When Your Cover Story Falls Apart

At the library where I worked, books had two forms of identification: a bar code tag on the back cover and a thin metal strip hidden inside the spine. The strip triggered the security alarm if it wasn’t deactivated at checkout. After our biannual book sale, this happens…

A man with a large backpack tries to leave. The alarm blares, and he’s escorted back to the desk. He immediately raises a fuss, but eventually, with much grumbling, he pulls out a hardback book with its entire back cover torn off.

Patron: “This is my book!”

Me: “Sir, you set off the security alarm. That book isn’t checked out to you. Also, it’s damaged.”

Patron: “No, I got this at the book sale the other day! It’s not a library book anymore! It’s been… uh, it’s been…”

Fellow Librarian: “Withdrawn?”

Patron: “Yes! Withdrawn! I paid for it, so it’s mine!”

Fellow Librarian: “Sir, if this had been withdrawn, it would be stamped ‘WITHDRAWN’ on the title page and back cover. The back cover’s missing, but I don’t see a stamp anywhere.”

Patron: “It was like this when I got it!”

Me: “If a book was in the sale in that condition, it would also be stamped ‘DAMAGED.’ No stamp here.”

Patron: “IT’S MINE!”

Fellow Librarian: “Also, sir, all books sold at the book sale have their security tags deactivated. This one clearly hasn’t.”

Patron: “There’s no bar code, is there?”

Me: “Sir… the bar code isn’t the security feature.”

Patron: “…It’s not?”

Fellow Librarian: “Nope.”

The man grabs his backpack and bolts. Later, up in the stacks, I find the missing back cover, with the intact bar code, stuffed between two books exactly where the title belongs. Nice try. At the next sale, my coworker officially bought the same book (now stamped WITHDRAWN) and, for weeks, made a big show of strolling back and forth through security with it, just to rub it in.