# Stupid library patrons **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104 "2005-08-15T15:43:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MizQuirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/94ad74/32.png) [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/61 "2005-08-20T21:49:39Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I’m trying to figure out the contortions a person would have to go through in order to accomplish the above. Maybe there are folks out there just sick enough to bring it from home or wherever, just for the library. As in carrying coals to Newcastle, doncha know? ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/62 "2005-08-20T21:53:15Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Do you watch ‘Reno 911’? In one episode they had to clean out a book donation box that someone shit into. Our worst was some very ripe roadkill–a squashed racoon–dumped in the dookdrop. In summer. Over $2000 worth of books were destroyed, as well as the spring-loaded cart inside, because we couldn’t get the stench cleaned out of it. You don’t even want to image what cleaning out the bookdrop was like. ---
**Author:** ![infamousmom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d6d6ee/32.png) [@infamousmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infamousmom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/63 "2005-08-21T07:38:06Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Believe it or not, the Nashville Library system has bizzare people _sneaking books **onto** the shelves_ I believe it. We had a bizarro couple who would come in and take the entire contents of several shelves of books over to their chairs in the main reading room. Elderly couple, perhaps five brain cells between them. Took us about a month to get through to them that if they really wanted to do that, for pity’s sake leave the books on the table and we’d put them back. They’d just been picking up the books and putting them back at random. Sometimes they got them fairly close to the original shelf. Most times, not. Their explanation? They wanted to look at the pictures. …of which there are SO many, in Westerns, which is what they usually lifted. And then there was the little old lady who’d check out about 50 paperbacks at a time, take them home, carefully peel the library bar code stickers off them and put them on paperbacks from \*other \*library systems and return those to us. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/64 "2005-08-21T10:59:36Z")
> [@infamousmom](#): > > And then there was the little old lady who’d check out about 50 paperbacks at a time, take them home, carefully peel the library bar code stickers off them and put them on paperbacks from \*other \*library systems and return those to us. Everybody’s got to have a hobby. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/65 "2005-08-21T13:01:38Z")
What about books that are “lost?” One time I was trying to look for books on Wicca and paganism and I swear, every title came up as “lost.” I got a bit paranoid, thinking some fundie was checking the books out and then throwing them away to keep them from “impressionable minds.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/66 "2005-08-21T13:32:32Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > What about books that are “lost?” One time I was trying to look for books on Wicca and paganism and I swear, every title came up as “lost.” I got a bit paranoid, thinking some fundie was checking the books out and then throwing them away to keep them from “impressionable minds.” They were. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/67 "2005-08-21T14:07:13Z")
People actually do that? What, do they think it’s their right since their tax dollars are funding the library? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/68 "2005-08-21T14:15:23Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > People actually do that? What, do they think it’s their right since their tax dollars are funding the library? 😕 They think it’s their right because they are protecting “impressionable minds”. A higher good, and all that. They’re jerks, pure and simple. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/69 "2005-08-21T14:20:53Z")
I cannot comprehend some people’s unmitigated nerve. Don’t they realize the library then has to spend _more_ tax dollars to replace those books? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/70 "2005-08-21T14:32:54Z")
They figure the library won’t, or will get sick of it and give up after a while, and buy books less likely to be stolen. They might be right, too. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/71 "2005-08-21T14:58:49Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > What about books that are “lost?” One time I was trying to look for books on Wicca and paganism and I swear, every title came up as “lost.” I got a bit paranoid, thinking some fundie was checking the books out and then throwing them away to keep them from “impressionable minds.” My ex worked at a library. Books on those subjects were “lost” at hers’ too. She thought it was the young impressionable minds that were losing them, not the fundies. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/72 "2005-08-21T15:08:18Z")
What other books are “lost”, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/73 "2005-08-21T15:20:16Z")
From my own experience, books on sex tend to go missing. Robin ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/74 "2005-08-21T15:21:57Z")
Oh, hijack, **MsRobyn** , could you visit the Canned Laughter thread in Comments on Staff Reports when you get a sec? I found the mention of foreign language laughter fascinating and I’d like to learn more. Back to business… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/75 "2005-08-21T16:24:17Z")
Role-playing books (the old D&D rulebooks and other FRPG literature) were, to my experience, almost never on the shelf in our local library. The library HAD them, according to the card catalog, but they were never on the shelves. I was never able to determine whether it was fundamentalists stealing them to keep them from being read or idiot gamers stealing them because they were too cheap to buy their own. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/76 "2005-08-21T16:25:33Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > idiot gamers I just want to preempt any complaints about my characterization above as being some sort of blanket condemnation. I mean “gamers who are idiots”, not “gamers, who are idiots”. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/77 "2005-08-21T16:42:15Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > What about books that are “lost?” One time I was trying to look for books on Wicca and paganism and I swear, every title came up as “lost.” I got a bit paranoid, thinking some fundie was checking the books out and then throwing them away to keep them from “impressionable minds.” I worked in a bookstore for a while and the Wicca/witchcraft stuff was stolen more than in any other section in the store. I doubt it was fundies; this was in the Bay Area, not exactly a hotbed of Christian fundamentalism. We always assumed it was broke teenagers. ---
**Author:** ![infamousmom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d6d6ee/32.png) [@infamousmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infamousmom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/78 "2005-08-21T20:36:27Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > What, do they think it’s their right since their tax dollars are funding the library? A lot of people figure that once “their tax dollars” are involved, they have a right to do anything. I dealt with people who insisted that they didn’t have to pay library fines because “I pay taxes!” Or who thought they could treat the staff like dirt because “I pay your salary!” I so, so wanted to just slap a nickel down on the counter and say “Here’s your money back. Now take a hike.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/79 "2005-08-21T20:46:48Z")
> [@infamousmom](#): > > A lot of people figure that once “their tax dollars” are involved, they have a right to do anything. I dealt with people who insisted that they didn’t have to pay library fines because “I pay taxes!” Or who thought they could treat the staff like dirt because “I pay your salary!” > > I so, so wanted to just slap a nickel down on the counter and say “Here’s your money back. Now take a hike.” Especially considering how infamous local governments are for diverting as little money as possible to their public library… ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104/80 "2005-08-21T20:52:52Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Oh, hijack, **MsRobyn** , could you visit the Canned Laughter thread in Comments on Staff Reports when you get a sec? I found the mention of foreign language laughter fascinating and I’d like to learn more. > > Back to business… Sorry. I’ve been a bit busy and wanted to do a bit more research before answering. Robin [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-library-patrons/317104.md?page=5)