What to Do If You Lose A Library Book
A Very, Very True Story
On the fourth of July, I took a book with me to see a forgettable movie with my father at The Grove. I left it in the chair in the movie. I went back the next day to the lost and found. It was not there. I never did find the book. But I didn’t pay a penny for losing it. Read after the jump for what I did, and what you could do to improve your chances.
Use Your Library Online
Both of my local libraries are great for online integration. But the LA County library is pretty au courant.
- renew your book online
- find copies on eBay and other booksellers (this is your backup plan)
- keep renewing your book
- repeat steps 1-3 as often as necessary
- hope for the best
I followed the steps. And I found out just today that LAPL doesn’t list the book as signed out anymore. A miracle? Perhaps. I believe an honest person — who felt like reading the book — read the book and returned it when she was done. She returned it. Two months later. And I didn’t pay a haypenny in fines.
If you don’t luck out
It doesn’t happen every time. I took out the Bridget Jones Diary a few summers ago. From the same library. I think I lost it on a trip out of town. Sadly, there was no freebie in that story.
However, I found the book on Abe Books for about $6 in hard cover, including shipping. I approached the librarian cashier when I had run out of renewals with the pristine copy of the book I’d ordered online. I was able to talk the cashier into accepting the book as a replacement, avoiding a stocking fee from the library, in addition to the full hard cover price.
Librarians often prefer this, particularly for in-demand and rare books because they can fill the empty spot on the shelves with the same book, whereas the fees and fines for replacement may result in a completely different book.
Ready to Read Again
And what was the book, you may ask?
Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn. She did a great job with another series. This one, I’m still warming up to.
I think I’ll go online now and reserve another copy.
I'm a writer and composer. On this blog I focus on cultural topics. I'm sort of fascinated by billboards and advertising and cool television shows and speculative fiction. Sometimes I blog about politics and civil rights cases.
