Inspecting library books for cleanliness
Benefits of Libraries
While I haven’t done the Math yet, I did save a few hundreds of dollars on the books I read last year. This is because I borrowed and read a lot of library books instead of buying them. (Although, I still bought a fair amount of books.) It’s one of the many reasons I love libraries.
How Cleanliness Affects my Choices
Tendency Towards the New
Over the past months I noticed that I severely tended towards newly released book titles. That had less to do with not being able to get my hands on them as much as the knowledge that I’d be the first to touch the pristine pages. Sometimes I even grab a book that I would rather read a month or two later, just so that I can keep it at home in its newly minted condition.
Reluctance to Borrow Older Books
Then there are those titles I do want to read but always lose the desire to borrow at the library because they no longer look as clean. At the same time, I don’t feel compelled to buy them either since I didn’t plan to add them to my personal shelves.
This kind of puts me in a bind. Do I overcome my prejudice against yellowed pages or do I borrow them anyway? Again, it’s not the oldness or yellow pages per se that bother me but the worry that the pages might be stained or that I might find hair from a previous patron. I get very antsy about touching iffy hair, you see. Besides, hygiene does matter.
My Love for Library Ebooks
Due to my growing personal issues with cleanliness of library books, my love for library ebooks has increased. I like the convenience of borrowing books at 1 a.m. to read. I also like knowing that I’m have no qualms reading those in bed. I keep my Kindle clean and since it’s my own, I know it hasn’t been in dodge places. Think about it, how would you feel if you found out that a book you read in bed spent a significant amount of time on the ground outside? That thought bugs me out even more than dog ears or coffee stains and those already bother me a great deal.
Reducing Library Books on My TBR
Turning to Books I Own
The more I think about the cleanliness of library books, the more I’m inclined to turn away from library shelves to my own bookshelf. I know my books are clean. I also know I own a little over a hundred unread books. Every now and then I add backlist titles because I saw the sad conditions of the library copies.
Engaging more with Digital Content
I won’t let the benefits of saving money go to naught. Overdrive is a splendid resource and I’m determined to take advantage of my library’s digital catalogue this year. I’ve already identified about 400 books that interest me. Of course, I’ll have to cut down on the numbers I realistically plan to read but it’s great to know that there certainly isn’t a lack of titles I want to read.
Not Abandoning the Library
Nonetheless, I have no plans to abandon my library. I only plan to be more picky on the books and magazines that I do pick up. For the most part, I will continue to get hold of newly released titles, so I’ll stop worrying so much about the cleanliness of library books.
I am so glad to discover that I am not alone in this. I wouldn’t use the library for the longest time because I kept thinking about how dirty the books were and I didn’t like not knowing where they had been. What if someone spat on the pages or cut themselves and bled onto them? What if someone used the toilet and then didn’t wash their hands before picking up the book? I have OCD and I wash my hands until they bleed so for me this is a real problem in my life for lots of things, not just the library. Eventually I realised that I couldn’t afford to buy new books all the time and my daughter loves going to the library. I figure that I don’t want her to have a problem like mine so I started taking her there regularly and now we both choose new books to borrow all the time. I won’t borrow books that are visibly dirty and am still quite picky about condition but I try not to think about it as much as possible!
I grew up in a very hygiene-conscious family. Nobody was allowed to wear shoes at home; more so so we don’t bring any dirt inside than for cultural reasons (my mum’s Asian). Street clothes were also a big no-go and bags all had to be left near the entrance door. No bags in our bedrooms and schoolbooks were plastic wrapped, so we could easily wipe them. Thankfully my parents still accepted library books at home. But they were always wary too. Like you, I still borrow books but I stay away from books that are visibly dirty.
I used to borrow books all the time but now I’m finding myself increasingly less inclined to pick them up because I honestly cannot deal with the thought that so many people pick those books up and god knows what stuff has been on their hands beforehand. I think sticking to my own bought books and ebooks are a much cleaner way.
Great post, Josephine <33
The more I stare at those books and imagine where they might have been, the more my skin crawls. Haha. So every time I see new releases hitting the shelves, I get really excited. But YES! to clean books and ebooks!
The only library I have is the school library, and I usually don’t have a choice with it concerning cleanliness. Some books are so old and brown that the pages are crumbling and when you sweep your finger across the page, your fingers end up black. It’s pretty gross sometimes.
So when the library gets new books, I go crazy and try to get the ones I want before anyone else reads them, because they’ll be nice and clean.
I remember some of the tiny libraries of schools I attended when I was younger. I didn’t mind the yellowing pages because that meant that those books carried history. But black pages sounds disgusting!
In any case, I’m glad you still manage to get hold of some of the newer books through your library, Shannelle :)
Ich habe schon relativ lange nichts mehr in Bibliotheken ausgeliehen, was aber mehr daran liegt, dass sie kaum englische Titel führen und sonst nur ältere deutsche Neuerscheinungen oder eben Übersetzungen, die mich kaum interessieren. Damals fand ich ein bisschen vergilbte Seiten zB zwar immer okay, unschön fand ich aber eben auch Flecken oder – was mich eigentlich immer viel verrückter macht – Gerüche, die irgendwie nicht zu Büchern passen. Ich mag das nicht, wenn ich eigentlich in einer anderen Welt/Person verschwinden will und mich der muffige Geruch die ganze Zeit davon abhält. Verbunden damit kommt dann immer der Gedanke, wie das Buch an diesen Geruch gekommen ist. Ich kann deine Gedanken also sehr gut nachvollziehen.
Seit ich so viel unterwegs bin, schätze ich auch die Onleihe meiner Bib umso mehr, eben aus deinen erwähnten Gründen und weil ich mir damit keine Sorgen um Rückreisegepäck machen muss, während ich gleichzeitig keine 13€ für eBooks ausgebe (das ist ja hier wirklich ein Witz bei Neuerscheinungen). Mir kommt’s auch so vor, als wären in der Onleihe generell eher neuere Bücher zu haben als in Printformat.
Bei mir ist es das Gegenteil ;) Englische Bücher sind einfach zu finden, während es kaum Deutsche Bücher vor Ort gibt. Zwar hat das Goethe Institut eine Bücherei sie ist sehr klein und hat wenig Neuerscheinungen. Ich war deswegen so froh als ich Onleihe entdeckt hatte und meine alte Bibliothek auch Online-Mitgliedschaften anbietet, selbst wenn man im Ausland wohnt.
Ich erschrecke mich laufend wenn ich feststelle wie teuer Deutsche eBücher sind im Vergleich zu Englischen eBüchern.
Bei meiner lokalen Bibliothek gibt es eine gute Mischung von neuen und alten Titeln. Auch der Overdrive Katalog ist riesig.
One of my teachers back in high school once said she never takes her library books with her to bed because she finds it to be unhygienic. Ever since she said that I started thinking about the cleanliness of library books. Everyone touches those things, inside and out and god knows where those hands have been. I almost always disinfect the covers of my library books and I try not to think too much about what the previous reader might have done with the book or what that weird-colored spot could be.
Lol! If my parents had their way, I wouldn’t be reading library books in bed either. As a concession, I only do that when I’m about to change my bedsheets or when the library are the newest releases, such I’m the first person reading them. When that happens, I wipe the books with alcohol swabs just to be safe. I’ve seen books lying on the library floors too many times.
I’m a bit of a freak when it comes to hygiene (I won’t marry a guy who refuses to floss). Luckily, most of the YA books at my public library are in pretty good shape other than some dog-eared pages. Some of the adult books that my mom checks out are less satisfactory shape though: coffee stains, crumpled pages, and that weird musty smell. Ew.
Simply because of convenience, I mainly check out books via Overdrive. I used to visit the library twice a week, but school and extracurricular activities have had me busy all day lately.
That’s the odd thing I noticed too. YA books almost always are in better condition at my library than the adult books are. I’m so repulsed by half the adult titles, I’m glad I predominantly read YA books. When it comes to general fiction, I read ebooks, listen to audiobooks and occasionally buy the books myself.
Ebooks are wonderfully convenient. I definitely agree with you about that ;)
I do wonder about the cleanliness of the library books sometimes, but it’s usually after I’ve already checked out the book. I end up thinking “Well, it’s already here, might as well.” Still, I get a little iffy about touching strange stains on the pages, even by accident.
That’s pretty much why I loooove the digital content that my library has, because I don’t ever have to worry about germs or late fees or having to get out of the house when all I want to wear is my PJs. :P
“Might as well.” HAHAHA! I love your train of thought ;) In the even that I do borrow a less than satisfactory book in terms of cleanliness, it stays in my living room and goes nowhere near any of the bedrooms at home. I must badly want to read a book though if I look past a book’s (lack of) cleanliness.
Another good thing about ebooks is that they’re often so light compared to their printed versions!
When I was younger I used to get books form the library soemtimes, but after I started buying books myself and the library costs money when you’re an adult I just never went back to the library. Just like you I am always worried about how clean the library books are and whikle I love seeing those used books I prefer to read and hold a clean and new copy. I don’t have a lot of money and sometimes try to convince myself to go to the library, but something is holding me back and then I rather just buy a few new books then get multiple books from the library.
I do really like the diea of lending e-copies, I might have to check that out once. Not sure if the libraries here do that too.
Isn’t a library membership still cheaper than buying all the books? Haha. But yeah, I get what you mean. When you can afford your own new clean copy of a book, it’s so much nicer to buy it if you can. Unless it’s a book you’re not especially interested in yourself. You can ask your local library if they have an ebook catalogue subscription. For English books, Overdrive is the dominant library ebooks provider. In Germany, Onleihe is the main provider. I’m not sure about the Netherlands though.
Ugh yeah I’m probably going to switch to ebooks for some of the older library books just because some of them are REALLY disgusting. Like I got Shadow Kiss from the library and honestly I don’t even want to touch it. It’s all banged up and smells bad and I feel gross after I touch it. But I mean unless a book looks really bad, I usually don’t think about it too much. Like there is definitely a chance that all books could have been in dodge places (I’m sure bathrooms have been common places) but I mean, my jeans have been in gross places as well so my general thought process is if it doesn’t look bad, then don’t worry about it. But if it looks bad then… probably don’t read it near your bed. But ebooks are always a really really great alternative. Clean, convenient and YOU DON’T HAVE TO MOVE. I think taking the trip to my library to pick up my books is probably my least favourite thing because I’m sooo lazy.
Yeah, as much as possible I look for ebook-versions of older books. When that doesn’t work, I try to buy the backlist titles. Ideally as bargain books via Amazon. Haha. When it coms to the library though, I’m seldom lazy. I practically flew out of the house on Saturday evening, so I could borrow the audiobook CDs of Cress that I had reserved before the library closed. Lol.
I’ve thought about this particular topic – especially with a year of predominantly reading from the library ahead of me – but to be honest when I say ‘thought about it’ I mean very briefly in passing. I know if I thought about it too much then it would consume me a little and perhaps steer me clear of reading physical library books all together.
Germs are everywhere and it can be hard to avoid them. Some books I do avoid at the library because they look particularly grimy, but for the most part I just borrow what piques my interest regardless of condition.
You kind of know what you’re getting in for by borrowing library books, but at the same time I totally get your logic on this topic!
:-)
You’re right, germs are everywhere. But we don’t have to purposefully add them to our lives when we can avoid it ;)
So I should probably start by saying that I am a public librarian. I know about gross books. I know about worn out books. I know about yellowed pages, and torn covers, and dogeared corners. I can honestly tell you that sometimes I come across books that are moldy and disgusting. Granted these are usually picture books (I am a children’s librarian).
But here’s the thing. When I have to go through the collection and weed books, the ones that haven’t circulated in awhile are beautiful. Shiny covers, no torn pages. They look pristine. And they’ve never, or barely, been read. And I would much rather come across a book that is worn and yellowed, maybe even with a hair stuck in the pages, than a beautiful book that has never been read.
Books are meant to be read. And libraries want their books to be read over and over and over again. And yes, that means books get worn out, and there might be germs on them. But so what. Germs are everywhere. I mean, of course if they are particularly disgusting the library should withdraw them. And often libraries will re-order replacement copies (if it is in their budget). But if you come across a book that is worn, that means that many people have read that book, and probably many people have loved that book. I think that is pretty special.
But if a book has a clear plastic cover on it, you can wipe that down (we do that a lot with books), so that will help. Of course you can’t do that with the pages, but you don’t hold the pages that much while reading.
I had a feeling you’d comment on this, Quinn ;) I see where you’re coming from. When it comes to backlist titles that look practically new, I do wonder if they were newly added to the shelves or if nobody was interested enough to check them out. The latter cases do make me sad too.
On the other hand, I get so agitated when library patrons don’t take care of the books they borrow. Those books are meant for the public. They don’t belong to them, so they should accord more respect to such property.
My library only re-orders the hugely popular books. But even then, they rarely do it, unless they’re re-published editions. They always add so many new titles to the shelves, that they keep backlist titles in the repository when most copies of a title have run their course.
Hardcovers are all plastic wrapped here too. But paperbacks are left as they are. Even so, stains and smudges usually are in the centre or around the edges, so it’s not always possible to avoid them. That’s why inspect all the library books I take from the shelves before borrowing them. If I’m really interested and I don’t like the condition, I buy the book instead. Greater income for the authors and publishers, so no love lost ;)