Five missing library books

[Tiramisu]

Am I the only one this happens to?

 

I have taken my house apart room by room, emptied shelves and moved furniture. I have checked the car. Where could they be?

 

We have a designated library shelf. They are kids pulp fiction borrowed by one child who had been warned. I did find one old borrowed and paid for library book shoved in the back of drawers of an unused kid's desk.  :glare:

[Tiramisu]

I just realized they could be in dd's locker at school. The last time I saw one of them was a few days ago in her back pack.

 

In the meanwhile, I found another old library item, a Snoopy DVD from many years ago smashed into a hidden corner of the couch under the cushions, a little place I didn't know existed. I also found several rulers, a protractor, a calculator, and numerous erasers, pencils, and pens hidden down there. It was a little scary reaching in. 

[Lara in Colo]

My library is very cool about this sort of stuff and will put it on a different part of my account so I stop building fines while I look for the book-- they also have a "you said you turned in-- we believe you " policy .  So far we have only had to but three books (one the puppy ate) all the rest we have found and given back-- sometimes a month later.

 

The best thing I have found it to just suck it up and clean the house with a fine tooth comb-- they usually turn up (somewhere in the toys)

 

[Trilliums]

I can't help but think the books were involved in a reenactment of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

[Tiramisu]

I can't help but think the books were involved in a reenactment of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

 

That would not be out of the realm of possibility knowing the parties involved.

[VeganCupcake]

We had two go missing recently which were found in one of DD's backpacks (she has two. That is my first mistake).

[Canadianmumof5]

Not 5 books but i just found a Fodor's travel book on Rome that we had borrowed from the library right before our honeymoon - in 1999!!!!!! I am too chicken to bring it back. May have to make DH do that LOL

[DawnM]

Just put it in the drop box.  They may assume someone found it.

 

Or better yet, get a 2014 copy of the book and make a donation to the library.

 

Dawn

 

 

Not 5 books but i just found a Fodor's travel book on Rome that we had borrowed from the library right before our honeymoon - in 1999!!!!!! I am too chicken to bring it back. May have to make DH do that LOL

 

[G5052]

I've been there, but always with singles.  

 

One turned up a month later behind a desk.  We got a partial refund.

 

One was under a seat in the car, and thankfully I saw it when I was headed in with a stack of books to tell them that we had lost it.  So only the late fee.

 

Another I was just SURE I had returned, and they believed me.  It turned up a year later when I was moving things around in the basement. I think that it was brought down there when we had a tornado warning, but I wasn't sure.  I took it by and told them the story, and of course they were appreciative.

 

And another that we have never, ever found.  Even when we took all of the furniture out of rooms to paint.  My guess is that it got into the trash.

 

In a way it is easier now that mine only check out a book or two when we go, and they're thicker, larger books.

[Canadianmumof5]

Just put it in the drop box. They may assume someone found it.

Or better yet, get a 2014 copy of the book and make a donation to the library.

Dawn

What a fabulous idea! I am going to order it right now! Thank you so much :).

[El...]

I found one once under the couch, but it took me a week to find it because it got hung up on the rails underneath so when I slid the couch it moved with it.  I had to rock the couch backward to see it.  Good luck!  I hope they are in the locker.

[readwithem]

I've found several "lost" library items under the seats in my car, even after we've searched several times.  Something about moving the seat all the way forward and backwards does the trick  :huh:

[mmeblue]

We paid for three BOB books that I assumed the toddler had thrown in a trash can.  That was when BOB books became banned books at our house (along with any other books that small).  When we moved, we found them behind the entertainment center.  But the ban remains in effect.

[umsami]

Yes, and our library gives us the option to replace them with a new book or good condition used book.  So, usually, right after I order from Amazon, I find it.   I know I always checked where it turned up….but it wasn't there before.  Seriously. :)

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Five at once, no, but I just ordered a book from Amazon that I apparently checked out in....December???? There comes a point at which the fines surpass the cover price, so the library gets a new book from us. It's only gone to that extreme twice, and only after I've checked the library's shelves for possible mistakes. As for regular fines, those are just the cost of doing business as one of the system's super-users.

[alisoncooks]

Have never lost a library book... but I did buy my daughter a book recently.  It arrived from Amazon on Day 1, and by Day 3 we could find it NO WHERE.  I searched this house up and down (and it's a tiny house).  We even have contacted the library (because we had checked out several books from the same author and returned them shortly after) but it never showed up.

 

I finally ended up re-ordering it yesterday.  That first book has disappeared.

(I'm kinda thinking the library "acquired" it since it was one not in their collection.... hmmm....)

[Loowit]

Usually ours are found on my DS's bed or mixed in with our regular books.  Once we found one months later behind a couch when I was rearranging the furniture.  Our library will refund the money paid for the book if you keep the receipt, so we got our money back.  They have been really good the suspend fines when we are looking for a book.  Next week we have to send all of our books back so I am going to start looking early.  DH got a job closer to home so he won't be out of town all week, but it means a completely different library system.

[Gil]

Check under your car seats! Perhaps they never made it into the house.

 

[LostSurprise]

Around here there are 2 kinds of lost library books.

 

A. Lost, but if I tear apart the whole house, make everyone clean their rooms, look behind, under, in, and on top of every piece of furniture we own I will find it. Time lost: 2 weeks. 

 

B. Lost, and somehow hidden by evil fairies. I will tear my life apart for over a month trying to find them. If I ever find them it will be years later and they will be...in a box in the basement that we moved here but never unpacked, under the seat on the riding lawn mower, inside a zipped or sewn up couch cushions...I am not making this up. 

[gaillardia]

I'm sure this isn't your case, but in our case we were once told that we were missing four or five books, still overdue. I was puzzled and went to the library to where each of those particular books belong on shelves, and there they were, on the library's shelves. It all worked out.

[Miss Tick]

One of my last resort spots to check is between their bed and the wall. We bought one once that I later found back there, resting on the baseboard so I couldn't see it when I looked under.

[Beth S]

I pay the kids $1 finders fee, which gets them all looking hard for it. 
Did someone actually READ them?  In bed, in the backyard fort?

 

And I agree with calling the library, to see if they just didn't check it in correctly.

Try to renew it, or don't panic about the fines--ours only charges 10 or 25 cents per day.

 

And your replacement fine really does support the library.  :)

[Kareni]

 

 

And your replacement fine really does support the library.  :)

 

Sadly, that's not always true.  In my city, the money the library takes in for fines and lost books goes directly into the city fund.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[reign]

The libraries near us have reshelved books without checking them in repeatedly. I'd check the library first.

Once a librarian let me know that I had 6 over due books. I was surprised because I though I had turned everything in. I found 3 of the books reshelved. The library credited me for one of the missing books that was from their branch. The other two had been taken out from inter library loan. I had to drive to the other library and pay for the books. Eventually I found one of them! Hidden under a bed in a storage box. Where the others went I'll never know.

[kiwik]

All.the.time. Luckily I get a full credit when they turn up which is used to pay constant overdue fines.

[mom@shiloh]

I once found three or four "missing" library books in an empty cooler.  The cooler was in storage for the winter since we don't do a lot of picnics when it's below freezing.  My kids had used the cooler to make a fort and I didn't find them until months later.  

[Kathryn]

We currently have a lost book we are running out of renewals for. I wish our library let us replace it as it'd be half the cost of their replacement charge. DS was reading it on his bed when I came in and told him to make his bed. It hasn't been seen since. We have torn the room apart and can't find it anywhere. It's very strange.

[Seasider]

Ours almost always turn up given enough time and searching.

When this starts happening regularly (misplaced books), I start limiting the number of books allowed. It means more frequent library trips but kiddo takes care of fewer better in the hopes the limit will be raised again. But the library for us is very close, this would be a harder strategy if we couldn't go there frequently.

[skimomma]

I'll repeat what others have said.  Check the shelves in the library!  We check out about 30 books a week and have never lost one (shockingly) but have had them show up as "overdue" many times.  Each time, I have found it on the shelf.  I would say this has happened at least 20 times over 10 years.  One would think they would check the shelves before scolding.  

[Χά�ων]

I agree with checking the shelves. One of the branches here is HORRID about scanning books in. I think one of their scanners is broken because not only has that branch lost my books but books from other friends.

[RebeccaS]

I found a missing book (stupid Ninjago reader that I PAID to replace) between a mattress and the slats when we rearranged a bedroom.  Surprisingly enough, no one knows how it got there...  Oh and no, once you pay for a children's book, my library will not refund your money.  Even if you bring it the very next day.  But, you can donate it back if you want to...

[JFSinIL]

In the past I have found books i was sure I'd returned either stuck down the side of a chair, wedged between the cushion and seat, and under the front seat of the  car (it had slipped out of the book bag.)  Both were MY books, too. ;-)

[KungFuPanda]

Does your library have a Lost List? Items can go on the list, without fines continuing to accumulate, for a set period of time. The few times I've used this option, the books were found in the library and disappeared from the list. Sometimes they just miss a few when they scan in piles of book-drop books.