I'm in a bit of a dilemma

[therapist]

I'm still reading Feather Man, but admit to putting it down a few days ago and not picking it back up again. Then, I read through Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel. As I pondered returning it to the library a couple days ago, I received an e-mail message from said library informing me that I had 5 books on hold for me. ---That I placed on hold while at the library a few days ago. While there that day, I picked up the Tim Kimmel book and checked out two others (Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult and Anciet Highway by Bret Lott)....I'm only 2 pages into the Jodi Picoult book b/c reading those two pages spurred an intense desire to write down somethings that I've been trying to get on paper for over 15 years. So, today, to avoid the "didn't-pick-up-my-holds" fine, I HAD to pick up those other 5 books: (War and Peace, You're Wearing that?, Secrets of a Shoe Addict, Case Histories, and Evening is the Whole Day), which I found at B&N a few weeks ago, but didn't purchase and at the beach house my family stayed at just days after the B&N incident. Meanwhile, I'm still halfway finished with Girl, Interrupted (which I did purchase that day at B&N), but since I actually own that one I can set it aside for now as the library books have been calling to me, reminding me of their 3 week time limit in my home.

The dilemma: So many books and so little time to read them and I want to keep writing as well b/c it appears that after some 15 years on hiatus, my muse has finally come to visit!!

The causes of the dilemma: 1) Not enough cash at B&N that fateful day I found so many interesting books to read.  2) Having a moral conviction against thievery otherwise I could have smuggled those interesting books that I saw while beach-vacationing over a week ago back home with me

The source of my frustration: The library that has this horrid need for me to return books instead of letting me keep them.....the librarians have not been versed in the old adage: "it is better to give than to receive"!

Back to reading/writing

[Everyman]

Not that it helps you in the short term, but if you were to move out here, you would have librarians who are happy to let you renew books 2 times (as long as nobody else has put them on hold) for a total of nine weeks, and even then, if you're not done, you either keep them until they politely call asking you to return them because somebody else wants the book (there are no fines in our library, so no cost to doing that unless your conscience calls for you to contribute to the conscience jar), or can return them and take them out again the next day if nobody has grabbed them in the interim.

That doesn't always apply to interlibrary loan books, for which the lending library advises whether or not they allow renewals, but it's good for all the books the library owns,

But I realize it's no help in your present situation.

Too many books, too little time.  I doubt you will find very many people on these boards who aren't in the same predicament. 

[therapist]

Your library sounds wonderful! Where are you located....just in case I ever decide to base a cross-country move on the awesomeness of a library facility! Our library is not that great and one librarian is less than a people person....

[Everyman]

Our library. 

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therapist wrote:
Your library sounds wonderful! Where are you located....just in case I ever decide to base a cross-country move on the awesomeness of a library facility! Our library is not that great and one librarian is less than a people person....

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[IBIS]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0821081books1.html

The above is an interesting article about a public library in Wisconsin who felt justified to arrest a young woman because she ignored late notices for 2 books.... is this the way for public libraries to behave?

IBIS

[TiggerBear]

Reminds me of the news blub a few years back of the guy whose library summited to a judge a potion to forclose on this guys hose to collect money for the 49 years worth of late fees he acruded. He checked out a book a couple of weeks before he was shipped off for WW2. Poor guy had totaly forgotten the whole thing, until a notice that someone had submitted a requst for forclosure for debt collection showed up in his mail.

[Everyman]

That'll teach her! 

If she ignored multiple notices and court summons, my sympathy is with the library which just wanted its books back so other patrons could read them.  

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IBIS wrote:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0821081books1.html

The above is an interesting article about a public library in Wisconsin who felt justified to arrest a young woman because she ignored late notices for 2 books.... is this the way for public libraries to behave?

IBIS

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[debbook]

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Everyman wrote:

That'll teach her! 

If she ignored multiple notices and court summons, my sympathy is with the library which just wanted its books back so other patrons could read them.  

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IBIS wrote:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0821081books1.html

The above is an interesting article about a public library in Wisconsin who felt justified to arrest a young woman because she ignored late notices for 2 books.... is this the way for public libraries to behave?

IBIS

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It really amounts to stealing at some point. I know our library system suffers terrible budget cuts. They can't afford to have people not return books, b/c then they can't replace them. Her mug shot made her seem like she wasn't taking it seriously, anyway. I am surprised that she was arrested and not just issued an appearance ticket.

I have a client that was arrested for stealing a candy bar from a hospital gift shop. He said to me " it was only a lousy candy bar " to which I replied " but it wasn't yours, was it?!'

[thewanderingjew]

i agree with all of your comments, however, don't you think it is a bit of overkill to arrest someone for stealing a library book? sometimes the rules have to be bent and perhaps, rather than sending a police officer to arrest someone for overdue library books, maybe we could send someone else as a surrogate to intercede!
there are perverts out there who are treated better than that poor girl was although from her snapshot, she looked like she wasn't taking it too seriously.
that said, i was raised to believe that if you steal a penny, it is still stealing and debbook's comment goes to the heart of the matter. how do you teach that concept in a world today when everything is considered "throw away"?

twj

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debbook wrote:

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I have a client that was arrested for stealing a candy bar from a hospital gift shop. He said to me " it was only a lousy candy bar " to which I replied " but it wasn't yours, was it?!'

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[debbook]

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thewanderingjew wrote:

i agree with all of your comments, however, don't you think it is a bit of overkill to arrest someone for stealing a library book? sometimes the rules have to be bent and perhaps, rather than sending a police officer to arrest someone for overdue library books, maybe we could send someone else as a surrogate to intercede!
there are perverts out there who are treated better than that poor girl was although from her snapshot, she looked like she wasn't taking it too seriously.
that said, i was raised to believe that if you steal a penny, it is still stealing and debbook's comment goes to the heart of the matter. how do you teach that concept in a world today when everything is considered "throw away"?

twj

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debbook wrote:

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I have a client that was arrested for stealing a candy bar from a hospital gift shop. He said to me " it was only a lousy candy bar " to which I replied " but it wasn't yours, was it?!'

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It does seem extreme to arrest someone for overdue library books. But the library was probably having ongoing problems with this kind of thing and needed to resort to extreme measures. They may have sent out warnings to people with sigificant late fees and she ignored them. I'm sure that's not their standard practice.

[Everyman]

I am surprised that she was arrested and not just issued an appearance ticket.

Did you not notice that she had already been issued a court citation, and had ignored that, too?   (That's probably the equivalent of an appearance ticket in your court system.)  If you're issued a citation to show up in Court and explain yourself, and you blow that off too, what can they do except send a policeman to your door to escort you to the legal process and say "you WILL pay attention when the Court tells you to show up"?

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debbook wrote:

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Everyman wrote:

That'll teach her! 

If she ignored multiple notices and court summons, my sympathy is with the library which just wanted its books back so other patrons could read them.  

---

IBIS wrote:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0821081books1.html

The above is an interesting article about a public library in Wisconsin who felt justified to arrest a young woman because she ignored late notices for 2 books.... is this the way for public libraries to behave?

IBIS

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It really amounts to stealing at some point. I know our library system suffers terrible budget cuts. They can't afford to have people not return books, b/c then they can't replace them. Her mug shot made her seem like she wasn't taking it seriously, anyway. I am surprised that she was arrested and not just issued an appearance ticket.

I have a client that was arrested for stealing a candy bar from a hospital gift shop. He said to me " it was only a lousy candy bar " to which I replied " but it wasn't yours, was it?!'

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[debbook]

I missed that part about issuing her a citation. That explains the arrest then. I can't imagine ignoring a citation. They usually state that if you don't appear a bench warrant will be issued. Some of us have a little more respect for the law.

[wbarker]

Note to self - start returning those books ON TIME, which will save me money and keep me out of jail! 

[IBIS]

Debbook, your George Bernard Shaw quote reminded me of a funny story I once heard about George Bernard Shaw.

Sarah Bernhard, a famous actress, once jokingly told him, if they had a child together, it might be born with her good looks and his fantastic brains....

He replied, "Madam, god forbid, but the child could end up with my looks and your brains!" 

IBIS

[sierra58]

My home town, East Orange, NJ, did have the arreat for overdue books law for many, mnay years.  The library is 'free' because its paid for by our taxes, but it is also a privledge extended with the agreement that we return books. They reserve the right to revoke that privledge.

[sierra58]

its the readers dilemna! There are never enough bookcases or time to read everything we want!!