topic Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!! in Book Club

Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 21:37:57 GMT

I have scoured the internet searching for updated library sized dictionaries to purchase for work. I work in a prison and finding dictionaries that are large enough to not be smuggled out of the classroom in someone's pants or shirt are hard to find. We want to purchase the giant library dictionaries of old, but finding modern ones are hard, as dictionaries are all online now. You can find them on ebay, but they are old, and we need modern ones. We aren't allowed internet, so dictionaries are like gold to inmates. Is there a bibliophile out there that knows what their proper name is or where to get one/several or an ISBN of one or a vendor (not the big A, I've been all over it)?

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

forest4thetrees — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 21:49:26 GMT

Well I'm not sure how "big" you're looking to find, but the "A" has 546 hardcover (which would be large and hard to hide) types of Webster's.............

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 21:55:24 GMT

@forest4thetrees Thanks, but 546 pages is nowhere near big enough. We had an 8 inch thick one disappear from the classrooms from the other order they placed before I got there. Each room had one, but they disappeared. Classrooms can be a bit chaotic when packing up at the end of a period, so finding the dictionary smuggler is difficult, plus, most of our staff are retired teachers (one is 80). I've now been given the task, so I'm going big, real big 20K+ pages is what I'm after.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

MezzieStarr — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 21:58:03 GMT

May I ask why prisoners are stealing dictionaries? I have a friend who works in a prison. That have internet there. Prisoners even get to email their families. Crazy.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:02:37 GMT

We are a state that doesn't allow internet. They can only email their families from a kiosk that is only that function, nothing else. We teach them the skills they need to pass the GED, so dictionaries are standard classroom supplies. Dictionaries are hot items for them to steal, as inmates are avid readers because they have very little else to do. You should see the books in their cells and how many go missing from the library.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

hummermom — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:04:19 GMT

The really big dictionary you're looking for is the Webster's New International Unabridged, which is 3,210 pages. But the latest edition I could find is 1949.

Have you considered the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (hardbound), 11th or 12th edition? It is 1,622 pages and much more recent.

Another option might be to contact a large public library and ask for advice. I've found that librarians in general are very helpful and more than willing to help with unusual requests.

Hope this helps!

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:04:28 GMT

I should add that they may look up words and use them, but often use them incorrectly though they do try to use them. Jail house lawyers are proof of that.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

MezzieStarr — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:08:03 GMT

Tough job you have there. I commend you for it.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:10:29 GMT

@hummermom Thanks. I will do that when I get a chance to hit up the local library, though it is not large because we are in rural Georgia. I've just started this task. The Merriam-Webster's ones aren't that thick. I've got an American Heritage one that is 2,069 pages. That is the largest I could find on the big A. I have one from 2009 that large, so we may end up with it, and will deal with the staff not keeping up with their supplies thing too! I'm really trying to make it next to impossible so we can actually get use of the darned thing. We tend to have the inmates/students look up words they don't know instead of telling them. Remember, these inmates don't have an education, mostly past 6th or 7th grade, and many whose families don't have high school diplomas or GEDs.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:12:31 GMT

@MezzieStarr Thanks! I like it much more than public school. None of the politics, so I can just teach. The inmates are usually very well behaved because we can kick them out and ban them from education. They have to then seek transfer to another institution to start again. They know they are at the end of their rope, especially if they have to have a GED to get parole!

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

hummermom — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:17:01 GMT

@Tigriss Here's the link to contact the New York Public Library on line:

https://www.nypl.org/get-help

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

sidsmom — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:18:49 GMT

Half Price Books, based here in Dallas,

is a HUGE resell/2nd hand bookstore in DFW & the entire state.

If you go to their website, by the same name,

there's a Customer Care # to call.

Maybe they have something which could be shipped.

HTH!

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

software — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:26:30 GMT

Talk to the librarian at a local college.

@Tigriss wrote:
I have scoured the internet searching for updated library sized dictionaries to purchase for work. I work in a prison and finding dictionaries that are large enough to not be smuggled out of the classroom in someone's pants or shirt are hard to find. We want to purchase the giant library dictionaries of old, but finding modern ones are hard, as dictionaries are all online now. You can find them on ebay, but they are old, and we need modern ones. We aren't allowed internet, so dictionaries are like gold to inmates. Is there a bibliophile out there that knows what their proper name is or where to get one/several or an ISBN of one or a vendor (not the big A, I've been all over it)?

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:28:44 GMT

@hummermom Thanks! I'll put in the same email I did to betterworldbooks. Hopefully them and the libraries I've emailed and the library supply companies will produce something, but I'm getting a sinking feeling that companies don't publish them any more due to their cost and the internet.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:29:17 GMT

@sidsmom I'll contact them like I did betterworldbooks. Hopefully, one of them will have an answer.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 22:29:51 GMT

@software We do have a local community college. I'll call them tomorrow to see if their librarian knows anything. Great idea!

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Goldengate8361 — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 23:14:23 GMT

Amazon.

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

Tigriss — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 23:22:10 GMT

@Goldengate8361 Typing in dictionary in Amazon gets you lots of different responses but none are the giant 10 in+ thick dictionaries you find in the library. The ones that weigh 10+ pounds. Those are what we are after. Thanks again!

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

jackthebear — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 23:24:03 GMT

@Tigriss wrote:
I have scoured the internet searching for updated library sized dictionaries to purchase for work. I work in a prison and finding dictionaries that are large enough to not be smuggled out of the classroom in someone's pants or shirt are hard to find. We want to purchase the giant library dictionaries of old, but finding modern ones are hard, as dictionaries are all online now. You can find them on ebay, but they are old, and we need modern ones. We aren't allowed internet, so dictionaries are like gold to inmates. Is there a bibliophile out there that knows what their proper name is or where to get one/several or an ISBN of one or a vendor (not the big A, I've been all over it)?

how active are you on social media? that can get you lots of help.

Our town has a Facebook Page where people ask for and exchange information, is this something that is available to you?

A senior service project in high school? Eagle scouts ?

they could provide dictionaries for many inmates

Re: Help..in need of library sized dictionaries!!!

LTT1 — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 23:57:20 GMT

@Tigriss

Are you in Texas, by any chance? I have a few sources, which I will check anyway.

The cost of mailing large heavy books... is that a problem or is it covered?

I'd like for them to have as many books as possible. Reading could be the key to a successful future for them?