BANGOR, Maine — As Orrington Public Library Director Kelly Brooks continues to go through inventory, she said she's been noticing a lot of books and library items that are either missing or have not been returned.
The Orrington library shared a post on its Facebook asking its patrons to return books or outstanding items.
"We gently remind every time people come in, 'Hey we really need that book back,'" Brooks said.
Brooks said tracking down misplaced and non-returned books is an everyday sport for librarians. Brewer Public Library Director Darren French said sometimes librarians take losses.
"We do have somewhere someone will check out a stack of books and we just won't see them again," French said.
Brooks said she, like many librarians, doesn't want people to feel bad for returning books late.
"I think what happens is there's a little bit of shame like, 'Oh my goodness, I've had my books out for so long, and I don't want to bring them back and I don't want to face the librarians,'" she said. "We don't want anyone to feel like that."
Although librarians want to be nice in their approach, Brooks said when items are not returned, it creates an inconvenience for other patrons.
She said that sometimes there are books that have been missing for 10 years or more.
Brooks also explained that missing books becomes more of a struggle when the book is a part of a series, because it prevents other readers from being able to read the entire collection.
According to both Brooks and French, the biggest problem that smaller libraries experience when large numbers of books are missing is the impact non-returned items has on the library's budget and its ability to purchase new books.
Brooks said books are expensive, and replacing them can be difficult, especially when funding for smaller libraries is limited. French further explained that libraries receive discounted prices on books, but even with discounts, librarians still sometimes spend $10 to $30 on each book.
Brooks added that copies of older books may be limited, and whereas one book could be $20, another book, especially if it is an older print, could be more than $200 to replace.
"We are a small library. So, we have to determine what can we replace," Brooks said. "We have a budget, and we have to determine what's worth replacing."
Orrington Town Manager Chris Backman said the town's public library received a little over $108,000 in funding this fiscal year.
The funding is divided by line items and covers the cost of staff salaries, library overhead expenses, maintenance and repairs, and more.
According to the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget, only $19,000 of that funding was allocated for books.
"That's what we get. So, that would include the money we can spend for all the new books for the whole year," Brooks said. "So, if that's the pool of money we get, that would be for the new books, the replacement books and everything."
French explained that funding for Brewer Public Library is allocated the same way.
"We don't have a budget line setup for replacement books, so it does take out of the new books that we can purchase," French said. "So, it's $700 to $1,000 that we're spending on replacement books."
French added that people are interested in a variety of genres and novels, and keeping the library stocked with diverse literature is a challenge when librarians have to spend an already limited amount of funds on replacing missing items.
"There's so many new materials out there these days that we really could be spending the funds on that," French said.
Like many public libraries these days, the ones in Orrington and Brewer do not charge overdue fees when you return books late.
Brooks said because there are so many books missing from the library's inventory, she may have to begin sending out bills, charging people the full cost of replacing the book they failed to return.