Very Difficult To Balance The Books

I take care of lost and damaged books in our library.

When a patron loses or damages a book, they can either buy a new copy themselves and bring it to us or we can buy a new copy and then send them an invoice.

One patron, in particular, has been a big problem. She borrowed six books that were very, very late. After months of trying to reach her by email, phone, and physical letters, she finally brought five of the books back. Those books were all very damaged — torn pages and covers, some coffee spills inside, scribblings everywhere, etc. We knew for sure that she was the one responsible because those were all new books and she was the first patron to borrow them.

We told her that she would have to bring back the last book she still had and that she would have to pay for all the damaged book,s as well as the late fee.

She finally did pay her invoice, after months of constant reminders once again.

She still hadn’t brought back her last book, though. But she finally did bring it back, weeks after paying her first invoice, this one also very damaged.

So, I told her that once again, she would have to pay for it. She then sent me an email saying the following :

“Dear Madam,

This book is actually written by a group that has it available for free on their website. To avoid cutting down more trees and to do something for our planet, I suggest you could put the PDF on your catalog instead of making me buy a new copy.”

Obviously, I’m going to send her an email back saying that even if we decide to take the PDF instead of buying a physical copy, she still has to pay for the book she damaged. But I am just baffled at the nerve she has. If she cares so much about trees, then maybe she should take care of the books she borrows.