Friday, September 16, 2005

Do you write on library books?

Why do people write on library books? I just got a pile of new books for the methodology part of my dissertation, and many of them, almost all of them, are written on. I know it's absolutely pathetic, but since most of these annotations and underlinings are in pencil, I find myself erasing pages upon pages of library books (sigh)... I also happen to be a fervent annotator, but for me, library books are kind of "sacred" or something. If I really need to write on it, I make a photocopy, but I mostly use post-it notes (which, by the way, librarians shun because I think they're not acid-free or have harmful chemicals and can damage the books - but I figure it's much better than writing on them).
Anyway, do you write on library books? Why? Or do you, like me, feel annoyed at the practice?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would never write on a library book. And it annoys me to hell when I get one that's been written on. I always seem to end up with the book annotated by the Stupidest Person On Earth. I keep saying to myself, "did they really need to annotate that?" over and over again as I read through the book.

L said...

That made me laugh out loud! I know what you mean, I have also come across some books "the Stupidest Person On Earth" was trying to read :)

Choco Pie said...

Maybe that's because only stupid people write in library books?!

I won't buy used books that are annotated either. It's impossible not to read the annotations and I start feeling annoyed at the previous reader and his/her obvious comments.

Alice said...

LOL I love these comments! I also start to analyze what other people underline in library books. Not only annoying, but distracting! And I erase pencil marks that other people make. What really makes me furious, though, is when others use pens or highlighters, not pencils!!! Grrrr.

kate said...

Hmm, not only would I never write in a library book, I have never seen a library book with stuff written in it. But maybe that's more common in academic libraries?