in conversation with literature

[adrian_turtle]

With all the places I could conceivably post this, I choose to share it here, where I can't include a picture. Maybe it's because I like you so much.

I picked up a book from a little free library recently, and it included an actual breakup note. Not a goodbye note like, "Farewell, little book! May you find another lonely teenager to love you as I once did!"
This one says "I don't think I'm ever going to pick you up again" and "I love the first two books in the series, but not you," followed by a paragraph of [absolutely fair] criticism that appears to have been written with a purple gel pen.

Comments

[mrissa]

Ours have them by certain digits of our library card number, so you can know yours by looking at your library card but could not predict someone else's by knowing their name, street address, phone number, or anything else about them.

[evalerie]

That sounds better at protecting library patrons' privacy. Ann Arbor, where I live, is so small that when I pick up my books, I usually can see what friends are checking out. Mostly I think that the idea of protecting people's privacy often gets taken too far, like when they won't let me in at my child's school in order to protect the privacy of his classmates -- I think that is bizarre, and in some cases it is illegal. But for library checkouts I really do think some privacy is in order, so that people can check out books that they might not want the world to know that they are reading. Though at my library I suppose someone who wanted privacy could use the "pick up your books from a locker" option instead of the hold shelves, and then they would have privacy.