Losing Library Books

I love reading – but not fiction and novels like others. I enjoy autobiographies, how-to books, books of fact. My father was an insatiable reader and had book cases of engineering and math texts and would read the newspaper daily from cover to cover beginning with the comics which he we hand over to his children. He would read at the kitchen table, in his study and in his bed. The only time I didn’t see him with a book in his hand was when he was doing yard work, sailing or hiking. He even had a book in his hand when he was fixing the car, the plumbing, the lights – then it was a how-to book. The children in my family enjoy the series books of vampires, lost loves, and mythical creatures. My husband likes mysteries, westerns and short stories from Readers’ Digest. He also collects books and videos for children and young adults to read and watch on their visits to our home in the summertime. The first book I really enjoyed reading was Cheaper By The Dozen. I have remembered that book with fondness for 60 years even following movies of it through my lifetime. First was the 1950 version with Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy. The second was the 2003 & 2005 version with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt - Cheaper by the Dozen I and II. Now back to losing library books. The first ones I lost were back when I had preschoolers. I know I have paid for my share of them. That was the time pre-computer era when I was certain that I returned a number of books. They were checked in by hand using the cards in the back of the books. Early in the 80’s, upon receiving an overdue phone call, one day, I stormed off to the library. The librarian told me those books were not in and I would keep paying fines or have to pay for the book. I opted to look for the books on the shelf, so I proceeded to sit on the floor and go thru the books a dozen at a time taking them off the shelf and putting them back on again. Sure enough, after almost an hour, I found them both on the shelf without cards. Now, all books that come in and out are scanned by the computer. Millions of books each year go in and out of libraries. Even though there are still books that are lost, librarians are angels that help families who have lost family withdrawals. I’m sure there are still some books unaccounted for on the shelves or in toy boxes at home but the computer era has caught many more than they caught 3 decades ago.