Greetings, all. In this time of toil and woe, we regret to inform you that Circulation has removed some equipment from our loaner pool. While we don’t doubt there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the loss of these extremely popular items, we stand firm in our conviction that these changes are necessary in this “new Norman” or whatever it’s called.

The following were laid to rest with all due process, pomp, and circumstance on the 24th of March, 2010.:

–15 manuals for the TI-83 Graphing Calculator which we’ve had since 2005 and have had exactly 1 circulation, in 2008.
–15 manuals for the Nikon Coolpix L4 Digital camera, which we’ve had since 2006 and which is already available in pdf format online
–8 viewing station headphones which can’t be plugged in anymore due to the necessity of increased security at the viewing stations. (Don’t worry, Media Services is keeping the headphones to be used as the current viewing station headphones break down.)
–1 metal overhead projector from the 1980s. It’s had a “being repaired” status since 2006. And anyway we have a spiffy new “digital presenter” which offers more functions and is actually portable without causing hernias.
–1 mini-disc recorder. Back in the dark ages, known to historians as “the 1990s,” mini-discs were a hip, exciting new technology involving easily-broken spinning plastic discs, encased in more plastic to help deter breakage, that used proprietary technology and a highly lossy audio format incompatible with any other audio format before or since.
–1 microcassette transcriber. You know those things that used answering machine-sized cassettes (back when answering machines existed as discrete units plugged into your home telephone) and could be stopped and started with via a plugged-in foot pedal for easy dictation or interview playback for transcription? Yeah, one of those. It even circulated once in 2007.

We in Circulation Services realize it will be a wrench to lose these crucial technologies our customers have been clamoring for. But in these Hard Times, sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Thank you for your dedication to the cause.