The Observation Deck

I guess times have changed, but when I grew up one simply didn't write in a book, unless it was one's own book. Today it appears to be common to read with a highlighter in your hand, and mark the significant passages. I once bought a used textbook to save money, and noticed that the previous owner had highlighted things that were not germane, and had entered notes that pretty well proved that they didn't understand the subject; I wondered why he had sold the book, since he apparently lacked the knowledge to pass the course and would have to repeat it, but perhaps he just flunked out. My point here is that it is apparently common now to write in books, even library books.

I read a decent number of fiction books from the Library, and in the past few years I have found more and more of them that some wanna-be editor has vandalized, often with comments critical of the writing, or correction of what they view as errors. I leave a note in the book when I return it pointing out the vandalism, but I'm not sure what, if anything, they do about it. Today I found a book where the comments in the margin had been whited out, but there isn't much they can do to the comments in the text. I think whiting out these comments is not a very productive use of a librarian's time, nor skill.

I was talking to my wife about this, which she has also experienced, and we wondered why, since they have records that enable them to come after us when we don't timely return a book, they couldn't use that same capacity to see who were the last ten people, for example, who charged out that book, and possibly identify those who had charged out multiple vandalized books, and have them investigated and prosecuted. I'm not asking that they do jail time, but they could certainly be fined enough that the library could buy clean books, and perhaps have their own privileges suspended and be publicly pilloried.

Will,

So you check out books so you can read the notes?

Will:

We make the effort to catch the vandal and demand payment. Such vandals are sometimes psychologically challenged, needless to say.

There was a man, almost two years ago, who routinely inscribed notes in fiction books, which I traced, gathering more than twenty up in my office and demanded payment or prosecution.

Last year we caught and prosecuted an individual who inscribed various unsuitable remarks in a high school year book.

It is a problem, to be sure. But it is not a problem I ignore.

Kenneth Warren
Director
Lakewood Public Library

Heck, I'm impressed that they are highlighting and offering critical analysis.

When I was a kid in Cleveland, folks just wrote dirty words and drew dirty pictures into library books. Apparently Lakewood has a better class of vandals.

Check out the following link for more on the subject:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zePQavforA