I am not making this up.
Aug. 22nd, 2012 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silverflight8I work in a library and shelve books.
In shelving I remove the random pieces of paper that people stick into books. So far, I have found, among other things:
*Post-its, sticky colourful flags, plastic flags, etc, with and without text, sometimes shredded into small strips. Scrap paper with scribblings and paperclips fall into this category too.
*toilet paper folded over a few times (heh, obviously I am not alone in this)
*Due date slips. This is boring, except...some of them are from 1994! They're yellowing and bent and obviously no one has actually cracked open this book since '94. I am keeping track of the oldest ones (the 1994 one, properly, is a pre-printed piece of paper with the library's name, a notice saying "50 cents per day per book", and a rubber-stamped date. It's not the receipts that are computer-printed automatically when we check out books.)
*Interlibrary loan papers, complete with patron name, requesting library, date of request, a paperclip (often in colours like hot pink), and many other uninterpretable details which look like keysmashes to me.
*A "Parking Infraction Notice", with instructions saying: "If you plead not guilty then the trial will be held at [Province] Court at: [Address]" I'm not sure if they plead guilty or not, since the stub ended up in a book...
*An RBC banking receipt. Someone withdrew $100 at some point, apparently.
*A test paper on recent Chinese history, marked in red pen.
*A piece of paper with bunny stickers.
But today I found something that takes the cake:
*Someone's completed Social Security card application. With his name, address, date of birth, mailing address. Folded into eight squares. LEFT IN A BOOK.
AHHHH!
In shelving I remove the random pieces of paper that people stick into books. So far, I have found, among other things:
*Post-its, sticky colourful flags, plastic flags, etc, with and without text, sometimes shredded into small strips. Scrap paper with scribblings and paperclips fall into this category too.
*toilet paper folded over a few times (heh, obviously I am not alone in this)
*Due date slips. This is boring, except...some of them are from 1994! They're yellowing and bent and obviously no one has actually cracked open this book since '94. I am keeping track of the oldest ones (the 1994 one, properly, is a pre-printed piece of paper with the library's name, a notice saying "50 cents per day per book", and a rubber-stamped date. It's not the receipts that are computer-printed automatically when we check out books.)
*Interlibrary loan papers, complete with patron name, requesting library, date of request, a paperclip (often in colours like hot pink), and many other uninterpretable details which look like keysmashes to me.
*A "Parking Infraction Notice", with instructions saying: "If you plead not guilty then the trial will be held at [Province] Court at: [Address]" I'm not sure if they plead guilty or not, since the stub ended up in a book...
*An RBC banking receipt. Someone withdrew $100 at some point, apparently.
*A test paper on recent Chinese history, marked in red pen.
*A piece of paper with bunny stickers.
But today I found something that takes the cake:
*Someone's completed Social Security card application. With his name, address, date of birth, mailing address. Folded into eight squares. LEFT IN A BOOK.
AHHHH!
no subject
Date: Aug. 23rd, 2012 04:11 pm (UTC)and whaaaaaaat, people are really smart :(
no subject
Date: Aug. 23rd, 2012 04:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 23rd, 2012 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 23rd, 2012 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 23rd, 2012 11:20 pm (UTC)I recently found a 1950s bus ticket in a book. My worst library find was a rasher of uncooked bacon (clearly a breakfast reader). At least neither of us has, yet, found a condom.
I might know people who insert altered books into library collections, possibly. ::shifty::
no subject
Date: Aug. 23rd, 2012 11:32 pm (UTC)I don't think my library even existed at that point!
(But was the ticket interesting? That's my favourite part - comparing the new and old date-due receipts and suchlike).
Ewwwww bacon...it's not that I have objections to bacon itself, but that plus a book, oh poor book.
Now that you've mentioned it, I just know we're going to find one. I'm sure someone already has. I'm not going to Google it.
(The application, fortunately, is 7 years old, so I hope he moved somewhere else in the meantime!)
no subject
Date: Aug. 24th, 2012 08:30 am (UTC)The bus ticket is "collectible" (about £1-50 according to t'interwebz) and has an interesting history. I wrote a whole post about it but haven't got around to posting it yet.
My local library in London claimed they'd found an unused condom in a book (bedside reading, heh).