Sometime in the last year or so, the Ottawa Public Library replaced or upgraded its online catalogue, Lirico. The new one is a giant improvement over the old, not only because it supports the library lookup bookmarklet but also because it has a lot of useful features to do with managing requests — you can make and check the status of your requests online, and delay them for up to a year without losing your place in line, and so on.
Since I have a list of around a hundred books in my to-read list, I don’t open requests for all of them at once. Instead, I use the “My List” feature that lets you maintain lists of catalogue entries without requesting them. It was getting a bit difficult to find books in there, though, so I decided to use a related feature that lets you create multiple lists to sort them by subject area. That way I could keep one title each from a bunch of subject areas on request, and then when those requests were filled, grab another.
This worked well for the first few lists. And then:
Oooookay. I can store as many books as I like on my three lists, but a fourth list is apparently out of the question. I know that it’s a given that online catalogues are brain-dead software — think “enterprise software” without the incentive of profit — but I can’t begin to imagine why they’d think it was a good idea to limit users to THREE LISTS. If you’re going to do that, and not, say, 63 or 255 or unlimited lists, why bother implementing multiple lists at all?
Luckily, My Opinion Counts! so I think I’m going to tell them my opinion of limiting me to three lists now.
3 responses to “Three lists”
Speaking of the Ottawa Library – it’s the only building I know fairly well in the whole city. Which leads me to my question:
I’m going to a conference in Ottawa next week. Can you recommend any place with interesting drinks – bottled or otherwise?
Odd markets, restos, etc. that might have something novel?
Thanks!
J: You seem to have confused Ottawa with someplace interesting. :-) Best bet for interesting things by your standard of “interesting” would be Chinatown, I think, along Somerset between Bronson and Preston. You could try heading up or down Preston into Little Italy, too, although I doubt there’s much there you haven’t seen. I can’t remember if you’re a beer drinker but on Preston there’s also Pub Italia, which has the best beer selection in town (probably around a hundred or so, including lots of Belgians, but nothing outright rare).
If you don’t get into that area but you do get downtown, the little restaurants in the Byward Market building tend towards the ethnic and might have some unusual things. There’s also a great bubble tea shop over on Dalhousie just north of Rideau, Bubblicity. (There’s also a Bubblicity in Chinatown if you end up there but not downtown.)
You might also find something useful via Ottawa Foodies. Candice participates there more than I do, but it covers both restaurants and particular food items, so a bit of browsing there might turn up some gems.
Every place is interesting to me! I don’t carry the burden of being a native of the lofty slopes of Mount Royal – crossroads of the world. *cough*
But you have provided me a wealth of information here – and I really appreciate it. I allowed for some extra, non-academic time on this trip, just so I can walk around and do exactly the sort of things you’ve suggested. I really appreciate your help, and the Ottawa Foodies link. Thanks!
– James