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Renewals on Repeat: ‘But at the laste, as every thing hath ende …’

By Chris Tangeman

Gesta regum Anglorum, by William of Malmesbury.

I checked out this book from Xavier University 84 weeks ago through OhioLINK. 

That’s right: As of the publication of this blog, 588 days — and I owe no overdue fines for it.

I checked it out six months before the pandemic shutdowns began. That was before Joaquin Phoenix was unleashed upon the U.S. as The Joker and before Tom Hanks was unleashed upon the U.S. as Mister Rogers.

And I didn’t get a bill for replacement fees.

I've had this venerable history of the kings of the English people in my possession for over a year and a half. That's longer than the marriages of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson, Renée Zellweger and Kenny Chesney, Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage, Cher and Gregg Allman, and Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine combined — with 22 weeks to spare!

It hasn't even reached its due date yet.

But its due date is finally within sight. And if you've also had books checked out since last summer or earlier (see photos below), your books will soon be due as well. 

All about me

I began working in libraries immediately following my 16th birthday. And then I eventually got my Master of Library and Information Science degree and pursued a career in Librarianship, not for fame or money (though I am certainly now rolling in both!), but originally due to my long-held love of books.

That love continues to this day, but it has been enhanced by a newer love of research, and of helping others with their research. I am the guy that gets stuff for you through Interlibrary Loan, from outside of Ohio and from around the world. I love it!

But that old love of books remains. At any given time I have scores of books checked out for my own inquiry and edification. As a staff member, I can borrow OhioLINK books for 42 days, and I get our own local books for up to two semesters; and I can usually renew both categories of books up to six times. That can be a mighty long time.

Then came the pandemic. And we, going along with OhioLINK’s recommendation for its member institutions, agreed to automatically renew library books beyond the normal six renewals in an effort to ease just one burden for our library patrons in an already overly burdened time. It was never intended to be indefinite, of course, so it now leads us to the inevitable cessation of the seemingly unlimited, ostensibly ceaseless, and to-the-eye infinite renewals.

But let us now return to my love of books. Some might say that I have a problem. The "scores of books" I mentioned earlier? Well, right now I have 85 books checked out — at this library. In the past that number had greatly exceeded 100, but I've been working on my minor case of bibliophilia.

Stop judging me! I need all of those books for a project I'm working on in my spare time, and I love them all. In fact, fortified by this pandemic-assisted extra-long loan period, I have begun to think of them as my own ... my own precious-es (illustration below, provided with artist's permission; all rights reserved). They have been mine for so long! To wit, a few of my current OhioLINK preciouses:

  • The History of the Norman Conquest of England: Its Causes and Results, by Edward Augustus Freeman. I checked it out from Cleveland State University Dec. 4, 2019.
  • The Kingship of the Scots, 842-1292: Succession and Independence, by A.A.M. Duncan. I checked it out from Ohio State University Sept. 30, 2019.
  • Recueil des acted de Philippe Ier, roi de France (1059-1108), by M. Prou. I checked it out from Ohio State University Sept. 24, 2019.
  • Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, by Charles Wendell David. I checked it out from Ohio University Sept. 19, 2019.
  • Gesta regum Anglorum (The History of the English Kings), by William of Malmesbury. I checked it out from Xavier University Sept. 12, 2019.

Then there’s the oldest of my local UD books:

  • The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its Transformation, 1000-1135, by William E. Kapelle. I checked this one out from our very own fourth-floor stacks on Oct. 28, 2015. Doing the math, I’m not even sure how that was possible. That was before some of our undergrads were born. I think. Math was not my best subject.

Separation anxiety — and consequences

But now, many of these books must go back to their real homes. Extended renewing is finally reaching its limit. For the first time in over a year I will be met by the potential application of replacement fees if I hold on to my childr — books! I mean books! — too long. There are no overdue fees anymore, but library accounts can be blocked until overdue materials are returned.

So please be advised: Blocked library accounts can lead to an inability to check out further materials, to register for classes, or even to obtain your transcripts after graduation. Don't let this happen to you! Take a look at your library account — especially you graduating students — and see what you have checked out, even if (especially if) you checked it out in 2015! Return them to the library before you leave campus for good. It is much easier to do now than to worry about finding them later and shipping them across the country, just to get your transcripts.

Thank you, and thank you, books, for the memories!

— Chris Tangeman is an interlibrary loan borrowing specialist in the University Libraries. He has been reading since the June 21, 1982, birth of Prince William, when he knew that his chances of succession to the British throne had taken a huge hit and he would have to try his hand at a trade.

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