Stuck in a Book
As most of you know, I am a librarian. The other day at work, I was checking in a book and a small birthday card fell out of it. Inside the card was a five dollar bill. This got me to thinking about the many odd things patrons use as bookmarks that are left inside of books and returned to libraries. The bookmarks left behind sometimes paint a picture of the person who checked out the book.
Some of the following items I have found myself, others have been found by people I have worked with, and others I have read about or heard about from other librarians.
Odd paper items found lying around the house (These are the most common---whatever is there at hand, that is what patrons stick into the book to reserve their place in the story.)
paper money of various denominations
store receipts
admission tickets or stubs to plays, concerts, movies, or other performances
church bulletins
candy and gum wrappers
party invitations
thank you notes
birthday and get well cards
pictures cut out from magazines
newspaper clippings of all sorts: obituaries, marriage announcements, help wanted ads
store coupons
recipes
grocery lists
napkins
photos
Personal documents (These are things that really SHOULDN'T be left behind for someone else to find for security and privacy reasons--especially keeping in mind that it may not be the librarians that find these items, but it may be another patron instead. If we are the ones to find these items, we do make an effort to get them back to the proper patron, but it would be very easy for these documents to fall into the wrong hands if we don't find them first.)
credit cards
social security cards
passports
driver's licenses
birth certificates
death certificates
marriage certificates
phone, electric, credit card, and other types of bills
Items from the bathroom (I try not to think too much about the fact that our patrons are taking their books into the bathroom to read.)
squares of toilet paper
tissues
panty liners (!)
Q-tips
emery boards and nail files
Odds and ends of all sorts
large bird feathers
leaves
name tags
ribbons
headbands
bobby pins
paper clips
keys
a dead dried butterfly that had been laminated in plastic
condoms (Still in the wrapper, thank goodness! Someone must have been reading before bed, I guess?! Ay-yi-yi! Once again, I'd rather not spend time thinking about this.)
Food Items (Honestly!! What is the matter with these people? Did they grow up without mothers? What would possess someone to use these things as bookmarks?)
candy (Anyone want a slightly melted Hershey's bar or a stick of Laffy Taffy?)
a slice of wrapped cheese
a lettuce leaf
a slice of bacon (No, I'm not making this up. In fact I have heard of this happening on more than one occasion!!! This is just so wrong! What?....Are people sitting there reading a book while they are eating breakfast and the phone rings, so they stick a slice of bacon in their book to save their spot? I'm telling you there are a lot of strange people in this world.)
Is it any wonder that we librarians wash our hands often throughout the day, and that the very first thing we do when we get done working is wash our hands?
I'm beginning to understand why we were provided with free flu shots last fall too!
Some of the following items I have found myself, others have been found by people I have worked with, and others I have read about or heard about from other librarians.
Odd paper items found lying around the house (These are the most common---whatever is there at hand, that is what patrons stick into the book to reserve their place in the story.)
paper money of various denominations
store receipts
admission tickets or stubs to plays, concerts, movies, or other performances
church bulletins
candy and gum wrappers
party invitations
thank you notes
birthday and get well cards
pictures cut out from magazines
newspaper clippings of all sorts: obituaries, marriage announcements, help wanted ads
store coupons
recipes
grocery lists
napkins
photos
Personal documents (These are things that really SHOULDN'T be left behind for someone else to find for security and privacy reasons--especially keeping in mind that it may not be the librarians that find these items, but it may be another patron instead. If we are the ones to find these items, we do make an effort to get them back to the proper patron, but it would be very easy for these documents to fall into the wrong hands if we don't find them first.)
credit cards
social security cards
passports
driver's licenses
birth certificates
death certificates
marriage certificates
phone, electric, credit card, and other types of bills
Items from the bathroom (I try not to think too much about the fact that our patrons are taking their books into the bathroom to read.)
squares of toilet paper
tissues
panty liners (!)
Q-tips
emery boards and nail files
Odds and ends of all sorts
large bird feathers
leaves
name tags
ribbons
headbands
bobby pins
paper clips
keys
a dead dried butterfly that had been laminated in plastic
condoms (Still in the wrapper, thank goodness! Someone must have been reading before bed, I guess?! Ay-yi-yi! Once again, I'd rather not spend time thinking about this.)
Food Items (Honestly!! What is the matter with these people? Did they grow up without mothers? What would possess someone to use these things as bookmarks?)
candy (Anyone want a slightly melted Hershey's bar or a stick of Laffy Taffy?)
a slice of wrapped cheese
a lettuce leaf
a slice of bacon (No, I'm not making this up. In fact I have heard of this happening on more than one occasion!!! This is just so wrong! What?....Are people sitting there reading a book while they are eating breakfast and the phone rings, so they stick a slice of bacon in their book to save their spot? I'm telling you there are a lot of strange people in this world.)
Is it any wonder that we librarians wash our hands often throughout the day, and that the very first thing we do when we get done working is wash our hands?
I'm beginning to understand why we were provided with free flu shots last fall too!
