SkyPigeon123
16034
425
16
Oct 4, 2025 8:30 PM
SkyPigeon123
16034
425
16
bigdix69420
Murdering doesn't have to be censored
ToSisPoS
Exactly. Circulation stats help with library funding.
Raktus
This feels more like retail work... a customer making a mess because it's 'your job' to clean it up. They didn't check out the book, so there wouldn't be any log of it being moved in the first place. If he put it back in the wrong spot, that's annoying... but would likely be discovered and moved anyways.
PTKrieg
IIRC, the book he uses as a weapon is just a book-shaped hiding spot. It's likely that it's not actually recorded in the library's inventory, to reduce the risk of someone actually trying to check it out and inadvertently finding his little stash.
beerkrump
As a father and stepfather to two wonderful librarians, putting books back on the shelves pisses them off.
ByronGetronfree
What absolute twaddle.
psstuphere
You lost me at John Wick
Madringo
You may find this funny but I almost got kicked out of a library for doing this. I was putting the book back when one of the librarians saw me and started to lecture me. I smiled said, ok I will put it in the returns. She literally came back to me 4x to explain why. I finally told her I get it, now go away and stop bothering me. She comes back with the head librarian and she asks me if I was being rude to her staff. I always go with, people are allowed to have a bad day.So I just smiled and left
bourbonandbaddecisions
Librarian ?
Gerokeymaster
And also because somehow--despite literally all our books being organized either by a-z or by 0-9--90% of the time people put it away in the completely wrong spot, and then it takes us two months to find it when someone else wants us to look it up for them.
Tarmaccian
Look, I’m a highly intelligent individual with a college degree and a lengthy and prestigious career in an intellectually-demanding field. I’m quite certain I can figure out how to put a book back in the same damned place I got it out from.
Of course, as a still-a-dumbass human, I’m still going to find a way to fuck it up royally somehow. I’ll use the reshelf bin, thanks.
CaptSchmidtGaming
The pencil is mightier than the sword.
IAlwaysUpvoteSunsets
A fucking PENCIL.
OhIfIMust
Just spell it “moider.”
Snooj
Just spell it "murder" and stop with this dumb bullshit.
OhIfIMust
That, too.
GodFuckingDamnitVanEyck
I worked at two libraries when I was younger, and there was never any logging of what books people looked at while in the library. The only logging that was ever done was when people returned books that they had checked out.
tristanfoxie
Public libraries may not log this info, but academic libraries do. This is because of limited shelf space combined with influxes of new stock. Academic libraries want to know which books are being used, even if they are not checked out, so they know which books to keep when it's time to deaccession and free up space for new books. This isn't the only metric that's used for deaccessioning, but it's a big one.
GodFuckingDamnitVanEyck
The vast majority of imgur users are not using academic libraries, though ;)
tristanfoxie
With all due respect, it's far more likely imgur users are using books at academic libraries than their local public libraries, given the current prevalence of google and chatgpt to answer most of life's questions. Not to mention, public libraries also don't have unlimited shelf space and also go through frequent deaccessioning, so any libraries that don't log usage and manage their stock accordingly are only hurting themselves.
xXCutieMomokoXx
Check with your local library if they keep track of books like that, if yes then do it, if no then return it to the shelf so you don't make more work for the people working there
Gerokeymaster
Speaking as a librarian: It's more work for us to try and find the book someone "put away" wrong (or jammed back in in a way that made the rest of the shelf look like crap) than it is to just gather up the ones on the designated return cart and put them away ourselves.
GodFuckingDamnitVanEyck
You don't even reshelve the books, that's why you have pages (Not the ones in the books, the ones that reshelve the books).
Hexrowe
I've literally never been to or even heard of (well, not before just now) a library that tracks what books you take off the shelves, only what you check out. But then, I've never been to the US.
tristanfoxie
This isn't just a US thing. Almost all libraries (except really, REALLY old libraries without a computerized catalogue) have an ILS (Integrated Library System) or LMS (Library Management System) that works in the background logging all this information without the user knowing it. Everything can be (and often is) logged, not just check-outs and check-ins.
Hexrowe
How does the system log me taking a book from the shelf, reading it, and putting it back on the shelf?
tristanfoxie
It doesn't because you haven't put it in the designated book return area, like we've been talking about. And because you haven't, now that book usage doesn't get logged, we don't know you've used it, we don't know to retain it if we need to deaccession, and it doesn't get included in usage reports to management who make budgetary decisions for the next year.
wingedcougar1993598
Ok, but like, if I just took it off the shelf to stand in that spot for 5 minutes reading enough of it to get a feel for whether I might enjoy reading the whole book or not, I'm still just going to put it back in that spot. John was just testing to see if the book was a good weapon or not. He used it for less than five minutes. It's fine. It's clearly not an ideal weapon.
obviouslyrob
You shouldn’t, though. Librarians want to know if a book was accessed for any purpose, even if it wasn’t checked out.
wingedcougar1993598
Ok, but I'm still going to.
shehdbeuebw738373
I always thought they didn't trust us plebs to dew the decimal system right
obviouslyrob
That’s also a factor.
tristanfoxie
Why is this getting downvoted? It's true! Librarians need to know which books are being used in any way so they know which ones to keep during deaccessioning. Libraries aren't sacred places where all books stay in the collection for eternity. Shelf space is not unlimited, books are added and removed all the time, so knowing which ones are used even for a second can help with tough decisions when space is at a premium.
obviouslyrob
Especially since I made a nearly identical comment on this very post that received significantly more upvotes than this comment has downvotes.
xXCutieMomokoXx
it depends on your library, not all keep track of things like that. If your library does then follow that process, if not then don't add more work to the people who work there
obviouslyrob
Even if they don’t keep track of the data, they still prefer reshelving be done by a librarian, not a patron. They’re the pros, let them do their jobs.
Gerokeymaster
Thank you! The number of times I've seen a grown-ass, clearly literate adult pull out a book, walk several steps while reading it and somehow not notice, and then "put it away" three rows from where it goes is *staggering*. And don't even get me started on the parents who tell their kids to "help" us by putting their books back, but don't actually watch them do it. We could organize our entire kids' room every day and still not keep up...
obviouslyrob
Yeah I’m close with several librarians and an archivist, let them put the books back. They know what they’re doing and it’s part of the service. We are patrons, just let them do their job.