This essay explores some of the conflicts faced by the author, a liaison with book-selection responsibilities to a university English Department. These conflicts include: trying to fill gaps missed by profiles set up with our book vendor; trying to achieve a reasonable balance between canonical and non-canonical texts; between primary texts and the secondary works interpreting these texts; between works that might become classic versus those that are truly ephemeral; between controversial pornography and less controversial or non-controversial erotica; and between hypertext fiction and traditional print resources.