I have very strong opinions on this subject, and I'm curious how others feel.
Hi, public librarian (lower case l, no degree) here, please don't.
We're already, in general, severely underfunded. Shocker, the capitalist hellscape we're stuck isn't great about allocating county budget to such a socialist outlet.
When you write in the margins, that's considered damage, and we just do not have the funding to replace every book we have to weed for damage.
Use sticky notes. Please. Write your margin notes on sticky notes in the book. You can even keep your place that way. But please please please don't write in the books, don't crack the spines, and don't dog ear them. That's just going to force us to weed them, and we can't always replace them.
#we flip through every book that comes in the drop off to see if the pages are loose torn damaged or written on #and we're supposed to set aside all of those for checking by collections #to see if its severe enough to warrant weeding #and frankly as the budget gets tighter i know im not the only one turning a blind eye to some damage #because i know we wouldnt be able to replace it anyway #better to let it slide til it gets worse #but its a serious problem
Hi, capital L Librarian here, if you think your notes enhance other readers' experience of the book 1) you're wrong and 2) no one's going to get to read them anyway because you damaged the book and we had to throw it away.
Good job breaking it, hero.
Also capital L Librarian here: do not write in the books. do not highlight the books. do not cross out the swear words. do not mark in the book! If you do, we remove the book. It's been damaged. And damaged books are removed from our collection, usually to the trash can. And replacing books with intentional damage eats into our already tight budgets!
