I hope you had a chance to read the article in Sunday's Globe (Metro Section) about the most frequently lost books at Boston Public Library. As a librarian who has worked in the field - well sometimes it feels like since Dewey introduced his decimal system - I am only too familiar with libraries and lost books/movies/music.
Most loss is due to folks just never returning the item. Why don't they? There are so many possible reasons - people move suddenly, the individual sadly passes away and whoever is emptying the house isn't particularly mindful, the item was damaged or lost while the person had it. In prior jobs, there have been house fires, floods, people who left it behind when on vacation in Europe, left it on the train/subway/plane. And then, life gets in the way and the situation never gets resolved, or the person is too embarrassed to admit to the loss. We are all too human.
Sometimes, folks don't return the item because they think they will owe fabulous amounts of money in overdues. There is a Jerry Seinfeld episode (this is just one clip of many you can find on Youtube from this episode) on that - very funny, but no doubt detrimental to libraries everywhere. Because the reality is is that there is always a stopping point for fines - either a set fee ($5.00 or $10.00) or the cost of the book. Libraries in general are not trying to be punitive - they just want the item back for others to enjoy.
My favorite interaction with someone that 'lost' an item was a young girl who came up to me and told me she didn't plan to return the video she had out - she liked it too much. And sometimes that is exactly the reason - the person just like the book, movie, whatever so much they keep it - in spite of there being so many options for purchasing even a used copy.
We don't see much of this kind of loss here in Salem. Folks in general bring the item back or pay for the loss willingly. It's a nice thing about Salem.
So I am sure you are wondering what are our most frequently lost books here in Salem. I have to say that in general, the loss is scattered throughout our collection. As the person who decides about replacing lost items, there aren't any contenders that leap to mind. I see more replacement due to damage (I've talked about that previously) or wear. And since reading the Globe article (and you can find the article here at the library), the books that come to mind are the Big Nate books by Lincoln Pierce and the Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney. I have replaced a lot of worn out copies of books in both series. But its a good thing - we like to see books read to pieces because so many people love them. That's what libraries are here to support.
