Nah, libraries are theft. When you borrow a book from a library and you read it, then you have stolen a book from the publisher. Then you give it back and the next person comes along and reads the same book, stealing even more from the publisher.

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Why’s that? Is it just in case you put it in the wrong spot?

The librarian at my grad school had a book cart in her house and would not let her husband put a book anywhere but on that cart once he was finished with it. Power move.

Libraries are THE BEST and the last citadel of culture left, I consider librarians Holy Crusaders of Knowledge, and they are the last bastion protecting humanity from intellectual darkness, and the forces that assail the dispersion of truth.

DEUS VULT, librarians! STRENGTH AND HONOR!

I suspect that depends.

At least at finnish HelMet libraries, you can just walk in and take any book out of any shelf, and sit down to read it. Once you're done, you put it back in the exact same spot.

If you don't remember where that was, then you can hand it to a librarian to re-shelve. They will check the inventory to see where it should go.

You can actually also do that yourself, since the same system is available for finding any given book currently in the library, but it works just as well for putting something back.

All of the above is allowed without signing up for a library card.

If you want to bring a book home, that's when you go to the checkout, scan your library card, and the barcode on the book. This removes it from current inventory and logs you as the current borrower.

When you bring it back, you scan the book again and leave it on the shelf by the returns scanner. Because the book was removed from the inventory, it wont have a place on a shelf yet. Also, because the inventory of any one library here is everchanging, things may have moved around.

This system also allows you return books to a different library from where you borrowed them. Since the HelMet libraries in the capital city region all interoperate, they share collections, and the location and lending of every individual item is tracked across them all. Across four cities and 66 libraries, and even a couple library buses that visit schools and more remote spots on a schedule.

You can even browse the inventory online. See where copies of what are available, what's available but currently lent out, request something be moved to a library close to you so you can read it, or reserve a spot in line to borrow something popular.

Kinda just gushing about our libraries. If they don't have something, HelMet does intralibrary lending. They will get a certain book or item for you from another library network entirely (even from abroad), lend it out to you, and once you're done, return it back to the providing network.

They do their darndest to make physical media as accessible as the internet, and it's freaking free (for the most part, some things have a fee).

That's how it should work everywhere.

Unless the library is tracking book reader stats or you actually check out the book, maybe remember how the classification system works like they were supposed to teach you in school?

Half the time I'm literally standing in front of the shelf perusing the book, it would be dumb to throw it in the book return unless I don't know or can't find the exact position where it came from.

i work at a library. please put the books in the spot labeled book return. it may not seem like it but because there are so few people working there just a few people in the library can keep us so busy we will miss the books you put down. also, check if your library has an ebook/audiobook thing like Libby. the wait times can be long but it's still pretty cool if you're into those.

Wait, are people checking out books, bringing them home and then... Just putting them on the shelves again???

In my nearby library, you can even take music and movies out. Old as shit music and movies on CDs and DVDs, but music and movies nevertheless.

I need more library memes

This is wholesome.