fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #1843 ]

[ SECRET POST #1843 ]

⌈ Secret Post #1843 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 50 secrets from Secret Submission Post #263.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeats ]
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments and concerns should go here.

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OP here. I've checked every used book store close to me and several not-so-close, and I've been unable to find any. I'm currently unable to buy anything online, I've donated dozens of books to the library before that should be more than enough to replace it, and they've got about five copies of each one. It's not like I've swiped every single copy they had, just ones for me to keep for the rest of my life. Besides, I took the ones in the worst condition, the ones where the covers were about to fall off (I had to tape one back together), so they probably would have trashed them by the end of the year anyways. I know this doesn't excuse breaking the law, and I still feel awful for it, but there's no other way for me to get a copy.

Sure there is. You have friends somewhere in the world, yes?

Ask around. Someone will surely be willing to order for you and you can just give them the money to cover it. Problem solved, and you go back to being able to sleep at night.

Besides, I took the ones in the worst condition, the ones where the covers were about to fall off (I had to tape one back together), so they probably would have trashed them by the end of the year anyways.

So wait until they become discards and then buy them? Or you could ask the librarian if it's possible to buy them when they fall apart? IDK it's just a dick move to steal shit from a library. Even worse is when people tear pages out of artbooks, like this one Francesca Woodman book I used to check out and enjoy from the Nashville Public Library that has since been damaged and is missing pages (that book is also out of print and worth something like three hundred dollars now)

Horror story time!

We once had a guy steal some British Library Loans. They were out of print and quite valuable, and the guy just totally refused to return them. Our head of service ended up getting involved and went to the guy's house to ask for them back, and the guy claimed he didn't have them. He then refused to pay the fine, which was HUNDREDS of pounds, and the council had to pay it (we're a public library). We banned him for three years but now he's back - suffice it to say, he is banned from borrowing anything that isn't in County stock.

Wow! Francesca Woodman's photos look amazing! Iit saddens me that she suicided at such a young age. :(

FYI, there have been two recent books about her work published. One in 2006 and another in 2011. Both can be found on Amazon if you search for "Francesca Woodman." I'm going to be getting a copy of one of these because her photos look so interesting and I'd never heard of her before! Thanks!

(no subject)

childings.livejournal.com - 2012-01-20 23:43 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

ook.livejournal.com - 2012-01-21 00:26 (UTC) - Expand

Wait, why can't you buy anything online? Many stores sell one-time credit cards. I just checked ebay and there are several pages of copies.

also check paperbackswap. You may still get three free credits for signing up.

You get two, actually, but yeah Paperbackswap.com is a great website that doesn't involve spending money online.

As one person said, ask the librarians. If they really are falling apart you might be able to buy them for dirt cheap, or even be given them.

There are other ways to get them, even if it is asking a friend to buy them on the internet and you pay them for it, or various other means. But seriously...

Stealing from the library is not cool. And the fact that they are so damaged means they have seen much love, so people will probably be missing them. And stealing from the library is seriously not cool.

I am a children's librarian, and I promise you that if you ask me about the possibility of buying a copy of something that is getting into such poor shape I'm going to have to discard it, I will remember your name and set it aside for you when I do delete it. (Or watch for a donation copy for you.)

But I also promise you that the reason they still had crappy copies at your library is because the books are popular with the kids.

Seriously, talk to the librarian.

If you can get online to post secrets and reply in comments, you can buy stuff online. Go to a grocery store or a convenience store and buy an Amazon gift card (or a MoneyPak card if you have a PayPal account you can add funds to with it.) You can pay cash for either one. Go to Amazon or eBay. Problem solved.

Tell the library you lost them, and pay the replacement fee. Yes, you can do that.

Edit: I do only say this as a last resort since OP apparently lives in some sort of financial internet ghetto.

Edited 2012-01-20 02:10 (UTC)

This.

OP, if you really want to be a dick about this and keep the books, then at least pay for them. Pay the replacement fee so that the library isn't out the books and the fines on them. And they can use that money to replace the books you can't seem to live without, either with newer copies or with new books kids have been dying for.

This, at the very least, would make you slightly less of a selfish jerk.

Congratulations for feeling guilty. I'm sure that'll help the library a lot.

1. Donating other books does not make up for stealing different out of print books. At all. In any way. It's not like we can magically take ten Boxcar Children paperbacks and trade them in for a copy of Scary Stories. Book vendors don't work that way.

2. The most likely reason they had those ratty copies you took? Is because the titles are out of print and they're popular and they likely need to keep every copy they have circulating. Circulating means going out and coming back. Personally speaking? I've pulled my dupes and stuck them in storage for when my other copies finally fall apart so badly I can't patch them together again, or go missing because someone took them and never brought them back. And when that happens? I will have no spares and I will have to hope no one else takes them and never brings them back.

3. Some librarian is going to go through a list of long overdue or assumed lost items at some point and see those titles and go "Damn. That's out of print. Why do people always steal the stuff we can't replace?" And then that librarian will be sad. This librarian is sad. It's great that you love the books and want your own copies so you can have them forever and all, but that's not what libraries are for. Library books are for everyone.

Talk to the librarians. Explain to them that you'd really like to find copies of the books and ask if they'd be willing to sell you the copies you have. Otherwise you're going to have to live with the knowledge that you have effectively stolen books from children.

Personally speaking? I've pulled my dupes and stuck them in storage for when my other copies finally fall apart so badly I can't patch them together again, or go missing because someone took them and never brought them back. And when that happens? I will have no spares and I will have to hope no one else takes them and never brings them back. Missing the main thrust of your argument somewhat, but I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who does this, and for exactly the same reason!

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-01-21 16:55 (UTC) - Expand

...This is going to sound awful and bitchy of me but, jfc, I don't care. Stealing from places like the library gets under my skin.

Have you even bothered to check online? Because people have pointed out, and one person has even *linked* to amazon, where...guess what? They're selling copies. So the 'There's no other way!' excuse doesn't hold water, and - to me at least - makes it seem more like you're too lazy to bother actually looking.

Donating books to the library does not mean the library will stock them. Often they are used for book sales, if they are used at all.

Also, if you actually checked them out through the system, the library will fine you. If you don't pay the fine, often they will sell your fine to a collection company who will then stalk you and harass you and if you still don't pay it, your credit rating may suffer. I didn't think libraries went to collections until I moved and 6 months later got a letter from a collection company regarding my unpaid library fine for a book I'd forgotten to return.

Seriously, return them and freaking ask if there is a way you can purchase them. I've bought library books before; once when my sister damaged a few pages, and the time I mentioned above, because I couldn't find the book I'd forgotten to return.

Edited 2012-01-20 03:29 (UTC)

If you're already willing to resort to stealing, what the fuck is keeping you from just putting these things under a scanner or photocopier? And don't you DARE say "it's too much work".

OP, I think you're being a jerk, but lots of other people have already pointed out how shitty your excuses are.

Let me point out, though, that if you signed them out, when you don't bring them back, you will get fined. And I don't mean 10 cents per day - eventually they will assume you've lost it, and you will get fined about $50, or more (for the cost of them finding a replacement, shipping it in, and processing it). If you don't pay that, it will eventually get sent to a collections agency (seriously, libraries do this), and then you will get phone calls, and eventually it will be on your credit report.

This is a lot of pain for a decision to steal something that you could buy for five bucks online.

Do the right thing - both for the library, and for your finances. Bring it back.

I just found these books on Ebay. $5.99 for all three.

Why can't you buy anything online? You can get to this website, right? You can't buy yourself an Amazon gift card in a grocery store and buy the books through Amazon?

If you can't buy anything online due to money issues, you could try paperbackswap.com. All you'd have to do is pay for postage for the books that you offer and they have a nice wishlist feature.

No excuse you can give is worth stealing from the library. Especially 'I can't buy a book online'. You've got friends or family with computer accsess? Ask one of them to buy it for you and pay them back.

Also donating dozens of other books is also bullshit. I've donated a ton of books too but that doesn't mean I can go and help myself to any book I like.

If everyone in the world went to the library and stole even just one book, claiming to have a 'good' excuse like yours, libraries would be empty buildings.

Stop being selfish and take the books back.

You know why you still feel awful? Because you should feel awful. You're stealing from the library (which probably has difficulty getting funding, especially for out of print books), and you're essentially stealing from kids who, in a few years time, might have considered these books their childhood.

You're an adult. Adults have much more access to bookstores and online shopping. Stop rationalizing, take a jar of change to the Coinstar, and turn it into an Amazon voucher. And take the books back! You're going to be charged a lost/replacement fee, and if you don't pay it, some states will just take it out of your tax return.

Gonna sound really bitchy but, "THEY'RE FALLING APART!" isn't any excuse for stealing; I'm sorry OP. People have offered ways for you to get the book without having a regular credit card/debit, or even getting yourself a gift certificate for using it there. If you were willing to go to stores that were out of the way and buy them that way then there's no reason for you not to spend the money on line, if you have no where for it to ship to, then there must be someone who you can ask to use their mailbox by explaining to them the situation, a neighbour, a friend, a relative, you do not live in a vacuum, there are legal ways for you to get this book.

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