# How terrible is it to "dog ear" library books? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 26, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004 "2006-10-26T17:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/41 "2006-10-27T04:01:17Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] ahem… **Burn the witch!** That better? 😛 [/QUOTE] Probably not. While it is heartening to see such unanimity of opinion on the SDMB (where, typically, any two members have a minimum of three _conflicting_ opinions), and, while I have to confess to getting this pile-on started, I would certainly hope that we are not actually planning to burn anyone. She confessed to mutilating (in a minor way) books, not children or even kittens. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/42 "2006-10-27T07:03:01Z")
:eek: Okay. I’m really, really, really sorry for ever doing this and will never do it again. Cross my heart. I hope everyone doesn’t completely hate me; I’m generally a good person, I swear. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/43 "2006-10-27T08:19:42Z")
Oh. Um. _shifty eyes_ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/44 "2006-10-27T09:59:53Z")
Please don’t. I had to break Mom out of the habit of doing that with our books - because it brings out a worse habit in me! You see, if the corner is “marked”, my fingers will go there and start folding and unfolding, and folding, and unfolding… So it gets worse and worse and it wouldn’t be the first time one of those corners breaks. Sorry ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/45 "2006-10-27T10:42:34Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] It should be a capital crime. (Marking library books should be a capital crime with execution by torture.) That book may be the only copy in the library for the next hundred years. Anything that damages the book or opens it to premature deterioration is a BAD THING. [/QUOTE] Ditto on that. You are defacing/ruining/breaking someone else’s property. Stop that. It’s bad form. Get a scrap of paper from a magazine or something. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/46 "2006-10-27T10:45:49Z")
Wait, I just noticed. “Only copy in the library for the next 300 years”? So… if I dog ear say, Terry Pratchett’s “Thief of time”, do I get a pass? ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/47 "2006-10-27T10:53:23Z")
I used to do it to my own books but never to library copies or books I’ve borrowed from friends. Now I don’t even do it to my own books. The other thing is bending the book apart until the spine cracks…that’s another no-no in Faerie bookland. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/48 "2006-10-27T10:58:09Z")
[QUOTE=Tabby\_Cat] Wait, I just noticed. “Only copy in the library for the next 300 years”? So.. if I dog ear say, Terry Pratchett’s “Thief of time”, do I get a pass? [/QUOTE] No, you get hit with my copy of it. It’s hardcover! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/49 "2006-10-27T14:30:12Z")
Yes, dog-earing library books is bad. There are worse things though… like the two morons who defaced a copy of M. Scott Peck’s _People of the Lie_ that I borrowed (I’m into political writing this year): one had covered page after page with weird religious maunderings _in pen_… and the other had blanked then out with the kind of indelible black marker, the kind of marker that soaks through the page. And into the one underneath it. Jerks. The other books I’d borrowed which had missing pages almost seemed trivial by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/50 "2006-10-27T14:54:47Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] . I only recently realized I could do this with magazines that I planned to throw away after I was done reading them. [/QUOTE] You mean, err- “recycle” not “throw out”, right? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/51 "2006-10-27T16:24:52Z")
[QUOTE=Tabby\_Cat] So.. if I dog ear say, Terry Pratchett’s “Thief of time”, do I get a pass? [/QUOTE] No, but I will cut you a _little_ slack for anything by Terry Brooks. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/52 "2006-10-27T16:34:41Z")
Yes it is bad to earmark library books. But seriously…it’s evil, beatings, etc. The hyperbole in this thread is about the worst I have ever seen and probably the worst ever in the history of mankind. You people are worse than Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/53 "2006-10-27T16:42:01Z")
What hyperbole? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/54 "2006-10-27T20:49:05Z")
I bought a guide to dog breeds at a garage sale. It was not only dog-eared, but dog-chewed. There were tooth marks all over it, and one corner was gone comepletely. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/55 "2006-10-28T01:59:28Z")
[QUOTE=Renee] Does it matter if the book is crisp and new vs. old and mangled? 'Cause I’ll stop doing it if it really pisses people off. (I hate, hate, hate it when people write or highlight in library books. It takes me out of what I’m reading and makes me focus on why the hell they chose that one sentence or word to highlight, and what that stupid note means.) [/QUOTE] A library book is public property. Defacing it in any way is totally inappropriate. I’m sure you would be a bit upset by anyone dog earing and/or marking up any of your books. As the sign said at the blacksmith shop: “If you spit in the water bucket at home, Spit in here, we want you to feel at home!” ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/56 "2006-10-28T06:39:11Z")
Thank you, **Gangster Octopus**. I have stopped folding down the tips of pages since it is apparently a crime worse than raping children. But really, people, I’m wasn’t ripping pages out of them to wipe my ass with. Some perspective, please. [QUOTE=spingears] I’m sure you would be a bit upset by anyone dog earing and/or marking up any of your books. [/QUOTE] As I said in the OP, I hate it when people mark in books because it interferes with the book’s readability. Turning down the very tip of the page does not, and I would not mind in the least if someone did that to one of my books. If I loan you a book, I want you to read it, throw it in your book bag, take it with you and love it. Again, I apologize for ever turning down the tips of pages and realize now that I should be put to death for my crimes, so you needn’t continue the pile on. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/57 "2006-10-28T06:47:22Z")
Your best bet is to just ignore this thread. Dopers being Dopers, there are probably still a few who need to make a witty observation, so there will be more posts. However, you have already noted that you have discontinued the practice, so responding to this thread will merely keep it on the front page, encouraging others to post to it. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/58 "2006-10-28T06:53:46Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Damn people! Give **Renee** a break - It’s just a book, for crying out loud… Sure, it’s a library book… and our libraries are underfunded… and only a servant of evil would intentionally damage a library book and then innocently ask if anyone thought it was bad… as if the OP is bragging about wrecking havoc upon that last bastion of good in this world… It is, after all, \ just a book right? [/QUOTE] Just a book!!! Yeah well that’s what the Nazis thought when they burned a whole load of them. Use a bookmark, most libraries give them away and if yours doesn’t use any piece of scrap paper. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/59 "2006-10-28T06:58:35Z")
**Renee** , thanks for looking after books, and for taking on-board the dog-ear page thing. I recall other threads like this where damage (and some minor like dog-earing) was raised, and all heck broke loose. I’m a bit like you, though – I like books to be loved. I’m just careful with those I’ve borriwed (and I ask my friends to be equally as careful with mine.) I tend to get over the mishaps. After some heavy sighing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004/60 "2006-10-28T18:10:22Z")
I try not to dog-ear books, and will use whatever is at hand as a bookmark if I’m in a hurry and one of my nice storebought (or child-made) bookmarks is not to be found immediately. Business cards, hair elastics, receipts from Jack in the Box… as long as it’s small, relatively flat, and will not leave a stain, it will work. What does upset me is finding writing in library books. Relevant notes in pencil on the margins I don’t mind so much, because it shows that at least the previous reader got some understanding out of the material. I do get angry, and will report to the librarian, if I find irrelevant, juvenile writing of the “Stacy is a ho” variety, or better yet, “Turn to page 69” and then, on the margin of page 69, “I like boobs” (actual writing I found in a library book once) :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-terrible-is-it-to-dog-ear-library-books/378004.md?page=4)