Enough is Enough

Usually when a patron calls asking what the library accepts for donations, I make a point to say that National Geographics are not accepted.  A lot of times, patrons will just bring them in by the boxes and by then the patron has taken the time to drive to the library and bring them in, so none of the staff turn them away.
 
Some really think that their "collection" has some real monetary value: "Some of these are really old!" or "This is a complete collection of the 70's."  I'm not one to burst that kind of bubble so it's all just smiles and nods and an occasional, "niiiice."

The Rules of the Library #10: Donating Bootlegs and Counterfeit items.

42 Examples of Copyright Piracy

Rules of the Library #10: Please do not donate counterfeit or bootleg copies to the library.

Last week, some thoughtful patron donated these bootleg Chinese/Hong-Kong movies.  One of the librarians wanted to put it in the book sale but had an inkling that these might be fakes so they put them on my desk to look at first.  The explanation process was akin to when I explain to my parents why that email about asking for their PayPal account information is phishing for the fifth time (spoiler alert: they have never had a PayPal account nor do they know what it is).

I chose a movie at random, took it out of its cheap paper sleeve, and popped it in my PC.  I do admit that the print quality of the DVD holders is pretty high, but the print on the DVD's themselves looked pretty bad, that and they were in cheap plastic sleeves.  When I was skimming through the movie, I pointed out the extremely poor quality of the video, it was like watching a 3D movie but without the glasses.  If that wasn't enough for a dead give-away, the watermark of the Chinese pirate site embedded in the movie was.

Thank you for your donation of "Erotic Art of India"...

Well, that escalated pretty quickly --- they get busy on the cover, spoiler alert.

Some kind patron donated this book this week.  Unfortunately, I do not think we will be adding to our collection nor will we be placing it in our book sale.

Good Guy Library Patron and their Donations.

Every weekend I work, I find myself inundated with donations dropped off during the day.  It seems that my branch's local community treats every weekend like "Spring Cleaning" season.  Some patrons don't even bother parking properly, they just pull up to the front of the library, ignoring the yellow curb and numerous signs saying not to "Park or Stand."  They block part of the sidewalk and entrance road while they bring in their boxes and bags of donations.

Bad Patron, Bad..

Some don't even bother bringing them in to the library, they just drop them off in front of the branch and leave.  I guess it is our fault because our sign only says not to drop off donations IN the book drop, it says nothing about dropping stuff off OUTSIDE of the book drop...

I was surprised when a patron came in with a stack of National Geographic books and first asked me if the library would have any use for them.  I checked the ILS and told him that we could actually add them to the branch's collection.  He seemed very grateful that they would serve a purpose and then asked if the library would want or need his 15 year collection of National Geographic Magazines.  I know how sentimental some people can be with their collections, so I tried to put it nicely that the library didn't need it.  He replied, "Do you know who would want them then?  I've asked local schools, Goodwill, other libraries."  I didn't want to be that guy who had to break it to him that his meticulous collecting was all for naught, I could only tell him, "Hmmm, yeah, I'm not sure who would want them then."

But seriously though, some donations are pure crap, either completely outdated items.  Or literal crap, people treat book slots like their personal garbage bin.  Sometimes you will find gold, a newly released book with hundreds of holds in mint condition.  We'll take what we can get with these nonstop budget cuts, the collections budget has really taken a hit.

The Library doesn't need/want your crusty, used '50 Shades of Grey' donation...

ewww....

While going through donations to see if they could be added to our collections, I came across this filthy mcnasty copy of 50 Shades.  The first half of the book is "water" damaged.  I say "water" because I have no idea what fluid touched this book nor do I want to know.  The thing is, patrons usually drop off books by the bag or box load. 

If a patron dropped this book by itself, I'm fairly certain my coworkers working the circ desk would have thrown this damaged book in the trash.  All of the other books in the lot were nice and dry... except for this one.  I really should not be surprised that a patron actually thought that the condition of this book was "good enough" for the library's shelves.  Silly patrons, damaged books are for the trash-can, not the library.

Needless to say I burned this book as well as my desk... and the cart this book was sitting on.

The Rules of the Library #3

Rules of the Library #3: Just because the library "accepts donations" does not mean it is your personal dumpster.

This past weekend a coworker came up to my desk and said that the circ manager asked if I could pick up the books "some patron" dumped in front of the outside bookdrop.

Haven't held a floppy in a looooong ass time...

As I was pushing the cart full of crap past the circ desk, I told the circ manager that if I can get a name to look up in our patron database by going through these books, someone will be getting a phone call or email.

I was able to find a couple of certificates of course completion but the name did not bring back any results.  None of the items dumped were of any use or value for the Friends' booksale.  Seriously, who wants or needs to learn about old school DOS or Excel 7.0, not 2007, but the 1995 version.

These Patrons are the Best...

No, seriously, these patrons are the best.  I know I can be highly cynical and snarky but this is a break from that (for this post).

1 lb. of diabetes in a nicely wrapped box

Last Saturday on the desk, one of my regular patrons walked by to say hi and reached into her ginormous purse and pulled this out --- 1 lb. of Trader Joe's choclate.  When she handed it to me, she kept thanking me for helping her all those times and that this was just for me.

She's an elderly patron who is pretty adept at using computers and the internet but still has some troubles, which is where I come in.  I have been at this branch for almost 6 months and I helped her my first day there.  My supervisor made a comment about how I "stole" one of her patrons away from her since she used to ask her for help all the time.

"I don't like it unless it's brand new, brand new..." --- Rhymefest

Yesterday, a patron donated a handful of books.  While I was going through the ILS to see if we or another branch needed them, I came across these 4 titles, all of which are fairly new releases.  Between these four books there was a combined count of 990 holds.  This branch is much smaller than my previous one, but the amount of new books donated is astounding. 
Patrons at my older branch would complain and bitch about "What?? 200 holds?  Why are there so many holds!? I'll never get this book, what good is the library if I can't get the book I want, blah blah blah." 
At this branch, a patron will reply, "Oh wow, that's a lot of holds.  Don't bother placing the hold, I'll just buy the book and I'll donate it when I'm done."  And by-golly they do just that.  I have added so many "hot titles" to our collection, as well as other branches in the system, from these generous patrons.

Now, if only we could get some donations for The Hunger Games, that title alone has almost just as many holds as these four books!

The Rules of Circulation #07 (The RoC)

 "Never Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth, unless its Dead and Decaying"....

A patron came up and handed me a book saying that a while back he couldn't find this book.  He ended up paying for it but he just found it and wanted to give it back.  I told him that we wouldn't be able to give him a refund and he smirked and said that it was okay and that he wanted the library to add it back to its shelves.

I didn't fully comprehend the reason of his smugness until I took a better look at the book in the backroom and noticed the Hazmat like condition it was in.  Seriously, you could play connect the dots with all of the individual colonies.  All of the pages were warped with water damage and as you can see from the above picture, it turned into a petri dish.  I quickly bagged it and took it to the dumpster.

Did this patron return this book knowing it was rife with hazardous spores ---- probably.  Have patrons "donated" similar materials thinking the library/Friends would find good use for it, yes.  Some have good (but clearly void of any common sense) intentions while others rest on the nefarious end of the spectrum.

I cannot stress how much the library DOESN'T NEED your lifelong collection of 'National Geographic' or 'TV Guide.'  But it has such treasures, such as the first cover of "Alf" you say, thanks but no thanks.  Save that stuff for neighborhood yard sales.  The library's bookdrop is not your personal dumpster.  If I ever find anyone using it as such, I will send Detective Bookman after you and you will pay the consequences, which will involve volunteering your time to rat on any patrons who find any loopholes with the internet filters.