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# QOTD: small books
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/qotd-small-books/
- Published: 2009-08-06T13:27:19.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-28T09:14:00.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Books, Systems

From [Larry McMurtry’](https://www.worldcat.org/wcidentities/lccn-n79-27185?ref=lorcandempsey.net)s reminiscences as a bookseller: *[Books: a memoir](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/213408552?ref=lorcandempsey.net)*.

> At Booked Up one of our favorite eccentrics was a gentleman we called the “little book” man.

> Once or twice a year this customer would show up at the shop with a ruler and work his way around the main room, measuring the books.

> He was not cheap in the least, and seemed to have no exact height limit. Every time he showed up he spent $2,000 at least, and often more. He never said much – indeed, I can’t recall him sayinganything. But he always went away carrying a box of short books. \[[Books: a memoir](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/213408552?ref=lorcandempsey.net), p 138\]

I mentioned this to Thom Hickey yesterday in the context of an ongoing conversation about bibliographic data and the size of books.  
The dimensions of a book are an important piece of metadata for some; if you are shipping books it is useful to know in advance what size they are. It also provides an example of how requirements can change over time. I was talking to somebody involved in an offsite storage facility a while ago where they had to measure incoming books who said that it would be so nice if they consistently knew the heights of the books from the metadata.  
I wonder what they guy wanted the short books for 😉