Grumble, fume! Why do people think it's okay to TAKE library books!?

[Doran]

I get so frustrated with missing books! Not sure how all library systems work, but ours will often "declare a book lost" and never replace it...or forget that they need to replace it. And, I have the feeling they also forget that they need to charge the person who lost it, or her what took it, or him what pretended to lose it so him could take it.

 

The nerve of these people, pilfering books that I want to read! :glare:

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

Well, don't sue me, last week I accidentally (honest) walked out with a book that I hadn't checked out.

 

But I made sure I returned it after I read it. :D

 

 

Seriously, I hate it when books are listed as "missing." Especially when it is the only copy the library has.

[Kathleen in VA]

I found a beautiful children's picture book - Burt Dow, Deep Water Man by Robert McCloskey at my local Goodwill store. I bought it for 50¢ and when I got home I realized it was a library book. We own a lot of discarded library books so when I saw the library pocket, I just supposed this was a discard, but noooo. Someone had donated a library book to the Goodwill!!

 

I took it to the librarian and showed her. She looked it up in the computer and saw that it was filed under "lost" and said just to keep it. I was flabbergasted. This book looked brand new and she didn't want it back. This was one of the tried and true librarians there, too, not some college kid on break or something.

 

She took a sharpie and marked out the barcode on the back of the book and told me to take it home.:confused:

[readwithem]

When we lived in Houston, I helped the library update their system all the time. I would put a book on reserve, only to find out (weeks or months later, when I bothered to check my "holds" as I never got an update) the book had subsequently been deemed MISSING. They should put me on the payroll.:glare:

[Jen500]

I've returned books to our library that have ended up back on the shelf, but not marked as returned on my account. I have to go find the book on the shelf and show them. Once I returned a book and it got moved to another branch library, and put on their shelves. Luckily I figured it out and a librarian there found it and sent it back to the right branch.

[Rhonda in TX]

I love to get audio books from the library, but we've had a terrible time with deep scratches on the CDs. Tapes can be a problem, too, but I understand that they wear out over time. I wish people would take care of things they borrow.

[Storm Bay]

Aggravating, to be sure. Our new problem is that where the returns go in the Children's Room is not secure, and a couple of books we KNOW we returned are missing--even a shelf check didn't turn them up. We have to pay for them. From now on, we return all our books to the secure bin outside.

[FO4UR]

I have two books that I returned that show as still out:confused:

 

It irks me b/c one I gave TO the librarian!:001_huh: We don't have the $ to just pay for books we didn't lose!

 

.....there must be a library book monster:glare:

[ticklbee]

I have a fairly large library here, and can't find books all the time. I think a large part of it is books simply being put back where they don't belong.

 

So many times as I'm looking for books I will see books misfiled. My library does it's best but patrons can be so lazy and shove books anywhere. When a book is misfiled, it's really hard to track it down. This seems to be worse in the children's section then in the adults.

[Country Mouse]

The company that my dad works for is responsible for recovering the charges for books taken out and not returned. They are like a collection agency for library fees!

I am always so frustrated when I need/want a book that is deemed LOST but then I think - "Dad'll get em!" :001_smile:

[Kathleen in VA]

I have a fairly large library here, and can't find books all the time. I think a large part of it is books simply being put back where they don't belong.

 

So many times as I'm looking for books I will see books misfiled. My library does it's best but patrons can be so lazy and shove books anywhere. When a book is misfiled, it's really hard to track it down. This seems to be worse in the children's section then in the adults.

 

I have worked in two libraries and was always encouraged at both to ask the patrons to leave any books they had been looking at, but did not want to check out, sitting out on a table. Once a book has been put back on the shelf out of order it is nigh unto impossible to locate it again. One of my more exciting tasks as a library "page" was to scan the shelves for misplaced books ;).

 

Today I found a child's book about Stonewall Jackson on the shelf with the adult books on SJ. I wouldn't have realized it, except the author was Jean Fritz and I knew she was a children's author, for the most part. The label on the spine did not indicate it was a juvenile book, but the pencilled-in markings on the copyright page did. When I showed it to the children's librarian she thanked me and said that it had been labeled incorrectly and would be relabeled.

 

In a highly organized system such as a library, it is very easy for things to get out of order by careless handling. Just a symptom of being run by humans, I guess :).

[Caroline]

From someone who has found it cheaper to buy books than use the library...

 

Wasn't this a Seinfeld episode? Didn't George have East of Eden for years and years?

 

Now back to your regular library thread.

[mom31257]

Maybe they are selling them! I heard about this story of someone selling them online:

 

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38340/117/

[Peek a Boo]

ack!

or maybe they are like me -- they really did lose it, and not only did they lose it, it was a book they Really Wanted to consult and now that my library doesn't have it [cuz some stupid patron who happens to also be on the LIBRARY BOARD lost it] I now have to BUY it TWICE!!

Not only pay for a missing book from the library [which costs more than buying it new cuz you gotta pay for the library cover and all that], i also have to buy it for ME!! cuz I want it NOW, not "whenever the library gets around to replacing it" :banghead:

 

 

yup.

 

i'm another one of those who finds it cheaper to buy books than check them out. :blink:

 

triple digit fines, lost books, ....gah.

:leaving:

[gardenschooler]

Because they're dirty rotten thieves that should be skinned alive!! THere should be a library-book repo man knocking on their door!

[dangermom]

It's depressing, but people steal books. (Especially books on the occult, wicca, sex, and astrology. Sometimes that's teens who want free books, and sometimes it's people who have religious objections to certain topics, but no moral objections to stealing.) I was quite sad last year to find that SWB's new book on ancient history had been stolen after only one checkout. There isn't always enough money to replace stolen books.

 

Don't assume, btw, that it's the person who last checked it out that stole it. People manage to steal from libraries without checking out, despite security systems.

 

People also steal DVDs all the time from my library, even though all our DVDs are donations and not exactly new, desirable movies. Now we keep the discs behind the desk, but some still disappear.

[Melissa in Australia]

The company that my dad works for is responsible for recovering the charges for books taken out and not returned. They are like a collection agency for library fees!

I am always so frustrated when I need/want a book that is deemed LOST but then I think - "Dad'll get em!" :001_smile:

:lol::lol::lol::lol: