College Student Is Horrified To Receive A Letter From Library Informing Her That She Has A $12K Debt For The 119 Books She Borrowed For Her Dissertation
In the Middle Ages, scientists were not in vain called “bookworms” – after all, books in those days were actually the only source of knowledge, and the more written sources a scientist used when doing their study, the more confidence the scientific community had in the resulting work.
However, some modern researchers use this principle too literally… The best proof of this is the wonderful video by TikToker @historyhan, a PhD student at Binghamton University, and a true book lover. Maybe too much so…
More info: TikTok
The author of the video is a PhD student writing her dissertation about medieval history
Image credits: historyhan
The student had been using many library books, hoarding them in her room for years
Image credits: historyhan
Image credits: historyhan
“The books aren’t lost, I’m just hoarding them until I finish my dissertation”
“Seriously, I’ve had the books for years lol. Not stolen, still in use. I’ve scanned lots of books, but in this case, they all came due at once! No one has requested them or I would return for sure!!! I’ve never replied to an email faster. A lesson was learned, I promise lol.”
Image credits: historyhan
Image credits: historyhan
Image credits: Jukka Zitting (not the actual photo)
@historyhan The librarian who sent this email must have felt so powerful 🫠 #gradstudentlife #gradstudent ♬ Originalton – POV’s
One day Hannah faced an almost $12K fine for 119 unreturned books as the library reported them ‘lost’
So, Hannah is a PhD student, and is actively writing her dissertation, using all possible book sources for this. The author’s dwelling is literally littered with books – especially since Hannah is studying medieval history. As befits a real scientist, immersed headlong in her research, the woman regularly ignored various annoying emails from the university library – until one day she accidentally opened one of these messages!
The contents of the email struck Hannah in much the same way that Galileo Galilei was struck when he first looked at Jupiter through a telescope. Or maybe when he received a letter from the Inquisition – after all, this email from the library has a lot in common with it. The fact is that after thirty days, library rules considered an unreturned book lost, and for this the user was served a fine of a hundred dollars.
Hannah had no less than 119 library books at home, which meant she had to fork out $11.9K in library fines! Just agree that’s a very impressive amount. However, the author of the video does not agree at all with the the library clerks’ decision to consider the books that she did not return ‘lost’ or even ‘stolen’. After all, the historian was simply hoarding them until she finished her dissertation!
What’s more, in Hannah’s own words, she regularly put a reminder on her to-do list to return the books, but since this task had a low priority, it found itself buried under more important things almost every day. However, the end of the story turned out to be happy enough – like Galileo, Hannah managed to avoid serious punishment, and the library let her renew all of the 119 books for a ‘reasonable’ fee of $20.
Now that the situation has cleared up, the library has again allowed Hannah to use all the books that were previously overdue, without any restrictions. According to university rules, the limit for graduate students is 200 books. Hopefully, this will help the researcher with completing her study on time – and, perhaps, becoming no less famous in world science than Galileo Galilei. And yet it moves…
The commenters, however, just found this story funny, in no way condemning Hannah – especially since the student admitted in the comments that she usually receives notifications if someone else requested the book she borrowed. So, over the years that the books lay in her room, not one of the 119 was in demand by other library users. Either way, the original poster swore she’d learned her lesson. Probably, now the task of returning the books to the library will have the highest priority… By the way, have you, our dear readers, ever found yourself in a similar situation?
People in the comments were just cracking up at this story while Hannah promised that she learned her lesson quite well
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If you are hoarding books instead of returning them you are TA. There are other people who wantvto ise those books.
Yeah and you should be heavily fined, not 11-12k that's too much not 20 that's not enough, we need something just right
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"But I wasn't done with them!" Yeah...that is not how libraries work. If you don't return the books within the reasonable amount of time, the library will assume you never intend to return them and will charge you the replacement cost. Library books are supposed to be accessible to everyone, which is why they limit the amount of time you can hold onto them.
She think she can finish all the 119 books in short time and plan to return them at once. How considerate.
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She's the a*****e, she could easily return them, and then take them out again if she needed them that badly. or, and hear me out, she could write down and take notes of the important info she needs from these books for future reference. "i wasn't done with them ;-;" isn't how libraries work, and if you can't understand how a library works then what the hell are you doing in university? She SHOULD be made to pay the costs. What if some other students needed these books but couldn't access them cos of her? What if they fail because of her selfishness?
Exactly. Most wouldn't know what title they're looking for, they'd just be looking for books on that subject.... which means nobody else can access those books she's hoarding. So... they'd either have to go to another library, or BUY the books they need. Super selfish of her.
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I love how she is in the wrong but proclaiming Victim status. "No one has requested them..." They don't have to. You borrowed them. It's up to you to return them. Instead of putting together your stupid TikTok video, take the books and return them.
Plus, when you research you don't always know the title of a book you need, or know if you'll need the book until you've looked into it, so that might be reasons why there aren't any requests. Also "Not stolen! Still in use!" That's not how that works...
Load More Replies... 'the books aren't lost' - she kept them for YEARS. To the library, it's considered stolen so yes, they were lost.
No, she has not really learned much. Her idea that still using something overdue is not stealing says a lot. She is a lesson to everyone to never let this woman borrow anything from anyone. I think the library was way too lenient in dropping the fines. So what no one requested them. Many times if someone sees something unavailable they want they don't bother putting in a request and wait it out. They just assume it's out of stock. This is pretty s****y what she's doing. She could've saved herself a ton of space, trouble, money by doing some research online.
Its ok if ots only 1-10 books. But this is 119. She want to knock out other students with similar dissertation.
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On what planet does this person live?! It is not okay to borrow almost 120 books and not return them. Borrow a few, use them, make notes, return them. If you need the books for longer, you extend the borrowing period. It might just be an email or a phone call to the library to arrange this. To hoard books in this way is incredibly selfish.
What a selfish little girl. If I was university staff I would be very carefully checking her work for plagiarism too.
I've never written a dissertation. I don't even know what it is. I left school at 16,never bothered with taking my exams, but I still know how a f*****g library works.
Intelligence and narrow education are definitely not corelated.
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Study books are expensive and you're literally hoarding them, if they're overdue for so long, it's not wrong for the library to just assume you've lost them. The fine is likely what it'll cost them to replace those 119 books. Don't be an a*s and return your library books. Heck, *ask* for an extended loan term if you need one.
When I was in grad school, for books not regularly checked out, with a letter from your advisor, the college library would give you a 6 month check out. Or I would also use the scanner and have all the pages I needed digitally.
No scanners back when I was in grad school, I took enough notes to weigh down my blasted car.
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Graduate students are granted a lot of privileges in anticipation of the extended research that they often have to complete. This means they get to checkout hundreds of books and you get to keep them for a lot longer time and you can keep renewing them almost indefinitely. I completed my PhD more than 15 years ago. It is unconscionable that she would hoard 119 books for years without renewing them. It is reasonable for the library to consider them lost or stolen after all of this time. Just because she didn't receive a notice that people were on the waiting list for these books does not mean that they were not in demand. But my point is if you are going to "hoard" books at least follow the rules and renew them in a timely manner so that the library can keep a reasonable inventory of their books. The huge bill was to shock her to acknowledge that there were consequences for her stealing books from the library.
What a total A$$! Are there no other students, professors, research assistants, visiting scholars etc. also studying medieval history? Does she not see how very rude this is to them!!!!
"Not stolen, still in use." No, they were stolen. She checked them out, didn't return them on the due date, and ignored the multiple notices. That's called theft. The contract stipulated that she could "rent" the books for free as long as she returned them by a certain date or "rented" them for nothing again. She kept them indefinitely. If you do the same thing with a rental car they'd call the police to arrest you for theft.
I feel bad for the librarian who eventually (hopefully) has to sort and reshelve all those books. Yes, they probably reshelve a bunch of books every day, but 119 books would probably be a noticable increase in their workload.
Fine - you're still using them, but you have to *renew* them (which you did, bravo champignon!) Are you going to leave your car on the street and get upset over parking tickets? "But I wasn't finished using the space!" You're one of those twits with city bikes who don't realize they have to return the bike to a station every half hour or so. "But I got access for 24 hours!"
Sorry, I think this whole story is bogus. First, PhD students have expanded borrowing times. Also, usually if you need a book for longer than a month your advisor will check it out for you, and that is good for an entire semester. Secondly, having written a dissertation myself, I know that there are very few books that she needs the entire content of. Usually you need a page or two, at most a chapter. So you photocopy the parts you need, plus the title page and publishing info, and then return it to the library. Someone who has 119 books out is someone who is not meeting with their advisor.
Not everyone has the same system. No way I'd haved bothered my supervisor to get books out for me! I know book hoarders too. It's a lot easier to bookmark than scan and go through everything again on a terrible digital copy and/or write down everything you might need. Working from real books you have at hand is the easier and best way BUT don't get everything out at the start of your disseration and keep it without renewing! As if anyone cares about HER to do list. Disrepecting the library should be grounds for being kicked out of the university IMHO.
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"They're not stolen, they're still in use!" Ummm...that's no where close to how it works. It's called theft by conversion. Imagine if someone borrowed her car, then screwed off with it for years. See if she accepts the "not stolen, still in use" excuse.
And yes, I'm aware the library writes the book off as lost instead of stolen. The issue is the sheer scale of the "borrowing" going on, should graduate it to theft.
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Sounds about right. There was a strict system for dissertation book loans when I was there- we got priority and had a waiting list for certain books (you wrote them down in the planning stages and handed it in to the librarian), but we had to make sure to return them on time. There is guaranteed to be someone on your course who needs the same book, and when you need multiple books, that overlap multiplies. It doesn't matter how niche you think your topic is- there will definitely be someone else who needs it. Hoarding them and being shocked that they had the audacity to pull you up on that is incredibly selfish and entitled.
I'm a librarian in Sweden and it is insane how selfish some people can get about books that are absolutely free. I don't care if your uni course isn't done until June, there are twenty people waiting for the book who is taking the exact same course as you! Jeesus. It's inconvenient, yes, but that's why you plan ahead and finish with maybe five books at the time, not two hundred of them!
Only child?? Doesn't k own how to share and thinks it's OK to basically steal books from thr library.
I just looked at the original replies to the OP and it looks like the majority of people took issue with it. The write up makes it seem like everyone just laughed.
I know right. That's why I rarely read all their fluff. Most of it is nonsense. They straight up lied about people's reactions to her story.
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Seriously, how does one make it all the way to grad school not knowing that when you borrow something you have to give it back when whomever you’re borrowing from tells you to give it back, regardless of whether you still need it???
Maybe you should have returned them on time? And maybe when you grow up, you'll realize the world doesn't revolve around you.
My guess is that she had no intention of returning them, after all she admitted she's had them for years. The lame excuse that "no one else" was interested in checking them out doesn't track. How the hell would she know that? Does she work at the library and have access to that info? Is she the only person doing her studies on Medieval History? I think not! Basically she took something that doesn't belong to her kept them....that's stealing, she just got caught and is trying to backpedal.
On the one hand, a PhD takes 4-5 years to complete, and OP has said no one has requested the books yet. Every university I've attended has an online system to search for books so if a student really wanted one of the 119 books she has, they would know it exists. Alternatively, OP could attempt to find digital versions of the books and keep only those without. Source: me, a grad student.
The OP has not got a clue if anyone requested the books...
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Comment section doesn't pass the vibe. There's disagreeing and then there's being spiteful and insulting a random you don't know, like damn, guys.
The vibe is people are sick of entitled halfwits....
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How do you use a library, know how many books you're allowed to check out at one time due to your education status, and yet don't understand how to take notes, renew books, idk go to the library and use the books there while at the library?
Seems to me like a lot of negative comments here have never had to write a dissertation... That's why grad students can check out more books, they need to cross reference through multiple books, so yes they "need them" it's not like regular books you're reading for fun PhD students literary spend years on this.
We understand. The problem is she was abusing the system. You don't get such a hefty demand from a university library if you are 'playing nicely'. And the excuse that she was 'still using them smacks of entitlement. If a scholar is still using a book, they renew the loan. If they know they will be using the book for quite some time they will arrange a longer loan, or have the sections they need copied or digitised. With the later they can assess the information when they need it, but allow the library copy to return to the library and be useable by other people.
Load More Replies... I hope rental car companies are taking note of this individual (smh)
Personally, I would even go as far as putting a limit on how many times you can renew a loan. We've had one (1) copy of a book that was mandatory reading for the whole class and this one very special little snowflake decided to check it out for 2 weeks (the maximum time allowed) and renew it 3 times. We were livid, but obviously didn't know which massive c**t did it.
You don't know if other people needed them--if the circulation system said they were lost and interlibrary loan wasn't going to be an option, someone was maybe screwed. Or they couldn't wait for a recall, or if it's an open stack library, they may have wanted to just photocopy a bit and not finding a vol. on the shelf figured it would be too much time to do a recall and so just had to do without that content. I've been a grad student-- it's not a joke
She's justifying keeping the books! Entitled much...? So you keep books that are for everyone, saying if anyone wants it, you get a notification, then you'll decide if you want to return it. But..... You don't want to pay for not returning it. The library is wrong to waive the punishment. Now the next person to try this will have precedent and just cause, and soon all the juicy library books will be in entitled patrons apartments. Why not copy out pages you need...? If anyone else did what you did, would you be able to write you dissertation? Wow.
You are so the AH. You are depriving others of this resource. Selfish. Nasty Take your own notes and bring the books back. Check out just a few at a time. I sincerely hope your dissertation is tossed in the garbage due to cheating. For not allowing other students to use these resources. Can someone fits own who she is and her school, and notify the dean and get this selfish person rejected?
YTA - That is not how libraries work. The rules of the library applies to you as well. If you need a reference book that much, go buy it, even second-hand...
Ooh, this sounds like something I would encounter at work (I'm a librarian). We've had people keep books for years, with annual visits to the library to return them and then immediately borrow them again. Now we've put our foot down and check the loan history to prevent this from happening. Plenty of such users have complained, but our reasoning is: "Our library collection is for all users, so we want other users to have a chance at borrowing the book, even if they don't make a request." Fairness for everyone, y'know?
"I was too lazy to extend the loan of the books, I've ignored all the solicits to return them because time was overdue... FOR YEARS(!) and now they want to apply the actual consequences fining me. Boohooh, how dare they? Don't they know the world's revolves around me as I'm above all rules? Girl...you're an idiot. And you writer leave Galileo out of this. Poor guy is turning in his grave 😬 mannaggia la miseria perché il mondo è pieno di coglioni?
She is being extremely selfish! Most people just look on the selves for books that they need. She is hording books that others would have needed instead if taking notes on some books than returning them to take out other books. She is taking the lazy way out at the expense of others. Shame on her.
What a moron, she literally has no clue if anyone requested them, she has no mechanism through which to be informed of such things. She did however agree to return the books after a specific period of time and failed to do so. The sad thing is that there are so many of her fellow students who are just as ignorant as her
And...how many years will it be before she finishes this dissertation? Come on! If you were gonna, you would have.
Om disse bøkene var så viktige for deg, så viktige at du ødelegger for andre som trenger de, så kjøp de
Hva med alle andre som trenger å låne disse bøkene? Om de er så viktige å horde så kjøp dem
"no one requested them" ofc no one requested the books, BCOZ she fking took it, what an asshle, she the problem but act like the victim, the Library should fine her more, i know 12k is alot and in my opinion that also not sound fair but $20 ??!! Tf ?
Most books are in PDF why would you do this. I refuse to believe she's taking notes. How long is her dissertation? She needs to narrow her thoughts if she has this many books.
These comments lighting her up dang. You guys are toxic like chill. She was allowed to renew them. Nobody else was requesting or waiting on them. She's using them for her dissertation that doesn't mean she's reading ALL of them at once or even using the whole book for all of them maybe only parts for specific information. Everyone nowadays on the Internet just wants to jump to being so negative. Sad.
How she know or you know no one requested the books ??? Other people maybe like "ahh someone borrow it, maybe ill comeback later" and this s**t keep repeating until that person goto other Libra or buy a books!! Cmon everyone have same chance to borrow a books
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Proves that being a PhD student doesn't necessarily mean you're a smart person.
Good thing she resolved the issue quickly. Her library might have had to bring in Lt. Joe Bookman for her case.
I get that same hoarding urge to hold onto the books I want forever. Which is why I BUY THE BOOKS I want instead of taking them from the library and forcing other patrons to jump through hoops to try to request them. 100% likelihood someone else wanted one of those books and just thought it would be eaiser/faster to get it somewhere else than try to request a book already overdue for ages and hope for the best. It would be cheaper to buy them all (possibly even new depending on the titles) than pay that fine. But the (over lenient) library waived the fine so no lesson learned here.
"No one has wanted them". No. I'm sure many other students taking the same classes have gone to look for them, not found them, and had to get it somewhere else. OP mean "no one has gone through the process of filling out a request" which is entirely different. OP is TA.
I hoped she learned a lesson. It’s theft, technically. They’re not your books and you can’t keep them indefinitely whether you’re using them or not.
You are a total AH. No wonder the books people might want to use are never in the library. That was just a selfish thing to do. All you had to do was re-reserve the books. Or scan or take notes from those books and return them like everybody else. Whatever career path you choose, whether it's writing or teaching, I hope you're a little bit more thoughtful of the world around you. There's an entire world out there that doesn't revolve around you. By posting this for the world, I hope it's getting you the attention you hoped for.
Well, at least there is a young person who actually knows what a library is and how to use it to find information. I remember years ago in the late 90’s, taking a summer course, doing some research for an essay one Sunday afternoon at my university library, when I saw a group of my fellow classmates, looking all confused. They literally didn’t know how to use the system to look up how to find research papers, so I had to show them. They apparently didn’t know either how to approach one of the library assistants on the main floor. And this was a third year course…
Mr. Bookman is gonna be really upset. Yep. Really upset. Capture-64...e5948b.jpg 
You are the jerk. You are the nasty, entitled, skanky, dishonest jerk. You haven't borrowed them. You have them in your possession. And what do we call it when we have something in our POSSESSION THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO US? Stealing, and you are a thief. And, why is it taking you so long to finish your dissertation. Lack of understanding?
Ordinarily, the overdue fine should not exceed the replacement cost of the book.
The libraries charge a penalty in addition to the replacement cost. They may have trouble getting a replacement too depending on if the book is out of print. So at $100 per book they were actually pretty lenient.
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If no one wanted any of those 119 books during the entire time she had them, then no one cares about the subject of her dissertation.
People still borrow books from libraries to write dissertations?
You'd be surprised. If a paper is really going into depth about a topic, you can bet your butt that the information you need isn't online (or it isn't accepted as a credible-enough source). For mine in particular, broad knowledge could be sourced online, but a lot was only available in physical books or had to be viewed on microfiche (no I'm not that old, but magazines from the early 1900s don't tend to be available off the shelf).
Load More Replies... If you are hoarding books instead of returning them you are TA. There are other people who wantvto ise those books.
Yeah and you should be heavily fined, not 11-12k that's too much not 20 that's not enough, we need something just right
Load More Replies... "But I wasn't done with them!" Yeah...that is not how libraries work. If you don't return the books within the reasonable amount of time, the library will assume you never intend to return them and will charge you the replacement cost. Library books are supposed to be accessible to everyone, which is why they limit the amount of time you can hold onto them.
She think she can finish all the 119 books in short time and plan to return them at once. How considerate.
Load More Replies... She's the a*****e, she could easily return them, and then take them out again if she needed them that badly. or, and hear me out, she could write down and take notes of the important info she needs from these books for future reference. "i wasn't done with them ;-;" isn't how libraries work, and if you can't understand how a library works then what the hell are you doing in university? She SHOULD be made to pay the costs. What if some other students needed these books but couldn't access them cos of her? What if they fail because of her selfishness?
Exactly. Most wouldn't know what title they're looking for, they'd just be looking for books on that subject.... which means nobody else can access those books she's hoarding. So... they'd either have to go to another library, or BUY the books they need. Super selfish of her.
Load More Replies... I love how she is in the wrong but proclaiming Victim status. "No one has requested them..." They don't have to. You borrowed them. It's up to you to return them. Instead of putting together your stupid TikTok video, take the books and return them.
Plus, when you research you don't always know the title of a book you need, or know if you'll need the book until you've looked into it, so that might be reasons why there aren't any requests. Also "Not stolen! Still in use!" That's not how that works...
Load More Replies... 'the books aren't lost' - she kept them for YEARS. To the library, it's considered stolen so yes, they were lost.
No, she has not really learned much. Her idea that still using something overdue is not stealing says a lot. She is a lesson to everyone to never let this woman borrow anything from anyone. I think the library was way too lenient in dropping the fines. So what no one requested them. Many times if someone sees something unavailable they want they don't bother putting in a request and wait it out. They just assume it's out of stock. This is pretty s****y what she's doing. She could've saved herself a ton of space, trouble, money by doing some research online.
Its ok if ots only 1-10 books. But this is 119. She want to knock out other students with similar dissertation.
Load More Replies... On what planet does this person live?! It is not okay to borrow almost 120 books and not return them. Borrow a few, use them, make notes, return them. If you need the books for longer, you extend the borrowing period. It might just be an email or a phone call to the library to arrange this. To hoard books in this way is incredibly selfish.
What a selfish little girl. If I was university staff I would be very carefully checking her work for plagiarism too.
I've never written a dissertation. I don't even know what it is. I left school at 16,never bothered with taking my exams, but I still know how a f*****g library works.
Intelligence and narrow education are definitely not corelated.
Load More Replies... Study books are expensive and you're literally hoarding them, if they're overdue for so long, it's not wrong for the library to just assume you've lost them. The fine is likely what it'll cost them to replace those 119 books. Don't be an a*s and return your library books. Heck, *ask* for an extended loan term if you need one.
When I was in grad school, for books not regularly checked out, with a letter from your advisor, the college library would give you a 6 month check out. Or I would also use the scanner and have all the pages I needed digitally.
No scanners back when I was in grad school, I took enough notes to weigh down my blasted car.
Load More Replies... Graduate students are granted a lot of privileges in anticipation of the extended research that they often have to complete. This means they get to checkout hundreds of books and you get to keep them for a lot longer time and you can keep renewing them almost indefinitely. I completed my PhD more than 15 years ago. It is unconscionable that she would hoard 119 books for years without renewing them. It is reasonable for the library to consider them lost or stolen after all of this time. Just because she didn't receive a notice that people were on the waiting list for these books does not mean that they were not in demand. But my point is if you are going to "hoard" books at least follow the rules and renew them in a timely manner so that the library can keep a reasonable inventory of their books. The huge bill was to shock her to acknowledge that there were consequences for her stealing books from the library.
What a total A$$! Are there no other students, professors, research assistants, visiting scholars etc. also studying medieval history? Does she not see how very rude this is to them!!!!
"Not stolen, still in use." No, they were stolen. She checked them out, didn't return them on the due date, and ignored the multiple notices. That's called theft. The contract stipulated that she could "rent" the books for free as long as she returned them by a certain date or "rented" them for nothing again. She kept them indefinitely. If you do the same thing with a rental car they'd call the police to arrest you for theft.
I feel bad for the librarian who eventually (hopefully) has to sort and reshelve all those books. Yes, they probably reshelve a bunch of books every day, but 119 books would probably be a noticable increase in their workload.
Fine - you're still using them, but you have to *renew* them (which you did, bravo champignon!) Are you going to leave your car on the street and get upset over parking tickets? "But I wasn't finished using the space!" You're one of those twits with city bikes who don't realize they have to return the bike to a station every half hour or so. "But I got access for 24 hours!"
Sorry, I think this whole story is bogus. First, PhD students have expanded borrowing times. Also, usually if you need a book for longer than a month your advisor will check it out for you, and that is good for an entire semester. Secondly, having written a dissertation myself, I know that there are very few books that she needs the entire content of. Usually you need a page or two, at most a chapter. So you photocopy the parts you need, plus the title page and publishing info, and then return it to the library. Someone who has 119 books out is someone who is not meeting with their advisor.
Not everyone has the same system. No way I'd haved bothered my supervisor to get books out for me! I know book hoarders too. It's a lot easier to bookmark than scan and go through everything again on a terrible digital copy and/or write down everything you might need. Working from real books you have at hand is the easier and best way BUT don't get everything out at the start of your disseration and keep it without renewing! As if anyone cares about HER to do list. Disrepecting the library should be grounds for being kicked out of the university IMHO.
Load More Replies... "They're not stolen, they're still in use!" Ummm...that's no where close to how it works. It's called theft by conversion. Imagine if someone borrowed her car, then screwed off with it for years. See if she accepts the "not stolen, still in use" excuse.
And yes, I'm aware the library writes the book off as lost instead of stolen. The issue is the sheer scale of the "borrowing" going on, should graduate it to theft.
Load More Replies... Sounds about right. There was a strict system for dissertation book loans when I was there- we got priority and had a waiting list for certain books (you wrote them down in the planning stages and handed it in to the librarian), but we had to make sure to return them on time. There is guaranteed to be someone on your course who needs the same book, and when you need multiple books, that overlap multiplies. It doesn't matter how niche you think your topic is- there will definitely be someone else who needs it. Hoarding them and being shocked that they had the audacity to pull you up on that is incredibly selfish and entitled.
I'm a librarian in Sweden and it is insane how selfish some people can get about books that are absolutely free. I don't care if your uni course isn't done until June, there are twenty people waiting for the book who is taking the exact same course as you! Jeesus. It's inconvenient, yes, but that's why you plan ahead and finish with maybe five books at the time, not two hundred of them!
Only child?? Doesn't k own how to share and thinks it's OK to basically steal books from thr library.
I just looked at the original replies to the OP and it looks like the majority of people took issue with it. The write up makes it seem like everyone just laughed.
I know right. That's why I rarely read all their fluff. Most of it is nonsense. They straight up lied about people's reactions to her story.
Load More Replies... Seriously, how does one make it all the way to grad school not knowing that when you borrow something you have to give it back when whomever you’re borrowing from tells you to give it back, regardless of whether you still need it???
Maybe you should have returned them on time? And maybe when you grow up, you'll realize the world doesn't revolve around you.
My guess is that she had no intention of returning them, after all she admitted she's had them for years. The lame excuse that "no one else" was interested in checking them out doesn't track. How the hell would she know that? Does she work at the library and have access to that info? Is she the only person doing her studies on Medieval History? I think not! Basically she took something that doesn't belong to her kept them....that's stealing, she just got caught and is trying to backpedal.
On the one hand, a PhD takes 4-5 years to complete, and OP has said no one has requested the books yet. Every university I've attended has an online system to search for books so if a student really wanted one of the 119 books she has, they would know it exists. Alternatively, OP could attempt to find digital versions of the books and keep only those without. Source: me, a grad student.
The OP has not got a clue if anyone requested the books...
Load More Replies... Comment section doesn't pass the vibe. There's disagreeing and then there's being spiteful and insulting a random you don't know, like damn, guys.
The vibe is people are sick of entitled halfwits....
Load More Replies... How do you use a library, know how many books you're allowed to check out at one time due to your education status, and yet don't understand how to take notes, renew books, idk go to the library and use the books there while at the library?
Seems to me like a lot of negative comments here have never had to write a dissertation... That's why grad students can check out more books, they need to cross reference through multiple books, so yes they "need them" it's not like regular books you're reading for fun PhD students literary spend years on this.
We understand. The problem is she was abusing the system. You don't get such a hefty demand from a university library if you are 'playing nicely'. And the excuse that she was 'still using them smacks of entitlement. If a scholar is still using a book, they renew the loan. If they know they will be using the book for quite some time they will arrange a longer loan, or have the sections they need copied or digitised. With the later they can assess the information when they need it, but allow the library copy to return to the library and be useable by other people.
Load More Replies... I hope rental car companies are taking note of this individual (smh)
Personally, I would even go as far as putting a limit on how many times you can renew a loan. We've had one (1) copy of a book that was mandatory reading for the whole class and this one very special little snowflake decided to check it out for 2 weeks (the maximum time allowed) and renew it 3 times. We were livid, but obviously didn't know which massive c**t did it.
You don't know if other people needed them--if the circulation system said they were lost and interlibrary loan wasn't going to be an option, someone was maybe screwed. Or they couldn't wait for a recall, or if it's an open stack library, they may have wanted to just photocopy a bit and not finding a vol. on the shelf figured it would be too much time to do a recall and so just had to do without that content. I've been a grad student-- it's not a joke
She's justifying keeping the books! Entitled much...? So you keep books that are for everyone, saying if anyone wants it, you get a notification, then you'll decide if you want to return it. But..... You don't want to pay for not returning it. The library is wrong to waive the punishment. Now the next person to try this will have precedent and just cause, and soon all the juicy library books will be in entitled patrons apartments. Why not copy out pages you need...? If anyone else did what you did, would you be able to write you dissertation? Wow.
You are so the AH. You are depriving others of this resource. Selfish. Nasty Take your own notes and bring the books back. Check out just a few at a time. I sincerely hope your dissertation is tossed in the garbage due to cheating. For not allowing other students to use these resources. Can someone fits own who she is and her school, and notify the dean and get this selfish person rejected?
YTA - That is not how libraries work. The rules of the library applies to you as well. If you need a reference book that much, go buy it, even second-hand...
Ooh, this sounds like something I would encounter at work (I'm a librarian). We've had people keep books for years, with annual visits to the library to return them and then immediately borrow them again. Now we've put our foot down and check the loan history to prevent this from happening. Plenty of such users have complained, but our reasoning is: "Our library collection is for all users, so we want other users to have a chance at borrowing the book, even if they don't make a request." Fairness for everyone, y'know?
"I was too lazy to extend the loan of the books, I've ignored all the solicits to return them because time was overdue... FOR YEARS(!) and now they want to apply the actual consequences fining me. Boohooh, how dare they? Don't they know the world's revolves around me as I'm above all rules? Girl...you're an idiot. And you writer leave Galileo out of this. Poor guy is turning in his grave 😬 mannaggia la miseria perché il mondo è pieno di coglioni?
She is being extremely selfish! Most people just look on the selves for books that they need. She is hording books that others would have needed instead if taking notes on some books than returning them to take out other books. She is taking the lazy way out at the expense of others. Shame on her.
What a moron, she literally has no clue if anyone requested them, she has no mechanism through which to be informed of such things. She did however agree to return the books after a specific period of time and failed to do so. The sad thing is that there are so many of her fellow students who are just as ignorant as her
And...how many years will it be before she finishes this dissertation? Come on! If you were gonna, you would have.
Om disse bøkene var så viktige for deg, så viktige at du ødelegger for andre som trenger de, så kjøp de
Hva med alle andre som trenger å låne disse bøkene? Om de er så viktige å horde så kjøp dem
"no one requested them" ofc no one requested the books, BCOZ she fking took it, what an asshle, she the problem but act like the victim, the Library should fine her more, i know 12k is alot and in my opinion that also not sound fair but $20 ??!! Tf ?
Most books are in PDF why would you do this. I refuse to believe she's taking notes. How long is her dissertation? She needs to narrow her thoughts if she has this many books.
These comments lighting her up dang. You guys are toxic like chill. She was allowed to renew them. Nobody else was requesting or waiting on them. She's using them for her dissertation that doesn't mean she's reading ALL of them at once or even using the whole book for all of them maybe only parts for specific information. Everyone nowadays on the Internet just wants to jump to being so negative. Sad.
How she know or you know no one requested the books ??? Other people maybe like "ahh someone borrow it, maybe ill comeback later" and this s**t keep repeating until that person goto other Libra or buy a books!! Cmon everyone have same chance to borrow a books
Load More Replies... Proves that being a PhD student doesn't necessarily mean you're a smart person.
Good thing she resolved the issue quickly. Her library might have had to bring in Lt. Joe Bookman for her case.
I get that same hoarding urge to hold onto the books I want forever. Which is why I BUY THE BOOKS I want instead of taking them from the library and forcing other patrons to jump through hoops to try to request them. 100% likelihood someone else wanted one of those books and just thought it would be eaiser/faster to get it somewhere else than try to request a book already overdue for ages and hope for the best. It would be cheaper to buy them all (possibly even new depending on the titles) than pay that fine. But the (over lenient) library waived the fine so no lesson learned here.
"No one has wanted them". No. I'm sure many other students taking the same classes have gone to look for them, not found them, and had to get it somewhere else. OP mean "no one has gone through the process of filling out a request" which is entirely different. OP is TA.
I hoped she learned a lesson. It’s theft, technically. They’re not your books and you can’t keep them indefinitely whether you’re using them or not.
You are a total AH. No wonder the books people might want to use are never in the library. That was just a selfish thing to do. All you had to do was re-reserve the books. Or scan or take notes from those books and return them like everybody else. Whatever career path you choose, whether it's writing or teaching, I hope you're a little bit more thoughtful of the world around you. There's an entire world out there that doesn't revolve around you. By posting this for the world, I hope it's getting you the attention you hoped for.
Well, at least there is a young person who actually knows what a library is and how to use it to find information. I remember years ago in the late 90’s, taking a summer course, doing some research for an essay one Sunday afternoon at my university library, when I saw a group of my fellow classmates, looking all confused. They literally didn’t know how to use the system to look up how to find research papers, so I had to show them. They apparently didn’t know either how to approach one of the library assistants on the main floor. And this was a third year course…
Mr. Bookman is gonna be really upset. Yep. Really upset. Capture-64...e5948b.jpg
You are the jerk. You are the nasty, entitled, skanky, dishonest jerk. You haven't borrowed them. You have them in your possession. And what do we call it when we have something in our POSSESSION THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO US? Stealing, and you are a thief. And, why is it taking you so long to finish your dissertation. Lack of understanding?
Ordinarily, the overdue fine should not exceed the replacement cost of the book.
The libraries charge a penalty in addition to the replacement cost. They may have trouble getting a replacement too depending on if the book is out of print. So at $100 per book they were actually pretty lenient.
Load More Replies... If no one wanted any of those 119 books during the entire time she had them, then no one cares about the subject of her dissertation.
People still borrow books from libraries to write dissertations?
You'd be surprised. If a paper is really going into depth about a topic, you can bet your butt that the information you need isn't online (or it isn't accepted as a credible-enough source). For mine in particular, broad knowledge could be sourced online, but a lot was only available in physical books or had to be viewed on microfiche (no I'm not that old, but magazines from the early 1900s don't tend to be available off the shelf).
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