It’s happened to all of us. After a hellish week, you decided to take your book in the bathtub to relax and whoops! You reached for your beer and accidentally dipped the book in the bath water like you were dunking a biscotti in your morning coffee. Or maybe you left it on the floor and like the much-fabled homework devourer, your dog ate it (please see below). Perhaps you left it on an airplane, in a rental car, or at that ex-girlfriend’s house that you’re never ever speaking to again because you’ve faked your own death to avoid them at all costs. You might have eaten a hot dog over it and dripped ketchup and mustard all down the spine. Maybe it got rained on! Cat peed on it! Someone ran it over with their car! Your kid drew all over it with Mr. Sketch scented markers!
You’re not the first person to ruin or lose a book and you definitely won’t be the last. What I’m saying is accidents happen and none of us are immune from the pitfalls of treating books worse than we should. We’re all guilty!
But what happens next when the book isn’t yours? What happens when it comes to making library restitution?
After destruction or loss of materials, it is, as they say, time to pay the piper. You’re gonna have to fork over the funds to replace what you’ve destroyed. Many times patrons have a lot of questions about how we go about pricing replacement materials. Why can’t they just let us buy another copy, they wonder. Wouldn’t it be far cheaper if we got a used copy off Amazon and handed it over? Why are they trying to bankrupt us? It’s supposed to be a free service and our taxes pay their fines/salaries/grocery bills/vet fees?
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You might have eaten a hot dog over it and dripped ketchup and mustard all down the spine. But when it comes to actual replacement fees, there’s more than just buying a new copy. I mean, hey, sometimes a library decides not to replace the thing that’s been lost or destroyed. Maybe the item wasn’t circulating all that well anyway or it’s a dead technology (i.e. VHS and microfilm and goddamn laser discs) that the library doesn’t want to keep in stock. Perhaps the patron will just pay a set fee that the library has created a policy for in the event of loss/damage. It’s all up to that particular branch, baby!
A lot goes in to replacing materials that has nothing to do with how the base-cost of the item. For instance, your money is working toward not just buying that particular copy of Horton Hears a Who, but also paying for the time and labor of the person who has to order it, receive it, catalog it, and prepare it for the shelves. Items don’t magically appear in the collection because Grumpert the Wily Library Elf came in the night and placed out all the new books like Christmas gifts. - Lit Hub
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