JudyB Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 I think I can answer that! When my Granny's neighbour was alive, she loved reading, but was housebound. The library back then didn't offer the service it does now for housebound people where a volunteer gets books and keeps a record, so her daughter would choose books from the library for her, and would ring a certain page number, in pencil, on return so that when she was picking books, she could look at that page number to see whether her Mum had read it before. Of course, that fell down if there was more than one copy of a certain book in the library shelves! My books that I have studied have copious amounts of writing in them, but to write in a 'normal' book is a no-no for me! I'm a post it note fan too though! On the subject of knowing whether someone has had a book before it is possible to have a 'history' setting on your ticket and then if you take out a book that you've had before the computer comes up with a message. A lot of our readers have it and it is handy. I was on a library course earlier this week about accessibility - they have the service mentioned where volunteers collect and choose books for the housebound and they were saying that they are planning on giving it a boost in terms of promotion later in the year - of course they rely on people volunteering for it to work - I think it's really good. Has anyone noticed strange symbols or initials just inside the front cover of library books - they usually appear in westerns and mills and boons and are a way for readers to identify whether they've had that book before. Oh dear I've become a bit of a library geek! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 You wrote in library books?? Didn't you get into trouble for that? No. How would they know? Only in pencil though as far as I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essexgirl Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 I never ever write in library books and I hate it when I borow one that has been written it. In my opinion writing in a book that is not your property is sheer vandalism Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 Oh yes! When I was young I kept my books pristine. But now, as I get involved in book-forum discussions, those books get liberally margin-marked and underlined for points for discussion. In addition, there are typically about a dozen paper bookmarks sticking out of them. And more markings and bookmarks go in when I reread. They end up looking like zebras on the inside and porcupines on the outside. B) But never in library books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrathofkublakhan Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 The only time I have written in books is also in text books, at uni, excpt my bible. As I have mentioned before, the bible that goes with me eveywhere is in a terrible state and has hundreds of annotations. Sme are from uni, some from Christian Union, some from church and some of my own. I always keep a pen and pencil inside the handy holds in my bible case. Is there a geek smile?? Ditto for me. Even though I don't lug my Bible around much anymore, mine has a extra wide margin just for notes. Some chapters have been so well used that the constant use has made the pages almost transparent (Ephesians). The front and back empty pages are full of notes, lists and even a bit of poetry picked up over time. Even some trivia, for example II Kings 19 and Isaiah 37 are word for word identical or Ezra 7:21 uses all the letters of the alphabet except "j". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilgrim Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 I write in books that are discussed. I'd probably never remember the good stuff without a pencil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyanddandy Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 I don't get the urge to write in books - I think it must have been trained out of me at a very early age. It annoys me if I borrow a library book and someone has written in it but then I am also curious as to what is written and I begin to wonder why. I can only remember highlighting in my own text books at Poly. I wouldn't dream of writing in library books or books borrowed from others. I am furious if someone has torn out pages out of text books which happened frequently at Poly and some of the nursing schools I trained in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 Tearing pages out is just bad. I must admit that trying to work out someone elses scrawl in textbooks is annoying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 I was on a library course earlier this week about accessibility - they have the service mentioned where volunteers collect and choose books for the housebound and they were saying that they are planning on giving it a boost in terms of promotion later in the year - of course they rely on people volunteering for it to work - I think it's really good. I'm currently 'going through the motions' to become a library volunteer for Bath & N.E Somerset. B) I've passed the interview and had my criminal record back (clean, of course!) and I have to get a photo I.D and have a morning with the volunteer co-ordinator, and then I'm ready to go. No. How would they know? Only in pencil though as far as I recall. I'm sorry, but pencil or no pencil, I think that is a pretty bad thing to do to something that is not your property! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 Tearing pages out is just bad. I must admit that trying to work out someone elses scrawl in textbooks is annoying I was thinking about this topic when reading A Clockwork Orange this morning. Alex and his mates confront someone coming out of the Public Biblio and take his books from him: 'An old man of your age, brother,' I said, and I started to rip up the book I'd got, and the others did the same with the ones they had...The starry prof type began to creech: 'But those are not mine, those are the property of the municipality, this is sheer wantonness and vandal work,'... Actually, having said I don't think I could bring myself to write in a book, I'm seriously considering take a pencil to this one. Burgess uses his own kind of language, Nadsat, which according to Wikipedia is 'a mix of modified Slavic words, Cockney rhyming slang, derived Russian (like "baboochka"), and words invented by Burgess himself'. It would be handy to make notes throughout so I don't keep wondering what the heck is going on. Hmm, maybe I'll just print out a glossary from the net and keep it handy instead. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 I'm sorry, but pencil or no pencil, I think that is a pretty bad thing to do to something that is not your property! You should try reading 20 books and then writing an essay and having to remember what you have read and where, besides everybody does it in uni. Yes, post it notes can be used, but are not always the right tool for the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted May 29, 2007 Share Posted May 29, 2007 I'm currently 'going through the motions' to become a library volunteer for Bath & N.E Somerset. B) I've passed the interview and had my criminal record back (clean, of course!) and I have to get a photo I.D and have a morning with the volunteer co-ordinator, and then I'm ready to go. Great stuff - it's something I'd like to get involved with myself particularly as I'll soon be working at my local branch (new job). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I've never written in a book or highlighted . It bothers me to read a book that someone else has done this to . Maybe underlined certain parts or some such thing. It really distracts me from the book if I'm paying attention to what someone else noted . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I've never written in a book or highlighted . It bothers me to read a book that someone else has done this to . Maybe underlined certain parts or some such thing. It really distracts me from the book if I'm paying attention to what someone else noted . This is me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I've had a few library books in the past where someone has corrected the grammar in places! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I bought my partner a copy of the Koran at the book fair recently. He's an atheist but had never read the Koran and wanted to. I found and bought a nice hardback but didn't look too closely through the pages. When I gave it to him and he flicked through it, he found some highlighted passages. We started reading the passages that the previous owner had thought important enough to highlight and, well, let's just say that he had highlighted some rather disturbing sections. My partner loves finding writing in books, but I hate it. Every time I give him a book, he tries to get me to write a dedication to him in the front. I keep refusing (or offering to do it very lightly in pencil). I was thinking about our difference in opinion the other day and suddenly remembered a gorgeous hardcover book about libraries that he bought for me last Christmas. I had a slightly panicked moment wondering if he had written a message in the front, but luckily he hadn't. It's not that I wouldn't appreciate the message; I just hate the thought of 'defacing' books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I've never written in a book or highlighted . It bothers me to read a book that someone else has done this to . Maybe underlined certain parts or some such thing. It really distracts me from the book if I'm paying attention to what someone else noted . This is me too! Though I don't mind a little personal note in the beginning too much, if someone gave it to me and wrote something for me in it. That can be nice to have at a later time. But I do mind it in second hand copies. I prefer to keep my books clean, I don't write in them myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 I usually keep a document on Word, for quotes. But no, I have never wrote in a book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 My partner loves finding writing in books, but I hate it. Every time I give him a book, he tries to get me to write a dedication to him in the front. I keep refusing (or offering to do it very lightly in pencil). I don't like to write in books. I don't even write in or highlight textbooks! I do like some personal dedications in books though, or little messages at the front. Sometimes you can see them in secondhand book shops, but my problem would be that my handwriting is terrible. A dedication is nice if written in flowing script, but if I were to do it, it would look like something a child had written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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