Tuesday, April 10, 2007

April 10, 2007 - Avaiable


As librarians, we strive to make our records and materials as available to patrons as possible. Unfortunately, the word available itself often isn't. Quite a few variants on this typo can be found on the Ballard list, ranging from high to low probability: Avaiab*, Aviala*, Avilab*, Avaib*, Availabli, Availble, Avalable, and Availible. (Note, however, that in the case of one Avialae, no longer available in the animal kingdom, we're not looking at a typo, but rather at a dino, or even more impressively, a "feathered dragon.") This plethora may be due to uncertainty over the correct spelling as well as the miskeying that sometimes occurs in words that contain multiples of the same letter. I found 62 of these in my own library’s catalog, so you might want to check out yours as well. Void where prohibited. Subject to availability.

Carol Reid

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