We had to clear out the oldest, dustiest storage area in my building this week to make room for some facilities work, and we unearthed a truly horrifying set of binders belonging to a long-retired staff member, including one just labelled "Delinquent Patrons." I flipped through it to take out anything that would jam the shredder and came across:
- A cassette tape taped to a page. The cassette tape had a barcode written on it but it was also labelled "not in catalog." Reading the attached sheet, which detailed the patron's failure to return the tape in a timely manner, did not make it at all clear why our 1990s predecessors had felt it necessary to keep the tape as evidence.
- A set of correspondence that went all the way up to the library director from a patron who had accidentally recorded over a library VHS tape and was being charged for a replacement. She was incensed that a security device to prevent this mistake had not been installed on the tape, and insisted that due to the library's negligence in not making that happen, she should not have to pay for the one she damaged.
- An incident report about a patron who got abusive when told of charges on his account. Attached to the report was a Post-It note on which was written, in different handwriting than the report: "I say we hire someone to break his kneecaps" and a set of initials.
- A packet of correspondence about a problem patron who had a habit of leaving lots of notes for staff in materials he returned. This patron, Mr. Jimmy Glen, was apparently told at some point by a staff member that he could not do whatever it was he wanted to do unless he provided either his library card or an ID. Instead, Mr. Glen showed the staff a hole-punched piece of paper attached to his keychain that had been carefully 'laminated' with tape and which said "Jimmy Glen: All Access Pass."
