The Plymouth Public Library, with an annual collection budget of $19,000 is struggling to provide the community with an up-to-date collection. Jonah Aben, the director, has been weeding since he started a year ago, concerned about the very dated books on the shelves.
Consider, for example, the foul-ups that might have occurred if someone checked out “New Ways in First Aid� but neglected to notice its publication date. The guidebook was printed in 1971 – nearly 35 years ago.
Aben’s growing scrap pile also contains “So You Want to Be a Nurse� from 1961, “Managing the Young Adults� from 1967, and the comparatively recent “Windows 95 for Dummies.�
In addition to raising funds through book sales, the library has made a “wish list” of most-needed items available to the public.
Not much has changed in first aid books
I think first aid is about the same… at least first aid you can learn from a book.
1) Don’t move injured people unless you absolutely must – like to keep them from burining up.
2) If they can make noises they are not choking leave them alone.
3) Bleeding: DEPT – direct pressure, elevation, pressure point, tourniquet in that order with T only if person has lost consciousness.
4) Nothing by mouth
5) If it swells ice it 20 minutes out of the hour.
That said 19K for collection development really sucks. Even if we get 40ish percent off books that really sucks. I work at a smallish library with an annual budget of just under 1MM with about half that for personnel (salary, insurance, etc). The adult services budget is only about 55K for materials for ref and circ collections including non-book stuff. I find it tough not to exceed that.
Oh, take a CPR class you really can’t learn that from a book and it has changed in 35 years.
Actually…
Not true.
I met a guy who broke his neck (didn’t know it at the time) in a hang-glider accident. He was laying on the ground with his head lower than his body. They raised him up (at his request), and rotated him around so his head was uphill… it cut off his breathing and everything else. With his last breath he said, “turn me back around” and they did, pulling his throat/vertebrate back apart and letting him breathe.
So noise is not a good indicator.
You can be drowning in blood from internal injuries and still be making noises…
— Ender, Duke_of_URL
Re:Actually…
Um… you skipped # 1. Don’t move injured people.
Bleeding is way down on the priority list. Breathing is #1. If you’re not breathing, the bleeding is not really a concern. Especially after a few minutes.
Not that bleeding is not a concern, but it stops eventually…