion, it refers to the legal statute below, saying its context was to prohibit such behavior for commercial purposes, and is therefore not applicable in cases such as mentioned above. Also, the opinion touches on the issue of treating women and men differently.

NY Penal Laws
§ 245.01. Exposure of a person

“A person is guilty of exposure if he appears in a public place in such a manner that the private or intimate parts of his body are unclothed or exposed. For purposes of this section, the private or intimate parts of a female person shall include that portion of the breast which is below the top of the areola. This section shall not apply to the breastfeeding of infants or to any person entertaining or performing in a play, exhibition, show or entertainment.”

In Jersey City, right by the entrance to the PATH train at Exchange Place, there is a wacky statue of a russian dude with a rifle stabbed into his back. What is that all about? Who put that thing there and what is it commemorating?

Thanks.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The website of the City College of New Jersey has the statement. The statue depicts a Polish soldier.

“The imposing Katyn Forest Massacre Monument stands at the end of Montgomery Street. It was sculpted by Polish-born Andrzej Pitynski of New York. The bronze statue of a soldier–mouth gagged, hands bound, and struck in the back by a bayoneted rifle–stands atop a granite base that holds Katyn soil. It commemorates the massacre of thousands of Polish prisoners by the Soviets in April and May 1940. The Soviet troops had invaded eastern Poland by order of Joseph Stalin. The event led to the partition of Poland and the dissolution of the nation during World War II. The eastside of the pediment has a bronze relief depicting the plight of starving Poles sent to Siberia.”

http://www.njcu.edu/Programs/jchistory/Pages/E_Pages/Exchange_Place.htm

This artist came to the U.S. in 1974, but the statue was there by Sept. 11, 2001, since there are some strking photos of the statue with the smoke from Manhattan billowing overhead. There are a number of other memorials to the Katyn Forest Massacre around the world.

Will you act as a reference for me? I have a job interview in a few weeks. I could explain that you are only reachable by visiting your website or the Duke Library.

Thank you in advance!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: “I know this job candidate (who won’t tell me his/her name or sex) through his/her habit of anonymously asking me goofy questions worthy only of smart-alec replies. I’m sure this candidate will prove to be a valuable addition to your organization by keeping everyone amused and thus raising morale from its current low level.”

How’s that? Will that help you get the job?