Most libraries don’t date-stamp books at checkout anymore. A lot of libraries have self-checkout systems at the desk so you don’t even have to hand your books over to someone—just enter your card and scan the barcodes on the back of the books. Funny enough an administrator I once worked for used the checkout stamps to prove keeping actual books on shelves was a waste of time, money, and space. He said he’d found a book that hadn’t been checked out in a hundred years. I believed him but I also had a lot of questions. How long had it taken him to find this century-old book? Did he know that people can, and do, consult books in the library without checking them out? Most libraries have a reference section of books that don’t circulate but that’s because they’re so heavily used they have to be available. And did he know that librarians regularly go through the stacks and sometimes remove books they decide are no longer needed?
He wasn’t taking questions.
Libraries can now collect circulation information digitally which is a lot more efficient and easier than going through individual books but I still feel like we’ve lost something by not stamping books anymore. When I check out a book and see all the dates it was checked out previously I feel connected to the other people who read it (or maybe didn’t but still wanted to). This library also used to stamp books with a returned date so I could even see how long someone kept it.
My goal when I first started working in libraries was to work in circulation. I know the stereotype of librarians is that they don’t want to deal with people, and I’ve known plenty who are like that. But libraries exist to serve people and I still believe in the importance of people helping each other rather than just relying on machines.
The book I checked out, by the way, is Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls. It’s a small, fun novel I found out about from a blurb in a magazine—an actual paper and ink magazine—that said “If you like The Shape Of Water you’ll like this book.” I do, and I did. First published in 1983 it’s got a sort of cult status so in a way it’s fitting it hasn’t been checked out more, although that last stamp with the 2017 due date is right before the library stopped stamping checkout slips.
Maybe a lot of people have read it, though, without ever taking it out of the library.
It’s a curious thing—my wife, Amelia, and I have both written books, all of which are part of the local library collection. Yet, to date, only one of her books has been signed out. This leads me to ponder whether our writing might be pitched at a level that only the most gifted readers can fully appreciate. It makes me wonder about the reading habits of the community and whether our works, though available, might be just a bit too challenging or perhaps not within the realm of what most people seek when browsing the library shelves. It’s a thought that both amuses and perplexes me.
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It’s also entirely possible that your books are only being read in the library, for whatever reason. It’s also frustrating to me that apparently your local library doesn’t share their holdings with WorldCat. This would potentially give your books a much wider audience, perhaps drawing the attention of InterLibrary Loan or simply readers doing research.
Thanks for circulating another awesome post, Chris. I was thinking about this topic recently when I checked out a book from my local library and there were no date-stamps in it. I had no idea when it was due, so I read it as quickly as I could and then returned it. It was “The Pottswater Papers” by Cynthia Ozark, which had been recommended by Rowan Farrow in a New Yorker article about favorite books. The writing was amazing and there’s an upsetting scene near the end that I haven’t been able to stamp out of my mind. Now “Mrs. Caliban” is on my list.
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Now you’ve given me a book to check out, Ann, though I’ve read other works by Cynthia Ozick and keep meaning to get back to her because I enjoyed them so much. The funny thing is I found Mrs. Caliban thanks to a New York Times article of recommended books. Word-of-mouth, or word-of-writing, is always a good way to find new books.