Audiophile/technophobe

There's nothing quite like having a rather strange 50-ish year-old audiophile/technophobe as a patron. This guy has come in three times now (maybe four?) and he only wants records. Every time he comes in, we have an interesting conversation (sigh) about how he doesn't trust the CD format. How there's something about it he doesn't like and how it's "suspicious."

Just now he said that he thinks the young people of today are being brainwashed. "At IU, they [i.e. students] never go into the library stacks anymore. They sit at the computers instead. They're being brainwashed and they're missing out on a lot of good stuff." Never mind the fact that most libraries now have incredible collections of scholarly journals online in full text, which often replace paper journals in the collection. And since journals are one of the big cornerstones of research, it's no wonder students sit at computers in a library. [insert eye rolling here] He seemed so disgusted when I said that I can look up anything in our collection on the computer. Wow.

After putting his stuff in the listening room, he came back out and told me that I need to sit down and compare the CD and LP formats in terms of how they sound: "I guarantee you'll find the compact disc format inferior. Even with the snaps and pops on an LP." Wheeeee! I love it!

The other day he told me that they don't play any music with "sharp musical tones" on the radio anymore. He went on to explain, "You never hear any brass...or even a tambourine." Hmmm....I'm still not quite sure what he meant...if he was talking about pop or classical radio stations.

To complete the picture, when this man listens, he locks the listening room door, turns off the light, rearranges all the equipment, puts the headphones on and then pulls his black ski cap on OVER the headphones. His head will disappear from my sight for long periods of time. Today he had a notebook with very neat rows of print in black ink and a library book that he was reading. Quite a character.

This guy is so the most entertaining patron ever. I totally can't wait for him to come back (even though he scares me a little bit).

p.s. He pronounces the "th" in Beethoven.