I have lost my library book

[cab]

Has this happened to you, and what did they do ?

[sara3]

send you to prison for 12 years under the Theft Act 1986 ;o)

I'm sure they can only ask you to cover the cost of the book, but if you delay telling them they may add the usual fines.

go and hand yourself in!

[janbee]

This happened to a friend of mine and she had to replace the book. That was a few years ago so I don't know what the procedure is now. Maybe the guilty party is taken outside and shot !!

[sadielady]

Happened to me - charged me the value of the book but they will add on fines if you delay telling them, and they do mount up very quickly ;-( Suppose you can always wait for the overdue card to arrive (do they still send them) then swear blind you have returned it!!

[saxy_jag]

Don't worry - they won't hang you and will probably even let you retain your library membership.

Just go and fess up. At worst, you'll be asked to pay the cost of replacing the book. At best, they'll waive any fees. You might have to pay a little more if the book was borrowed via an inter-library loan.

My boss (senior managing librarian) once loaned a fairly expensive book on her student daughter's behalf. The daughter subsequently lost the book and my embarrassed boss had to write a very apologetic, grovelling letter to the British Library asking them to invoice her personally for the replacement cost.

[cab]

Thank you all for comments.

[flicrat]

Only ONE book? Many years ago when my four children were young,we moved house and lost TWELVE library books,as they each had out 3 - as they were allowed to do. We unpacked boxes and could not find them,anywhere,ignoring labelled cartons that did not say books.Naturally,I had to pay for them all. Six years later,we had a clear out and found them in a box marked "Old copies of the Guide and Brownie magazines". There had ben a space on the top and my ex had chucked in the library books.The library said they were mine as I had paid for them, but we had to put them in the church fete, as my teenagers no longer wanted to read about 'Topsy and Tim ' or 'Little Red Hen'!!

[saxy_jag]

Hope you got a good price - Little Red Hen is a classic these days.

[cab]

LOL

[northernmonkey]

aha, have to comment because I find it quite funny really that they send you 2 warnings threatening legal action over a book - then never contact you again. Best of it is -
1 - lent library to a neighbour
2 - they got a book out worth £1.99
3 - moved houses about 2 weeks later
4 - when i got a 2nd reminder i went in explained ect she looked on computer and said oh books no longer for sale anywhere so pay £3 and we can sort it out (i just walked out and never heard again)

the letters and posting would have been more than books value - absolute stupidity