Because of the unseemly array of things that are implied about us, as an
institution, when we talk about "Lost" items, we will no longer be
classifying anything we cannot find as lost.
It is such a suggestively
ugly word, lost.
These items, at my library, are now to be officially know as "Unfound".
In my library I sometimes refer to these items as "Stolen."
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's funny that, maybe a result of the difference in a public library vs. a school library? Always a little keen to think the worst of people I am inclined to think "Stolen" a lot, but with an astonishing regularity the actual evidence has pointed to our incompetence, or, at least, a more neutral and innocent problem being the culprit when it comes to items being... unfound.
DeleteAre we talking about books, etc., or umbrellas and such?
ReplyDeleteOh, everything! Hopefully patrons will come to the desk and say "I unfound my flashdrive here 7 months ago. Do you have it?" If they did we'd know that they were insiders at my library and we would try to give them special consideration.
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