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Check this out: Maine libraries are missing a lot of books, and unsurprisingly, the librarians would like them back.
We’re not about to call in Lt. Joe Bookman, the fictional “library cop” from Seinfeld tasked with investigating overdue books, but we will join local libraries in calling for people to please return those overdue books — no matter how past-due they are.
“My message always when it comes to people holding our materials for too long is ‘Please return them so others can enjoy them,’” Director Lisa Ladd of Buck Memorial Library in Bucksport told BDN reporter Marie Weidmayer recently. “If I don’t have the book that means someone else is being denied the use of the material.”
That message should be enough to convince people to return any overdue books. Holding on to library materials doesn’t just impact the library, it impacts our friends and neighbors.
If you’re worried about late fees, you might feel better knowing that most of the libraries in the Greater Bangor area no longer charging them. That matches a trend elsewhere in Maine and around the country, where libraries are ditching the fees in an attempt to make their materials more equitable and accessible.
And if you’re thinking that this approach to late fees discourages accountability and could be the culprit when it comes to the large stack of missing items, experiences elsewhere would seem to tell a different story. New York City libraries saw a wave of returns after late fees were ended there, for example, and libraries in Ontario, Canada said they saw more people returning books on time even after late fees had been ended.
We all can hold ourselves accountable, with or without late fees, by remembering that librarians and other patrons are relying on us to return books, movies and other materials on time. People shouldn’t need the threat of a monetary penalty to do the right thing.
So rather than reversing course on waiving late fees, we think it would be better to spread the word and make sure people know that many libraries have in fact waived those fees. We also encourage people to double check that they haven’t forgotten to return books somewhere in the ever-shuffling chapters of life. And if they have, we hope that they will do the right thing and return them.
Kelly Brooks, the Orrington Public Library director, said a woman recently returned books that had been overdue for 35 years, after she found them in the back of a closet while cleaning.
“Never be ashamed to bring back library books,” Brooks said.
We usually associate libraries with being quiet, but in this case, we can’t be loud enough: If you have overdue library books or other materials, please return them so that others can enjoy them, too.
