Welcome to The Thripp Public Library's Online Catalog

2010-08-17 UPDATE: This is now considered a proof of concept and I have no intention of doing anything more with this project.

By 2013, The Thripp Public Library will be a free, privately held, brick and mortar, public lending-library in Ormond Beach, Florida. I'm actively expanding the collection, but items are only available to family, friends, and donors for now. Feel free to browse and comment, regardless. Donate so I can buy a building to keep the books in. You can get a new library card, or link your Volusia or Flagler card. Browse everything, or search for something specific:

I encourage discussion: anyone can comment on any bibliographic record. Like Thripp.com, the system features threaded replies, RSS feeds, and email notifications. When you use a "REPLY TO THIS" link to respond to someone else's comment, your comment appears right below and the original commenter is notified by email. Comments can be lengthy: feel free to write book reviews and share in-depth analyses. To keep up with the latest discussions, subscribe to this RSS feed.

Interesting searches: cookery, dvd, English, music, religion, romance, United States, constitution, Richard Thripp, John Grisham, James Patterson, Mary Higgins Clark, 973 (Dewey Decimal code).

Have a reference question? Email me at richardxthripp@thripp.com or call me at 386-675-4472 if it's daylight. If I'm online, we can talk by instant messaging below. If I'm offline, you can leave a message with your phone or email:

Live Statistics:
The Thripp Public Library has 8 patrons: 6 adults and 2 children.
There are 149 items: 66 nonfiction books, 57 fiction books, 23 video games, and 3 DVDs.
You've all written a total of 13 comments, or 0.09 per item.
%'s: Nonfiction books: 44.30%; Fiction books: 38.26%; Video games: 15.44%; DVDs: 2.01%.
3 items are checked out and 146 are on shelf.
2.01% of the catalog is checked out. The average patron has 0.38 items out.
There are 18.62 items for every 1 patron.
The collection is worth $3461.86, or about $23.23 per item.
There have been 23 checkouts and 17 renewals; a total of 40.
    This is an average of 5.00 per patron, or 0.27 per item.
There are 123 books with 46,595 pages. The average book has 378.82 pages.
The are 86.36% as many fiction books as nonfiction books.
The collection represents $432.73 of value per patron.
100.00% of my patrons have telephones and 75.00% have email accounts.

My library is founded on a healthy attitude of dissension and skepticism, a distaste for lies and fallacy, and a love of learning from history. To know history and avoid 1984-style revisionism, it's important to keep old books around. Unfortunately the Volusia County library system doesn't do this, as I've gotten many of my library's gems right from their book sales. These are my library's universal principles:

1. Timelessness eschews popularity.
2. The message trumps the medium.
3. Truth is independent of source.

This means that good information can come from any person or organization in any form, be it a book, magazine, CD, DVD, website, etc. I've founded the library on timelessness, meaning that I refuse to destroy parts of the collection that are rarely looked at, because they are often the most important. Popular movies circulate more, but are fleeting and unscholarly. I'll include them if they're cheap and terribly entertaining, though.

Each patron will be able to borrow a maximum of 5 items. Loan periods are 7 days for DVDs and 21 days for all other items. Late fees are 25 cents per item, per day. Patrons can renew items or place hold requests in person or by phone, but an item that has been requested by another patron cannot be renewed.

The library currently occupies three shelves in my bedroom. Here's what they're looking like as of 2008 July 27:

Read How to Create a Public Library for the technical details of the library's founding.