My Local Librarians Rock!
Here’s a classic case of Murphy’s Law. I gave a book up for lost a few weeks ago. I absolutely could not find it after the librarians offered me three extra renewals and plenty of time to hunt for it. They’ve been very nice about it. I decided I left it on one of the many trips I took this spring and convinced a librarian to let me pay for it about two weeks ago. This weekend, I found it in, well, some place I never would have thought to look for it (or else I would have found it earlier, right?). I took it up to the library tonight just in case they would let me return it and get my money back. I was prepared to give the book to one of three people who could use it because I expected the librarians to not take it back. I didn’t even have to explain to the man it would be in his best interest to take it back right now because no one had reordered it yet, it’s still in the system, it’s already barcoded and marked appropriately, and it’s completely ready for circulation because he was already thinking that himself.
I feel so much better having found and returned the book. Losing it baffled me and made me feel guilty. I try hard to take care of library materials.
August 10th, 2004 at 9:46 am
Would an RFID tag and reader locked to identify only the books of that library have helped you to find it?
August 10th, 2004 at 11:38 am
Perhaps, but I’m not sure I like the idea of RFID stuff yet.
It would really depend on how close I needed to be to the book before I would have been able to pick up its signal. I wouldn’t have even gotten a few feet away from it with the reader because I hadn’t thought it was where it was. If I don’t know where something is, I’m not sure where to go to look for it.