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, <sob> just a book right?
Plus a beating.
I did, but I dog-eared it so much that I put pressure on the spine and it fell to bits.
It doesn’t really annoy me all that much, although from the other replies seen here, it appears that I could be the only one.
If indeed, it is bad for the library book and shortens the life of the book then you should probably stop doing it.
You shouldn’t- idealy. But some consideration of the book’s rarity, condition and age must also be considered. If it’s a fairly new copy of a “best seller” fiction, and is already somewhat thrashed and likely heading for the “friends of the library” sale bin anyway- well, 10 smacks with a wet noodle. 
OTOH, old reference books that are getting yellow, or older 1st ed? Then I agree with those here that suggest strong punishment. :mad:
So, y’all are probably pretty much against the Jim Rockford technique of tearing the page out of the public phone book with the phone numbers you need on it?
Like many here, I do it to my own books. Which is why I go out of my way to avoid doing to books that aren’t mine. I literally love my books to pieces, but only if they are MINE. Library books that are in bad shape make me want to hunt the person responsible down and do painful and unspeakable things to them. And not in a good way.
HERETIC!!!
<runs off to fetch the stake, rope, kindling, and matches>
Just a suggestion for those without a piece of scrap paper. A while ago I started using misc. bills from countries I had visited as bookmarks because they looked cool and I wasn’t doing anything with them (500 Indonesian rupes are great and worth about zip). But, I like to read a bunch of books at the same time and soon ran out of foreign bills. I then had a :smack: moment. All those book-marks at the big bookstores costs lots of bucks and I would lose them anyway. So now I just use dollar bills as book marks. Works a treat and I almost always have one handy.
BTW, dog-earing library books is just bad…stop…now…desist…cut it out!!!
Of course, if you’re reading in the bathroom, there’s a whole roll of paper right there…
Don’t have bookmarks? Boring solution: Buy a package of index cards.
Interesting solution: Buy a package of index cards and a package of colored markers to decorate them with (or if you have kids, ask them to do it for you).
It would never even occur to me to dog-ear pages in any book, whether I owned it or not. I only recently realized I could do this with magazines that I planned to throw away after I was done reading them.
I may have to take the matter of your posting privileges up with the rest of the staff.
(Good thing I caught you and not samclem–your IP would have already been banned–not from the SDMB, from the internet.)
" . . .just a book" :mad:
I use Post-it notes. They don’t fall out!
I used to make up and print my own bookmarks (but sadly, my printer died on me).
What you did is not only wrong and bad but boarderline evil. You have borrowed a book from fellow people - those people have provided the book not really for you, but for anyone who whats it, the very least you can do it treat it with respect and not damage it.
I was about to mention Post-it notes. They’re cheap, come in lots of colors, sizes and styles and they’ll stick in the book without damaging it. You can always fold the Post-it over the page. But please don’t fold the page.
I’ve always been taught to return items in the same condition they were in when you borrowed it. That includes the ratty library books.
You purposely damaged a library book???
I used to do this, growing up, but I don’t anymore. Now I use random scrap paper, gas station receipts, Canadian Tire Money, a kleenex, hair elastic, even a cat whisker once (though only very temporarily!) I do, however, have the habit of leaving my books open, face down, on tables and the couch if I’m just getting up to go to the washroom or do something quick and I know I’ll come back to it. This pisses my brother off to no end, especially for paperbacks (mostly because, when I say “my” books, I only mean the books I’m currently reading, as they actually mostly belong to him!) I’m trying to get out of that habit!
Smell that? That was sarcasm.
Jeez, good thing Fred didn’t happen upon this. Those Denverites have it out for us suburbanites anyway, and also have no sense of humor.
ahem… Burn the witch!
That better? 
And catalogues. I did this to a recent IKEA catalogue. I turned down the page of each item I wanted to look at when we got to the store. Apparently I am teaching my son well, because he took one horrified look at my catalogue and exclaimed, “WHO DID THIS??? We don’t do this to books!”
Er, Frank of course, maybe Fred as well, but I mostly meant Frank.
I will now go away in shame.