The Writing Life: A Friendly Reminder

Recently I dropped into my local library. I was looking for some reference books like Literary Market Place and Writer's Digest Market Guide. Almost every public library in the country gets these much-used reference books. I located these books which from my experience are not normally allowed to be checked out. To My surprise, I could check out these large reference books and take them home. For several days, I brought the books to my office, found the information I needed, photocopied a few pages then returned them.

When the due date for a library book gets near, my library will send an email “friendly reminder.” This week I got one about the two-volume Literary Market Place which I had returned several weeks earlier. Something went wrong on the check-in system. To my surprise, I was still responsible for these expensive reference books. Literary Market Place retails at $449.50 for this two-volume set of books. I planned to call the library in a few hours when they opened but worried about what I might hear from this “friendly reminder.”

When I reached a librarian, I gave her my card number and she understood my question then put me on hold for a few minutes (which seemed like an eternity). Finally when she returned, she told me they had located the books and check them back into the library. While I had returned these books in the normal place, apparently reference books like these are handled differently. To get them checked in, I was supposed to take them directly to the reference librarian when I returned them.

I ended that phone call in relief these expensive reference books had been found and I was no longer responsible for them. I learned something new about how to check out reference books from my local library. I tell you this story for several reasons:

1. I'm a frequent user to my local library, checking out and using a variety of types of books. I love access to the audiobooks in my library through Overdrive. Also sometimes when I can't locate a book, I can fill out a request form and the library will order the book and because I suggested it, when it arrives, I will be the first person to check it out.

2. The library “friendly reminder” email system triggered my call to the library to locate these missing books which I had returned.

Do you use your local library? As writers, we need this important resource. Let me know how you use your library in the comments.

Tweetable:

A friendly reminder gave this prolific editor and author a few hours of concern. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)