The only new materials we have been able to buy since May have been those that appear on the NYT Bestsellers List. We have depended on donated items for much of our new stuff that doesn't appear there.

This is a real sore spot for me. There are many very good children's books that I have had to pass on, but we have copies of all of Madonna's children's books. >:p

Unfit for Command made its debut on the NYT Bestsellers List the week of 29 Aug, and was #1 on the most recent list we have received, 19 Sep. (I went back and looked.) So it was ordered the first week in September. So far, no one has given us a copy, new or used. We will have one copy when the one just ordered comes in. If our large-print subscription service picks it up, we will receive another one automatically.

Bill Clinton's autobiography topped the list for weeks and weeks, and is still there, at #3 on the 19 Sep list. We have two copies, one received automatically from our large-print subscription plan.

Our system has 3 copies so far of Unfit for Command. All of them are checked out, with 5 holds placed on the first available copy. Now that it's on the NYT list, more member libraries will get copies, because our readers ask for those religiously.

Our system has 16 copies (6 of them large print) of Bill Clinton's autobiography. All of them are checked out and there are 22 holds placed on the first available copy.

We also have biographies of all the other presidents, including George W. Bush. We haven't got Mr. Bush's autobiography, A Charge to Keep: My Journey to the White House [1999], but the system has eight copies. One has just been returned today, and the rest are on the shelf. No holds have been placed.

We currently have no copies of John Kerry's autobiography, A Call to Service [2003], either, but there are four available in the system. One is checked out, three are on the shelf, and no holds have been placed.