The Importance of Spell Check

Being the word junkie that I am, you may not find it surprising that I visit my public library frequently. I love the library, and in our city we have a marvelous library services department. I am so very fortunate to have such a resource. With that said, I have a little story for you. :)

So, recently I needed to return a book that I had read that was borrowed from my local branch. My oldest child was going in that direction, so I asked her to slip the book into the slot to be returned. The book was On the Rez by Ian Frasier, a book about an American Indian reservation. I am very interested and enjoy reading about contemporary American Indian issues and political concerns. (Don’t get me started…there are already other posts about this subject…)

So off she goes, book in hand to return it. This was about three days before the due date. So the day right before it was due, I received an email stating that I needed to return the book or renew it so that I would not incur late charges or penalties. Thinking that the bookkeeping just had not caught up with the computer or that my kid had forgotten to return the book, I renew the item.

I interrogated my child that evening to find that she had indeed returned the book. I chalked it up to a time lapse between computers and personnel, and I forgot about it…for a while…until I received a second email on the day prior to the new renewal date stating that I should return the book once again. I was promptly agitated and shot off an email to the generic email address listed in the reminder message. I stated that I had returned the book, and I told them about renewing it so as to avoid a late charge, etc. etc. Ok…so I was courteous, but firm in my assertion that the book was returned and that my library record should be rectified.

I received an email response several minutes later. As I read, I almost fell out of my chair laughing. The girl with which I work came over to the desk and read over my shoulder, and we both laughed so hard we were crying. This is the response from the head librarian in charge of the circulation desk at the largest library in town.

“I called the Princess Anne Library and they found the book on the shelf. The item is now checked in off of the library record. We apologize for any incontinence.”

Not sure what she was thinking about as she was writing, but it was sure good for a laugh that day for me.