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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think it's selfish to not return your library books on time?

148 replies

floatinglily · 21/08/2019 10:30

I've got a reserve on a library book I'm desperate to read. The previous person is now a week overdue. AIBU to think this is selfish? If you can't return your book on time that you have borrowed for free from a public library you shouldn't have taken it in the first place. If you can't read a book in 3 weeks and are relying on being able to renew it you should blinking well buy it or just accept you'll have to finish it when it becomes available again.

OP posts:

strawberrypenguin · 21/08/2019 20:09

Ha, I work in a library and even I return books late sometimes!

There are many reasons for not getting them back in time, they might know it's late but be prepared to pay the fine to finish it, or they might have forgotten/ have something else going on.
Annoying? Definitely, but not the end of the world.

CassianAndor · 21/08/2019 20:17

Silvery not the first time you’ve shown your utter lack of charm.

And no, my sentence wasn't wrong. Go back and read the whole thing again, in context, understanding how casual colluquial speech works when someone’s telling a story.

NoHummus · 21/08/2019 20:26

If it's City of Girls and you live in a town beginning with I, then sorry OP but I'm nowhere near finished and I estimate I'll be unable to return the book for at least another two weeks. But I'll gladly pay the £1 fine to swell the Council coffers!

stayathomer · 22/08/2019 00:05

Jacqueshammer I feel like going to your library and paying the fine for you!!!

TotorosNeighbour · 22/08/2019 00:33

OP do you need it for a dissertation? Care to share the title, might be able to help with an e-book ?!

GPatz · 22/08/2019 01:39

'Of course you can read seven books in three weeks! You must be a very slow reader.'

Just rude.

Glass5Cage321 · 22/08/2019 04:11

I used to live near a library that was only open very short hours & not every day. So I missed the opening times due to working & commute. No libraries that I've been to have an out of hours drop off box. I've always paid my fines.

JacquesHammer · 22/08/2019 08:20

stayathomer

Ah that’s very sweet to say.

I should point out I could pay it, and I can and have paid fines in the past where I was a day late for whatever reason.

However in this instance I dropped some books back on the due date, the computer system wasn’t working. I left them with a member of staff (as instructed). Next time I tried to take books out - which was a few months later I discovered over £30 of fines and all the books I’d returned showing as outstanding on my account. Annoying!

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 22/08/2019 08:29

How annoying!

I think I'd make a mission out of going and finding all those "outstanding" books on the shelves and try to borrow them again!

I have a book on current loan that has not been recognised as lent out, even though I have the receipt with it listed there. Each time I try and renew it, same thing. So I check it back in and take it back out a new, all fine. just renewing it doesn't like. Weird.

JacquesHammer · 22/08/2019 08:31

I think I'd make a mission out of going and finding all those "outstanding" books on the shelves and try to borrow them again!

Good plan, I wonder if it will work?!

I did suggest that with the codes on the books they’d be able to tell I didn’t have them and they were back in the system but they didn’t have time to do it.

StitchesInTime · 22/08/2019 08:42

@JacquesHammer

If you do follow the suggestion to find the “outstanding” books and borrow them again - get a friend to try it, not you!

We had a similar thing, but with a child’s book (so luckily no issues with fines). Librarian had missed scanning one in from a big stack of returned books.
When we went back to that library a few weeks later, I found the “missing” book shelved in the children’s section.
And when I took it to the desk, the librarian was all “oh, are you sure that wasn’t just in your bag when you came in?”

It was annoying, as it had been an error on their part, but not worth getting into an argument about, as there weren’t any fines involved.

But in your scenario, you don’t want a librarian seizing on you trying to borrow these “outstanding” books as “proof” that you’ve had them at home all along!

JacquesHammer · 22/08/2019 08:43

StitchesInTime

Really good points, thank you!

Ginnymweasley · 22/08/2019 08:52

My local library is only open 3 days a week one of which is half day on a saturday. So I can see how someone could easily bring a book back late. If you were meant to return the book on Saturday but something happened making it hard for you to return the next day the library is open is tuesday. But if you work they close at lunchtime so you might not make it in, same on thursday meaning that hy the time you do return it the next Saturday the book is a week late. You can return the books to the library in the local town but if you rely on public transport it's quite expensive to get to.
I try not to sweat the small stuff, it's annoying but it's not a major hindrance and just not worth getting worked up about.

EskewedBeef · 22/08/2019 08:56

Our librarian seems gleeful when we have a fine to pay. I think she sees it as helping to keep her tiny library viable.

Having to wait is just part of borrowing from the library for free; there are no guarantees that it will always be on your terms. I have to order most of the books I borrow and it can sometimes take months to get them.

stayathomer · 22/08/2019 09:01

jacqueshammer thats a good idea, good luck with it (plays spy, Bond type music!)

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 22/08/2019 09:26

And when I took it to the desk, the librarian was all “oh, are you sure that wasn’t just in your bag when you came in?”

Easily solved! Just wear a one piece unitard and carry nothing but your library card between your teeth. Make a point of saying "hello librarian, as you can see I have nothing in my hands or about my person" when you arrive. Then the grand denouement as you lay the stack at the desk with a flourish. A "just one more thing" in the style of Columbo may add bonus flair.

(Or you could get a friend to do it, which could possibly, I suppose, be a little easier. And more dignified. )

Original poster

floatinglily · 22/08/2019 10:06

The library is open late every night (at least 8 pm, some days 10 pm) so there are ample hours for people working late. I can't afford to buy books so rely on the library but I recognise there are others waiting so I return my books on time and certainly not over a week late. I've no problem people renewing it. But it won't let you renew if someone has put a reserve on it so renewing doesn't affect anyone waiting.

OP posts:

Original poster

floatinglily · 22/08/2019 10:06

Ps I would never get angry or frustrated with a librarian, it's not their fault in the slightest.

OP posts:

Original poster

floatinglily · 22/08/2019 11:00

I took my unfinished library books away on holiday with me with the intention of renewing them online during the holiday.

Which I think is selfish. If you know you're going to be away when it is due back, why not renew just before you go?

I've got another book on reserve which, presumably due to others also reserving, isn't due to be available for a couple of months. I've no problems with that.

OP posts:

EskewedBeef · 22/08/2019 19:42

Which I think is selfish. If you know you're going to be away when it is due back, why not renew just before you go?

It makes no difference whether it's renewed before it's due date or on it. It will still be returned when it's finished.

JacquesHammer · 22/08/2019 19:44

How can you have replied to everything apart from the title of the book

maggienolia · 22/08/2019 19:59

I work in a community library so flame me now...
I have given people another week to finish a book by overriding the reservation.
I have also extended due dates to cover holidays, and renewed books over the phone without getting them back.
Sorry but the person reserving the book next would still just be no 1 on the waiting list.
It's a week , people wait months for popular titles here. And don't get me started on the scrum that is Book Club..

MarchionessOfCholmondeley · 22/08/2019 22:00

You'd hate my mother. She still has "Name Your Child" book borrowed from St Albans library in 1974.

I wonder how much of a fine she's racked up after 45 years.

I wonder how many kids in Hertfordshire have not been named as a result of my mother's selfishness

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