The Curious Case of the Library Due Date Card

Cameron Public Library was and continues to be the ugly sister among the Burnaby library branches. Its walls are brown, as are the doors, book shelves and desks. The carpet is stained and grey, the lights yellow and dim, and the word “PUSH” on the unpolished metal bars that you, big surprise, push through to enter and leave the library is barely intelligible. But as a kid, you don’t care about these kinds of things. All you care about is going to the library every Sunday and reading about the adventures of some curious kids escaping from a malevolent man with a tattoo or inside a yellow grinning bus. It is because of this diligence that the bookshelf in my room contains all but 9 books I’ve bought for myself. Whatever books I wanted to read, I’d find them already there in the library because I had no idea when new books were going to be published. I’d take my stash of books, usually 4 each time, and the leave the library with plenty of stories to entertain me until next Sunday.

Reading Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping this past weekend, I flipped to the very back of the book and saw something that caught my eye: the envelope that held its library due date card.

I still remember bringing my books to the front counter and watching the librarian stamp the due date on the white piece of paper, put another inside the envelope and handed it back to me. This was before the library inventory was computerized and you can just scan the bar code on each book to keep track of which books have been checked out. 

Each day I’m reminded that technology has replaced almost every part of life, even borrowing books. I used to write things I needed to do on my physical calendar or planner. Now, it’s on my Google Calendar and iPhone. Talking to friends usually meant in person or on the phone. Now, it’s on Skype and we can watch movies together even though we’re not together in the same physical space. Pretty soon, people won’t go and borrow books, but get them online and onto their e-books or tablets. Just goes to show how long of a way we’ve come. Yet escalators still break down every other day. Curious, no?