Libraries say, "Thanks for nothing. In fact, thanks for 430 copies of nothing"

This week the RIAA, which is comprised of some the the country's largest record labels, shipped out approximately 5.6 million CDs to public libraries throughout the country as part of an antitrust lawsuit settlement.

Sounds like a big win for the libraries, until they took a look at what they were sent. The guys in shipping and receiving at the CD warehouse must have had to wear SARS masks to keep from inhaling the layer of dust some of these titles must have been gathering.

Librarians at the Tacoma (Washington) Public Library got a shipment of 1,325 CDs that included 57 copies of “Three Mo’ Tenors,” a 2001 recording featuring classically trained African American tenors. They also received 34 copies of the Bee Gees’ “This Is Where I Came In” (2001). A computer glitch is being blamed for the problem.

Elsewhere, the public library in Worcester, Mass., with a main library and two branches, received 150 copies of “Nastradamus,” a 1999 album by the rapper Nas, and 148 copies of “Entertainment Weekly’s Greatest Hits of 1971.”

And the winner in the Department of Redundancy Department would be the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Library. Their shipment of 2,647 CDs, due to arrive in the next couple weeks, was listed as containing 430 single-song discs — 16 percent of the total -- of Whitney Houston singing “The Star Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Super Bowl.

I have an idea that could take a little of the sting out of this for the 'braries. Could everyone who reads this please call the Des Moines library and ask if they have a copy available of Whitney Houston singing the national anthem? Just a thought.
(via Boing Boing)