2003-02-10

 
The Lost Library Book

Well, I am certainly a buffoon enough to have left a book on the train. (It was The Biotech Century by Jeremy Rifkin.) I have done this once before, with The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers, and the conductor rescued me by holding on to it, but this time no such luck; we have a new conductor on my commuter train. The worst part is that it's a library book, and I have eight days to return it before I rack up fines. There is, additionally, the price of the book ($28) plus a ten dollar handling fee that I will be required to pay. Now I support the library, and I am in no way trying to point a finger at anyone besides myself, but the reason I am in love with the library is because I don't have the money to be buying books left and right. Therefore, paying forty dollars plus for a book that I don't get to own -- nor get to finish! --does not excite me. I have decided to buy a used copy of the book online and then hand it to the library people and tell them "look, I wasn't planning on paying you forty dollars. So I went and got the book for you. Take it or leave it. Either way, I'm not paying the fine". It's a little New-York-ish for me to be doing in California, so it's presenting me with a moral dilemma. First of all, I was going to buy a softcover (because it's cheaper and easier) but then that's abusing the library a little too much (still better than not paying the fine at all, though). So I decided to pay a little extra for a used hardcover (heck, my copy was used too!) In any event, I am torn as to if this is legitimate. It pains me to use the library often and then not want to dish out a little money for a noncapitalist social organization as wonderful as the public library. However, if all they really need is their book back, and I take care of it for them, perhaps they can see the better light and willingly slap on a new barcode and call it even... I hope I don't lose any more sleep over this, because I would hate to have library privileges revoked! I guess it's irrelevant though, since I'm moving to Berkeley.
posted by MM 9:03 PM