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[dampscribbler]

This has me very upset.

I returned a book to Central Library on Saturday. Actually, I returned two: "At the Bottom of the Garden," by Diane Purkiss, and "Kingdoms of Elfin," by Sylvia Townsend Warner. They're both books about fairies and fairy tales, books that I checked out many months ago and then didn't read much. I decided to return them with a bit of reluctance -- I thought (as I often do) "I'll probably have time to get to them soon." But they were collecting dust, and God knows I have enough dust collectors in this house, so I took them back. Unfortunately, only "At the Bottom of the Garden" was marked returned by the library. I called to let them know I had also returned "Kingdoms of Elfin," and now when you search for it it's listed as "Claimed Returned." How is it I can return two books at the same instant and in the same place, and one gets credited and one gets lost? If I had suspected it would get lost, I would have just kept it. Now I'm afraid to return any more books, unless I hand them to the librarian.

It's so wrong for books to get lost. I feel a bit sad about it.

Comments

[mousey1013.livejournal.com]

i hope nobody wants that book soon. wouldn't that be awful? especially if they'd been looking for it for a long time, and nobody else had it, and they finally found that this library had it -- only to discover that it had mysteriously disappeared from the library itself. very sad.

on a different book note, i helped a woman and her son with their book selection a few days ago. he picked up the first two artemis fowl books, but the third wasn't in paperback, so his mom said he'd have to wait for it. so he decided he'd read the other books he was getting first, so he wouldn't have to wait long. his mom laughed a bit, like he'd said something ridiculous, but i told him i totally agreed -- i'd look up the publishing date for the artemis fowl book and see how long he'd have to wait. because i hate reading the first book in a series, only to discover that the next won't be out for a year or something. and his mother absolutely couldn't believe it -- she was like, "really? you really do that? how funny!"

i didn't think it was all that funny. is it funny? (if anyone will tell me, you will :-) )

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think it's funny, and I can't really guess why she thought it was funny. Maybe she just didn't think it was important? I see that he won't have to wait too long, though -- looks like it's due out next month?

As for the library book, I can't help but think along the same lines as you. The book is out of print now (although there are cheap copies on Amazon used books) and it was the only copy in the library system. I hope it turns up. I also can't help but wonder if some less-than-honest library employee or volunteer walked off with it. I'm suspicious, that way.