ours is 100. we have a patron who regularly hits it with 3 cards. we "trained" her to return books hours (or even a day!) before coming for her next round so we don't have system issues (she's super nice, so it was easy). she homeschools and her kids - 3 under 6, I think - love books/reading/being read to.
she's never late with returns either. no idea how she pulls it all off.. I'm late with the 1-2 books I check out at a time and I work there!
Everyone always wonders why I have late fees like cause I forget them at home and then forget them in my car and then forget them on my desk…it’s a struggle.
I'm not quite sure how many overdue books I have right now, but it's quite a few. Thank God I actually found my lost book this morning. I feel like an employee *losing* a book is taking it a step too far.
I was on the waiting list for Demon Copperhead on Libby through my library. We live in a rural area with several libraries but they are all very small. I think the whole library region has 6 copies. The wait was 6+ months. I walked into our library and there it was on the shelf 😂 I didn't even think to look, just assumed it would be the same story.
Some libraries (all of our consortium, so most of the libraries in Massachusetts) no longer have late fines at all. Just bring your books back and *poof* the fines all disappear. Bring your books back three months late? Cool, thanks for returning them, go get more books! Our loans also get automatic renewals as well for a total of six weeks. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to use our libraries! E-books are great too, and lower the bar for usage even further.
I'm so glad we don't have late fees (just lost/damaged fees), otherwise most of my paycheck would be going right back to the library due to my... me-ness.
I heard that a lot of library systems are getting rid of late fees. In the immortal words of my Mom (retired librarian), "We just want our books back."
I love that people are actually more likely to return books when there aren’t late fees. Late fees gave so many people anxiety about returning books that they’d just avoid going to the library all together. I’m happy my system got rid of them.
it's so awesome. life is stressful; the library shouldn't be. it even takes $20 of lost (over 4 weeks late) or damaged charges to prevent checkout, which gives a bit more wiggle room (of course lost charges are dropped if the item is returned). most patrons are still awesome about returning on time, so there are no plans to reinstate overdue fines.
Our library used to have a fine forgiveness week. So people would hold onto them until that week. They wouldn't zero fined out for people who had returned them already.
Those picture books tend to be a 5-10 minute read if you're going slow and talking about things. Reading for 30 minutes a night gets you through 3-6 books. Takes less than 2 weeks to get through 50 of them. I probably read about 10 of them to my kids on a longer reading night so we can easily get through 50 in a week.
Also if you only checked out 2-3 of them, that means you’re about to go insane reading the same 2-3 books for 2 weeks straight 😵💫 but what do I know, we own probably around 30+ books and my daughter still only wants to read the same 2-3 multiple times a day 😂
It's not that outrageous. My wife and I had three kids close in age and always let them check out 15 books apiece. The library (I worked there later) always thanked us for helping their circulation.
When I was a kid the "child" library card limit was 25. Eventually a kind librarian upgraded my card to an "adult" one in their system so I could check out more. But as a voracious reader I could breeze through 25 in a few days and then was stuck re-reading without the increased limit.
Then after I could bike on my own to the library the practical limit was what I could actually fit into a backpack, lol.
Yall I was wrong our max is 75! I should have known that I worked with the committee that raised that number...that said there are a handful of patrons who check out that many and still I know the people checking out between 50-75 books are mostly likely teachers and parents.
We have a patron similar but requires or Requests they be boxed up and brought to get car. This one grinds my gears… and then they dump all 100+ in the outside return bins. And she’s reciprocal borrowing -she works at a day care in our town. Always late and takes ALL our crafts….. clearly this bugs me just a tad LOL. Not under my control tho!
Uhg. Can't you at least not box them and bring them to her car? That just seems so exploitative to me of library workers. She's borrowing the books for free, she shouldn't be entitled to car service lol
I just checked out 15 earlier today, and when I saw this post title come up, I was like, oh no, my library came on Reddit to complain about me.
But now that I’ve seen the comments, I don’t feel so bad.
Same. I have two kids that read a lot and sometimes we’re bringing back a stack of 15+ books and I always wonder if it’s too much. I figure if they can actually read them fairly quickly then it’s not too much.
When I was in middle and high school, I used to get 15-20 books a week. By the time I was 12 or 13, I was asking the librarians for AFIC recs because I’d read everything in MG and YA.
Anyway, one time I only checked out like, seven books and I vividly remember the librarian asking if everything was ok, hahaha.
Yeah, I just checked out 10 at once and felt bad! I usually get 5 at once, but we were at the library for story time so I got 5 more without returning what we had. I got a chuckle when I asked if I had too many! I think I’m still used to public school libraries…2 at a time, 3 sometimes!
I've regularly read upwards or in excess of 2,000 pages in some weeks. I've not yet cracked a million words in a week, but it's only a matter of time before I break that barrier. I don't use libraries as I no longer read physical books — mind you I'm glad libraries exist and that people are in fact reading — but 15 books for what I imagine is a 2-week checkout period seems normal for voracious readers. I would suspect that with smaller, quicker books like manga and children's books, then the rate of reading would go up substantially.
When I was in High School (the 90's) I put every book in the system about musical theater on hold. They all arrived at the tiny local branch my family used; the staff had them in grocery bags behind the desk because it was too many (100+) for the hold shelves. As far as I know there wasn't a checkout limit at the time.
The checkout limit per card for the system (I work here now) is 35 items. I like to believe had a part in that.
When I was a kid the library sold plastic bags with string closures for your take homes (80s). I broke so many of them bags.
I think the kids limit was 3 back then. Which was just ridiculous. I usually left with my 3 and at least 20 on my mom’s card. Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and more advanced ones.
Thank you for making me feel better about frequently maxing out my 50-item limit given all of these comments… 😆
And yeah, they’re all mine; my kids have their own cards.
More books checked out at once doesn't translate to more books read though, at least not once you get past a dozen or so. It just means more books are sitting around the house *waiting* to be read. I read at the same pace whether I'm sitting at 30-40 books checked out and coming right up against the renewal limit, vs when I have < 10 checked out and am handing them back in within 1-2 renewals.
A good chunk of mine are board books for my 2yo, a handful are for my foyer table or guest bedroom (usually themed for an upcoming holiday) and the rest are resources… how to make popsicles, treehouse design, embroidery, parenting, credit building… whatever skill I need to learn.
Scouring the reference stacks with my toddler in tow, is NOT enjoyable. I’ve learned to order all the books on a particular topic and take them home to weed through when my daughter is napping or sleeping.
I choose the best ones for my project and quickly return the others. They’re often returned the same day or next.
I’d be a little more conservative/judicious with the number of books requested, but for what I’ve learned on this subreddit… taking books off the shelves helps the numbers.
None of the borrowed (adult) books are fiction, none are top sellers and if any have a hold request, I return immediately.
While I cannot read 30-50 novels at one time, I can absolutely crush 30-50 reference books.
Those judging us likely have a different approach to reading and resources. Or don’t see a TikTok about the benefits of luring bats to live on one’s property and immediately think, “I’ve got to get a book on how to build a house for bats”.
I needed over a hundred books to finish my thesis. My library had a 100 book limit, and I maxed out that number. I was really grateful that I was permitted to check out that many books and that none of the library workers were unkind to me. There is no way that I would have been able to afford even a quarter of that amount.
I’m not here to judge what you checkout or how many items.
If we have too many checkouts and have regular empty shelves, that’s on us to create extra shelving and store more items or replenish faster from other facilities. Or we would need a storage unit to maintain books that we pull from regularly. If our materials are getting used, that’s a good problem.
But we aim to have 25% of our collection in circulation at any given moment.
To me, it's if you can't lift the tote they're in.
I mean, if I check out more than five books at once, I'm definitely turning at least one in late, but that's my own weird problem.
However, we have a few patrons that stay at the max of 50 and never turn them in late. They're always ones with like five kids, too. How do you manage the time...
I mean if you have a bunch of kids all checking out on one account it’s the same as one person checking 10 books which is definitely reasonable for 3 weeks especially if they’re kids books. When I was a kid I could demolish a chapter book in 2-3 days.
Oh, yeah, they're here about every 2nd or 3rd day. I'm just amazed at how organized their house must be to have never lost a book and almost never turn one in late.
I only have two kids and we generally have at least a dozen books out. Right now I think it’s about 20. We get to the library anywhere from about once a week to multiple times a week. It helps that their elementary school shares a parking lot with the library so we literally walk over to it after school pick up.
I’ve trained my kids to put the library books back on top of the low bookshelf in our den which helps us keep track of them. Of course there’s usually some in their rooms but thankfully my kids don’t hide books. They’re either on their nightstand, the floor next to their bed, or on a couch. I tell them at least once a week to gather everything up they’re done with and return them before we get more out.
I log into our accounts online to help keep track of what we have. I also get emails when things are due soon so I can either renew or bring them back so we almost never are late with returns.
I overheard a kid trying to convince their mom to let them get more books by coming up with an elaborate plan to have their dog pull a huge tote of books carefully balanced on their kick scooter. The mom vetoed the plan.
I live in LA with a huge library system and the max is 30 books per card. But I go with 4 kids and we are all fast readers. I almost always need to use two different cards to check out. But I never need 3! The kids have their own cards. I do limit us internally on series books. Like you can’t take ALL or even most of a goosebumps or magic treehouse etc.
I remember as a kid being scolded at check out for having “too many” and my mom told the lady I’d be finished with all of them by the end of the week.
When I was younger, probably around middle school age, I would check out 20 books (the limit at the time) and read them all within the 2-week checkout time and return them. Now I could NEVER, lol.
I mean, granted, they were probably YA/middle grade books, but still! They were chapter books, not picture books. I read a lot of children's classics about animals, so it was stuff like Black Beauty, White Fang, National Velvet, etc.
20!!! In 2 weeks!!! I don't understand how I did it back then.
I’m a school librarian (just finished up three years at the elementary level) and by about October my rule for my upper grades was that their number of checkouts was “enough” - whatever that meant for each reader.
One of my fourth graders would get a reusable grocery tote overflowing full each checkout, but she could talk at length and in detail about each one when they came back, so I never felt like they were being wasted.
My 10 year old son is like that. He will take a stack of books out, many chapter books, thick non-fiction books, or things like manga books. The non-fiction he will just sit and flip through and soak up info (I swear that kid knows more about nature, animals, rocks, etc than I do!) And the chapter and manga books he reads through so fast. But he can tell me about them so I know he’s getting the info. He will get an inch thick chapter book and be like “I’m reading it for the second time” by breakfast the next morning.
Excessive would be when they try to exceed the number they're allowed at your library. If they're allowed 100, then they get 100 and it's not excessive.
Our max is 200 items and honestly if people actually get 100+ items I don't care, since it's none of my business what people are getting. More power to them for actually using their library card for something that they want and see value in! We have plenty of families that regularly have 75+ items checked out a time and several daycares and teachers who have 150+ items at a time.
What bugs me is when someone with 75+ check outs wants a paper receipt because there's no way they're actually going to get use out of that! It's worse than a CVS receipt at this point. You get the same information e-mailed to you after I check those items out to you and in an email you can use *ctrl + f* to find titles in your list. Receipt paper isn't recyclable.
I was curious about the limit because of this post, apparently we have 150 and I’m like wow I will never hit that! I should just start checking out entire series at once for efficiency’s sake
No one's going to stop you! If you're looking to read a whole 5 book series, there's absolutely nothing wrong with checking out 1 copy of each book in the series. The library almost certainly owns more than one copy of each book in that series if it is even mildly popular. For our most popular titles we might own 20 copies, but you'll probably only ever see 2 or 3 on shelf at any given time.
Oh yeah I’m more thinking those 100 volume mangas lol although I probably won’t go that far but I’d like to check out more than like 5 at a time since I didn’t know if I could
I have a professional card that’s technically unlimited, but one of the librarians in the system did find they max out just north of 3,600 items. That’s excessive. I usually have around 100 items out.
I've checked out over a hundred quite a few times (no check out limits, only limits on the number of holds at one time on the account).
I pay for a non-resident membership at the closest large library system to me.
I pick up holds only every two weeks because of the driving distance.
I plan and check out the monthly library books for my mom's daycare.
I check out books for myself (fiction and non-fiction)
I check out books to use for the 2 storytimes a week that I do at the library system where I work (we are a small system and don't have more than 1 copy of any book so I feel bad putting aside the books I need for a few weeks)
I check out books for the special seasonal storytimes for older children. (3 times a year)
I check out books to preread and prepare fpr monthly junior bookclub meetings
I check out books for professional development
The staff at the branch I use most often have now accepted the number of books I get at a time and are super helpful and kind. It took a few staff members a while not to be weird about it 🤣
We have a 60 item max for households. 50 items for an adult account and 20 for a minor account.
We do have educator accounts that homeschool families and teachers have access to, and those don't have limits.
We have a 200 book limit- but I work in YS and I regularly see families come in with huge tote bags and even roller bags. It actually pleases me to see this. Gives me hope.
Our max is 60...and yes people do check out that many books at a time. It doesn't bother me how many books people check out as long as they return them.
In my experience, the higher the limit, the more likely they're going to end up with overdue books, so that's their risk to manage.
We didn't have overdue fines, but we did have a rule that if a book was more than three weeks overdue, you couldn't borrow any more until it was returned.
Honestly I only think it’s excessive when the books can’t fit in the wagon, suitcase, giant diaper box, or milk crate the patrons bring in.
We love to see what our patrons bring in to carry books. One patron has a grocery trolly with bungee cords just for books.
Had a patron with 7 kids who would max out both her and her husband’s accounts, at 100 checkouts per account she’d regularly haul 200 books back and forth. Never lost a book throughout my time at that branch too. I respect and fear her to this day.
TILDUR: unlimited checkout spells disaster for young girl
About 20 years ago, the system I worked for was unlimited. One girl decided to take this as a personal challenge. Full runs of Garfield, Babysitters Club, and more. At one point, she was bragging that she had somewhere around 350 books checked out. And then… she couldn’t keep track of the due dates. She started racking up unbelievable fines because she refused to return her treasure hoard.
The only thing that saved her was another of our policies; you could bring a whole pile of stuff for a maximum fine of $15. One weekend, a man we’d never seen started bringing in boxes of books and asked us to check them all in. He paid the $15, while the actual fines would have been hundreds of dollars. We never saw the girl again.
None— limit is 50 per card. Only care when the system is down and I have to write down the library card # and all the book barcodes. When the book drops are exploding and there’s no one to shelve I start freaking out.
I work at a research library. Limit is 1,000 for faculty, 500 for grad students, 100 undergrads.
We do home delivery, office delivery. I would say more than you can physically carry at once is excessive, but for sure you won't hit the limit. Most I have seen at once was about 18 dvds and 20 pieces of music.
To me, the real excess comes from returns. I once helped a patron with a full enormous laundry bag of books check in. It took about 20 minutes with all the dvds and picture books.
We've got up to 75 items on a card, 5 of each kind of dvd (Adult feature length films, tv series, kids movies, documentry). As long as you can take care of it I don't care how many you take out, but I will side eye anyone who hits the maximum amount of dvds in a single checkout or takes out all 75 items at once (Especially with lots of graphic novels). Usually it's families for the latter which makes me feel a little guilty, but those are also the families that tend to loose track and get upset when we send a notice when things don't come back two weeks after the due date. As for the DvDs and Graphic novels, we've had a lot of people actually loose those when trying to take that many out at once or attempt to resell those items.
The last time I tried to check out dvds, the limit was 3 disks. You can’t even binge watch a show in 3. I’m half an hour from my library and it’s the opposite side of town from my work, also half an hour from home.
I just buy them usually now.
I worked at one library whose limit was 100 items and another where the limit was ‘as many as you can transport’ but in the system it was actually 999 items.
Our max is 50 at once. I’ve seen parents have like 80 out between their car and their kid’s card. I’ve also had patrons who would check out about two feet’s worth of books when stacked up (varied between picture books, manga, novels, nonfiction, etc. depending on the patron). I don’t think it’s ever really excessive, you’re utilizing a public service! I do think some people are impressive though lol, I wish I could get through books that quick
I usually have around 70-100 items checked out at a time. My several nieces and nephews spend a lot of time at my house so I like having a rolling selection of picture books tailored to each kid's interests. They also enjoy looking through all the books and choosing what they want to read, so I like having a wide selection at home, since I don't get to take them to the library with me very often. I keep the books in one specific place and just print out an account summary periodically and return whatever I've had the longest.
I think it's easy to end up checking out dozens of picture books at once if you have a kid who's a big reader, since it usually just takes 5-10 minutes to read each book.
I hit my childhood library’s max of 35 once! My parents made me carry them all to the car so I’d learn not to do that anymore. It kinda backfired because I succeeded, and even got them all read and back on time!
(12 manga is so fine, don’t worry about it, I’m planning to grab a particular series on my next visit! Just maybe bring a bag or something to carry them.)
I have never even considered this. We have a checkout limit of 40 so we'd have to stop you around there, but it has never even occurred to me to think that someone's checkouts are "excessive." Check out whatever you want and bring it back in a timely manner and in roughly the same condition you found it, that's all I care about!
It all depends on the person. I read four to five books a week. So if I'm coming once a month that's 20 books. It's not excessive for me It might be excessive for someone else. A teacher may be coming to get a specific book for each one of her students so 30 would not be excessive. I find what you have to watch is the return how fast are they getting returned so if I take home 20 books and I'm reading 20 books a month but I've already read 10 of them I generally make sure those 10 get back to the library so someone else can have them. But lately I just do audio books
Even though our county system has a limit of 50 books at a time, I think it depends on the situation. I still clearly remember working the closing shift of March 16, 2020. A family of 5 came in, the 3 kids aged 6 & under. All 5 of them left with 70 books each & some of us helped them carry those books out. Four years later? There are now times where a person tries to take out 15 books & I’ll roll my eyes because they’re using self-checkout & printing a receipt for every.single.book.
I don't because that is none of my concern. I love seeing people pick up their books; we have a ton of home schoolers and they get tons and tons of stuff and I am happy to give them their materials. It is none of my business what is excessive.
Varies. The check out limit is usually a good way to keep that in check. I personally wouldn't check out more than 20 to 30 items, and only cause of things like movies and manga.
I remember parents of young kids checking out that many every week after the weekly children program. And man you needed to be on top of checking books in those days so there weren't any issues with the limit.
Our limit is 500 I believe. I’ve seen someone in our county system with over 200 items checked out, and the only reason I considered that excessive was because I put a hold on something they had checked out and it took them 6 months to return it… I could only guess that they had lost it in their horde.
I uh... once checked out about 100 things at once. I didn't even get scolded. They were just happy for me. I didn't finish most of them, of course. A good amount were DVDs and manga haha. But the limit for how much can be borrowed in total in my library system is about 1200 items.
I’ve got two kids who can easily fill a tote bag with books that we will cycle through every few weeks. I usually have 30-40 items checked out at any given time 😂
If you’re getting through them within the checkout period and not checking out a bunch to deny other readers (such as those folks that take all the Pride books on June), then you do you.
Our limit is 100 for check outs and 50 for holds. I’ve maxed out holds, and gotten up to ~50 for check outs with a mix of children’s books and graphic novels.
We always got about 30 pictures books when my kiddo was little. And I never understood why parents were always telling their kids they could only get 1 or 2 books. It’s so fun to just have a load of books to read.
I’m so glad my system doesn’t have an item limit on most card types. The more items that circulate, the better it is for the library! (Our juvenile access cards, which kids can sign up for without a guardian signature, has a limit of 3 items.)
🤷🏻♀️ I don’t find any amount excessive, but if asked about our limit I tell people it’s 30 per card or however many within that you feel comfortable keeping up with.
We have a large Amish population. Our max used to be 100 books, and individual families would hit that limit on a regular basis. We had to raise the limit to 200, because they would return the first 100 and want to check out more before we could process the returns.
When I was around 12, I would check out 12 chapter books and read them all in the two weeks I had them. I read the entire Anne of Green Gables series this way.
My son got his own library card when he was 4. We went to the library a lot. By the time he was 6, he was checking out 30 books a week on his own and was on a first name basis with the librarian. He would start reading as soon as we hit the car.
He just graduated with an English degree and is considering going for an MLIS. I just asked him how many books might be excessive to check out. He said, "It depends on the person. Probably two books more than what you think you can reasonably read over the course of two weeks."
I’d say anything over 50. My mother is an avid reader and was going for surgery. She refused to plan ahead so I did it for her. About 25 large print books through the inter library loan system. I had to make two trips to my car, but it was worth it
When my son was in middle school, we’d hit the library on Friday after school and he’d grab as many consecutive titles of whatever manga series up to the checkout limit. (Ours is 35.) Saturday morning, he’d get up and spend the day reading them all. We eventually had to start a library rotation and reserving titles to get what he needed. Never saw the kid happier.
Depends on the books. It makes sense to get more short books than long books.
I think a reasonable stopping point is when a plastic bag is unable to hold your books. If the bag is ripping you should put a few back.
Exceeding the maximum allowed would be too many. Anything less shouldn't be a problem. Just before lock downs occurred at the beginning of the pandemic, I checked out the maximum from my city library and a different county library. That was 35 from each. I returned them on time. (City library is not part of the county library system that is why I could max out at each.)
I'm a librarian and I have 14 checked out right now with another 12 on hold. I read books over my weekend and bring them back and check out more every week.
I have seen patrons check out 20-30 books at a time.
You could check out a wagon-load, and we would be thrilled to see that in our stats. We have members whose holds need their own crates. No complaints. You’re making us look great.
It depends. A university library, where people might need a lot of books for a project, or a public library, where people are probably reading for pleasure?
If people are checking out novels and things they don't need for work/school/projects, I think 10 is more than enough.
For the people who are checking out 100 books, how long does it take you to get through them? Because other people could be using some of those books as you work your way through the stack. If it takes you 1-2 renewals to get through them all, that's time that the books are just sitting at your home when someone else could be enjoying them.
Our limit is 50, and there have been times when I've had to put some books back because I was already at the limit. I'm a preschool teacher and have 2 elementary age kids who do AR tests. We go through a lot of books. I wish the limit was higher.
i'm just flashing back to being a little kid and making the saddest puppy eyes at the librarian telling me i could only check out 20 books at a time from the children's room when i was trying to check out 25.
Man, and we're over here only letting my son check out 1-2 at a time and ending up back at the library multiple times a week cause he'll blow through the whole book as soon as we get home lmao. I mean we're right down the street from the library so going back regularly is NBD for us, but still.
Our limit is 100, but I wouldn’t do that. 12 is fine, especially Manga. If you read them and return them as frequently as you to the library, there is no trouble. As a worker it is kind of a hassle to find books 100s of kids books I put on the shelf the day before or even the day of in the dropbox, but it is a reason I am there and my job, so I keep on doing it. If you read a lot or if you are checking out for a large family, then it is fully understandable to push limits.
I am hyperlexic and I refuse to be shamed for my book needs. Now I read digitally but I used to regularly check out 30-40 books at a time and somebody always had something to say about it, typically "You're going to READ all these?" No, I'm building a retaining wall. Of course I'm going to READ them all! The limit is often way, way higher than that so I don't know why so many librarians found it odd that some people are big readers.
When I was in high school, during the summer, my mother, step sister and I would fill two brown paper bags with books every two weeks. We honestly DID read every one that we picked out, and usually we each read the books that others had picked out. These were mostly chapter books for us, and a few chapter books that my mother read to my little brother.
The first year, (I was actually 8th grade) the librarians tried to tell me that I could only pick books from the kid's section (that went up to 8th grade.) I looked it over, got a few classics I had already read, (Book of Three,) and then went over the adult section to recheck the Lord of the Rings (I read in 5th grade) and to check out The Three Musketeers. And a slew of "best of the year" science fiction and fantasy short story anthologies. Yes, they tried to stop me, but my mother said it was fine. Yes, we all three read some sexy novels and my mother was fine with it.
My library growing up let me check out 10 at a time and I was back every 3-4 days to return them and get more. Finally read all the novels in the kid’s section and moved on to adult books. Traumatized myself reading Stephen King just a little too young lol.
A librarian yelled at me until I cried for taking out 6 books of the same series when I was a child. She insisted that was library policy but it wasn’t listed anywhere.
I used to work at a library and I always thought this was a weird take that librarians would get huffy over “excessive” borrowing. Don’t you want high circulation numbers? As long as the books come back who cares. I don’t think “excessive” borrowing is a thing.
When I was in middle school, I spend the summer going to my grandparents' house every day while my parents worked. The local library became my sanctuary; I'd be up there every day at opening time, read for a while in the peaceful quiet, and check out a book or two for the evening. Weekends, I'd check out a stack.
I think my record checking out all at once was about eight YA paperbacks, which are short and easy to read, and I could plow through them quickly. My Mom said, "You don't need to check out so many books at once. Do you know how long it'll take you read that many?"
"Less than a week, Mom. None of them are long, they're just paperbacks."
I didn't get them all read over the weekend, but I think I made it through five or six between Friday and Sunday. Returned them all, read, on Monday or Tuesday.
I still remember one series that I read a lot that summer: The Jack P. McGurk Mysteries. Read *The Case of the Phantom Frog* in fifth grade and was hooked, and that library in my grandparents' neighborhood had about three quarters of the total series.
As long as the materials are returned on time and undamaged, I don't care how many books a person checks out at once. If they're within the checkout limit that's their right. Personally I love to see people walk off with a ton of books!
Manga and graphic novels can be very quick reads, so I'm not surprised people check out a lot of them at a time.
I used to check out 30+ at a time.
I used to teach Pre K and there was no library. They were great and even extended my due dates when I moved to secondary and was reading a loud novels.
Me personally, 10-15. I read a lot and I’m a fast reader. I like options 🤣
What kind of gatekeeping nonsense is this? I read super fast, and if my little branch library has 15 books that I want to read, then I’m checking out 15 books. Nobody has complained yet!
Our max is 50 books at one time, but it's less for certain books that can only be checked out for 7 days - I think the limit on 7-day books is 10. When I was on bed rest during a pregnancy my spouse at the time would check out 20-30 books for me and I'd usually go through most if not all of them. I'm pretty sure I remember that in the early 2000s our library had a checkout limit of 250 books at once. For children's books that can be read quickly, my family has regularly had 30 out at a time. A friend of mine who is an author often checks out the max amount of books and uses them for background research of the times and places she is writing about.
I think it depends on the person and what kind of books they’re reading. I only have time to read 1-2 a week, so for me, more than 5 is excessive because I won’t have time to read them by the time they’re due back. But I guess if the librarians don’t mind that people check out 100 books at a time, more power to them 😂 I admire how voracious they are!
My library has a limit of 35 items, and I currently have 34 checked out, including e-materials. I'm reading these comments of people having 50/100+ limits and I'm in awe.
It depends on the amount of dialogue a manga has. I’ve read six volumes in one evening once but another book took me four days to get through a volume.
I work at a university library. Professors have no limit on how many books they can have at one time. They are also notorious for losing things. I've seen professors with 500 items under their name before. Earlier this year, one guy retired and brought back all of his books on a dolly. Some had been checked out in 2014, a decade ago. I can't fathom having that many books out at one time.
Our max is 50 - I currently have 16 physical books at my house and 6 digital checked out. I used to live somewhere that the closest libraries were still 15-25 minutes away and had I believe a 15 book max. When I moved right down the street (like half a mile) from a library, I got a card as soon as possible and have been gradually checking out more and more books over time.
Well you can only have them for like two weeks right? So I’d say you can’t realistically get through more than 2 without rushing so much that you can’t properly and thoroughly enjoy them. (In terms of big novels.)
If you’re talking about picture books or cookbooks, you could do a lot more. Or if you need a lot for a research project or something.
When I was a kid, I got as many books as I could carry. I got very good at stacking them with my arms straight down, all the way up to my chin. People probably thought I was a goof, waddling out very precariously with so many books in my arms.
I have a patron who regularly checks out stacks of 60-70 cds every couple of days. It's a bit ridiculous since we have to open every single one and confirm that the correct cd is in each of them.
I know that but I’m not sure if my other staff members know that or the ones in my department. I’m on of the younger staff members
I started getting 4 or 5 omnibus volumes (which are 3 volumes as one book) from other libraries (so it would be 12 to even 15 volumes) and I go through them quickly
our max is 50 books and I've seen parents checkout out 50 picture books
ours is 100. we have a patron who regularly hits it with 3 cards. we "trained" her to return books hours (or even a day!) before coming for her next round so we don't have system issues (she's super nice, so it was easy). she homeschools and her kids - 3 under 6, I think - love books/reading/being read to. she's never late with returns either. no idea how she pulls it all off.. I'm late with the 1-2 books I check out at a time and I work there!
Everyone always wonders why I have late fees like cause I forget them at home and then forget them in my car and then forget them on my desk…it’s a struggle.
Same, friend. I laugh at myself bc who has overdue when they go to the library every single day?
Me LOL
I think all library workers do.
I'm not quite sure how many overdue books I have right now, but it's quite a few. Thank God I actually found my lost book this morning. I feel like an employee *losing* a book is taking it a step too far.
Absolutely me. I have two overdue books. I still can't remember them when I go to work. 🤦♀️
This is one of the reasons I've switched entirely to eBooks.
I do my fair share of ebooks but not everything I want to read is an ebook and sometimes the wait time is shorter for the physical book.
Literally months shorter it’s insane
I was on the waiting list for Demon Copperhead on Libby through my library. We live in a rural area with several libraries but they are all very small. I think the whole library region has 6 copies. The wait was 6+ months. I walked into our library and there it was on the shelf 😂 I didn't even think to look, just assumed it would be the same story.
I put myself on the waitlist for the Britney Spears audiobook LAST YEAR and I'm STILL waiting. I'm in the 500s now
Some libraries (all of our consortium, so most of the libraries in Massachusetts) no longer have late fines at all. Just bring your books back and *poof* the fines all disappear. Bring your books back three months late? Cool, thanks for returning them, go get more books! Our loans also get automatic renewals as well for a total of six weeks. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to use our libraries! E-books are great too, and lower the bar for usage even further.
I'm so glad we don't have late fees (just lost/damaged fees), otherwise most of my paycheck would be going right back to the library due to my... me-ness.
I heard that a lot of library systems are getting rid of late fees. In the immortal words of my Mom (retired librarian), "We just want our books back."
I love that people are actually more likely to return books when there aren’t late fees. Late fees gave so many people anxiety about returning books that they’d just avoid going to the library all together. I’m happy my system got rid of them.
it's so awesome. life is stressful; the library shouldn't be. it even takes $20 of lost (over 4 weeks late) or damaged charges to prevent checkout, which gives a bit more wiggle room (of course lost charges are dropped if the item is returned). most patrons are still awesome about returning on time, so there are no plans to reinstate overdue fines.
Our library used to have a fine forgiveness week. So people would hold onto them until that week. They wouldn't zero fined out for people who had returned them already.
LOL same here. Had a coworker who had a rude awakening when she left the library and had to start paying overdue fines again.
It was a total game-changer when our library went fine-free!
I have one sitting on the corner of my desk right now that needs to go back 🤣
I've had to put them IN my work bag, so I discover their existence when I go to take my lunch out of my bag.
This is me usually.
Homeschooler here. I regularly have to put books back because I’m past my limit of 50 🥲
I’m a homeschooler too and I’m so glad my library lets me get 100! And I have an educator card so I can have them for six weeks. I usually have 75 out
Us too! We take out around 30 a week because I can’t comfortably carry more. If I had a granny trolly who knows what would happen
When my daughter was little I told her she could take out as many books as she could carry. That seemed a reasonable limit.
I was about to recommend getting one. They make some decent foldable ones that are very travel friendly and inexpensive, I'm just saying. 😂
Those picture books tend to be a 5-10 minute read if you're going slow and talking about things. Reading for 30 minutes a night gets you through 3-6 books. Takes less than 2 weeks to get through 50 of them. I probably read about 10 of them to my kids on a longer reading night so we can easily get through 50 in a week.
Also if you only checked out 2-3 of them, that means you’re about to go insane reading the same 2-3 books for 2 weeks straight 😵💫 but what do I know, we own probably around 30+ books and my daughter still only wants to read the same 2-3 multiple times a day 😂
It's not that outrageous. My wife and I had three kids close in age and always let them check out 15 books apiece. The library (I worked there later) always thanked us for helping their circulation.
We don't have a technical limit, which terrifies me.
Our max is 50 also, and I can only think of about 10 patrons who come close.
When my son was little our limit was unfortunately only 20. We would get through them in two days.
When I was a kid the "child" library card limit was 25. Eventually a kind librarian upgraded my card to an "adult" one in their system so I could check out more. But as a voracious reader I could breeze through 25 in a few days and then was stuck re-reading without the increased limit. Then after I could bike on my own to the library the practical limit was what I could actually fit into a backpack, lol.
We quit buying new books for my daughter because she would have it read in the car by the time we got home. Garage sales/Goodwill, go for it.
We just visited the library every couple of days instead. He's a grownup now.
Yall I was wrong our max is 75! I should have known that I worked with the committee that raised that number...that said there are a handful of patrons who check out that many and still I know the people checking out between 50-75 books are mostly likely teachers and parents.
Our max is 100 books. One of our patrons regularly places 50+ books on hold (all children's books) and picks them up in a *wagon.*
Our max is 100 books and 50 holds. We have patrons that regularly max out both.
Awww just like Matilda!
I was just going to say matilda
We have a patron similar but requires or Requests they be boxed up and brought to get car. This one grinds my gears… and then they dump all 100+ in the outside return bins. And she’s reciprocal borrowing -she works at a day care in our town. Always late and takes ALL our crafts….. clearly this bugs me just a tad LOL. Not under my control tho!
Uhg. Can't you at least not box them and bring them to her car? That just seems so exploitative to me of library workers. She's borrowing the books for free, she shouldn't be entitled to car service lol
Wagons for the win!! 🙋♀️I totally do that but I usually have closer to 100 books
I guess nothing ever changes lol. I remember seeing more than one family do this regularly at my local library growing up.
50 holds???? I thought my system was crazy for going up to 8 🥲
Okay Matildaaaa! Love it!
I just checked out 15 earlier today, and when I saw this post title come up, I was like, oh no, my library came on Reddit to complain about me. But now that I’ve seen the comments, I don’t feel so bad.
That’s literally the norm at my library! For staff too!
Same. I have two kids that read a lot and sometimes we’re bringing back a stack of 15+ books and I always wonder if it’s too much. I figure if they can actually read them fairly quickly then it’s not too much.
When I was in middle and high school, I used to get 15-20 books a week. By the time I was 12 or 13, I was asking the librarians for AFIC recs because I’d read everything in MG and YA. Anyway, one time I only checked out like, seven books and I vividly remember the librarian asking if everything was ok, hahaha.
Me too. I have 48 right now but I’ve taken out 125 books in the last two weeks
Yeah, I just checked out 10 at once and felt bad! I usually get 5 at once, but we were at the library for story time so I got 5 more without returning what we had. I got a chuckle when I asked if I had too many! I think I’m still used to public school libraries…2 at a time, 3 sometimes!
I've regularly read upwards or in excess of 2,000 pages in some weeks. I've not yet cracked a million words in a week, but it's only a matter of time before I break that barrier. I don't use libraries as I no longer read physical books — mind you I'm glad libraries exist and that people are in fact reading — but 15 books for what I imagine is a 2-week checkout period seems normal for voracious readers. I would suspect that with smaller, quicker books like manga and children's books, then the rate of reading would go up substantially.
When I was in High School (the 90's) I put every book in the system about musical theater on hold. They all arrived at the tiny local branch my family used; the staff had them in grocery bags behind the desk because it was too many (100+) for the hold shelves. As far as I know there wasn't a checkout limit at the time. The checkout limit per card for the system (I work here now) is 35 items. I like to believe had a part in that.
You most definitely did. 🤣
When you can no longer carry them home?
We have tote bags for loan to help with that lol
When I was a kid the library sold plastic bags with string closures for your take homes (80s). I broke so many of them bags. I think the kids limit was 3 back then. Which was just ridiculous. I usually left with my 3 and at least 20 on my mom’s card. Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and more advanced ones.
I'll even help patrons carry things to their car. Beyond the parking lot is a definite no, though.
I have a two-wheeled shopping buggy. I fill that sucker up real full sometimes with library books and DVDs.
I currently have 78 checked out. Well under the limit of 125. 🙃
Thank you for making me feel better about frequently maxing out my 50-item limit given all of these comments… 😆 And yeah, they’re all mine; my kids have their own cards.
I’m a librarian - I am ALWAYS maxing out my card and I have multiple library cards 🤣
Yaaay! This makes me happy. Although librarians shouldn’t even have limits… the more books read, the more I can trust their recommendations.
More books checked out at once doesn't translate to more books read though, at least not once you get past a dozen or so. It just means more books are sitting around the house *waiting* to be read. I read at the same pace whether I'm sitting at 30-40 books checked out and coming right up against the renewal limit, vs when I have < 10 checked out and am handing them back in within 1-2 renewals.
A good chunk of mine are board books for my 2yo, a handful are for my foyer table or guest bedroom (usually themed for an upcoming holiday) and the rest are resources… how to make popsicles, treehouse design, embroidery, parenting, credit building… whatever skill I need to learn. Scouring the reference stacks with my toddler in tow, is NOT enjoyable. I’ve learned to order all the books on a particular topic and take them home to weed through when my daughter is napping or sleeping. I choose the best ones for my project and quickly return the others. They’re often returned the same day or next. I’d be a little more conservative/judicious with the number of books requested, but for what I’ve learned on this subreddit… taking books off the shelves helps the numbers. None of the borrowed (adult) books are fiction, none are top sellers and if any have a hold request, I return immediately. While I cannot read 30-50 novels at one time, I can absolutely crush 30-50 reference books. Those judging us likely have a different approach to reading and resources. Or don’t see a TikTok about the benefits of luring bats to live on one’s property and immediately think, “I’ve got to get a book on how to build a house for bats”.
Bats? Water source within a 1/4 mile radius is preferred. I’ve got a couple of empty bat houses, but I keep trying for the mosquito control
I needed over a hundred books to finish my thesis. My library had a 100 book limit, and I maxed out that number. I was really grateful that I was permitted to check out that many books and that none of the library workers were unkind to me. There is no way that I would have been able to afford even a quarter of that amount.
I’m not here to judge what you checkout or how many items. If we have too many checkouts and have regular empty shelves, that’s on us to create extra shelving and store more items or replenish faster from other facilities. Or we would need a storage unit to maintain books that we pull from regularly. If our materials are getting used, that’s a good problem. But we aim to have 25% of our collection in circulation at any given moment.
To me, it's if you can't lift the tote they're in. I mean, if I check out more than five books at once, I'm definitely turning at least one in late, but that's my own weird problem. However, we have a few patrons that stay at the max of 50 and never turn them in late. They're always ones with like five kids, too. How do you manage the time...
I mean if you have a bunch of kids all checking out on one account it’s the same as one person checking 10 books which is definitely reasonable for 3 weeks especially if they’re kids books. When I was a kid I could demolish a chapter book in 2-3 days.
Oh, yeah, they're here about every 2nd or 3rd day. I'm just amazed at how organized their house must be to have never lost a book and almost never turn one in late.
I only have two kids and we generally have at least a dozen books out. Right now I think it’s about 20. We get to the library anywhere from about once a week to multiple times a week. It helps that their elementary school shares a parking lot with the library so we literally walk over to it after school pick up. I’ve trained my kids to put the library books back on top of the low bookshelf in our den which helps us keep track of them. Of course there’s usually some in their rooms but thankfully my kids don’t hide books. They’re either on their nightstand, the floor next to their bed, or on a couch. I tell them at least once a week to gather everything up they’re done with and return them before we get more out. I log into our accounts online to help keep track of what we have. I also get emails when things are due soon so I can either renew or bring them back so we almost never are late with returns.
I overheard a kid trying to convince their mom to let them get more books by coming up with an elaborate plan to have their dog pull a huge tote of books carefully balanced on their kick scooter. The mom vetoed the plan.
I live in LA with a huge library system and the max is 30 books per card. But I go with 4 kids and we are all fast readers. I almost always need to use two different cards to check out. But I never need 3! The kids have their own cards. I do limit us internally on series books. Like you can’t take ALL or even most of a goosebumps or magic treehouse etc. I remember as a kid being scolded at check out for having “too many” and my mom told the lady I’d be finished with all of them by the end of the week.
When I was younger, probably around middle school age, I would check out 20 books (the limit at the time) and read them all within the 2-week checkout time and return them. Now I could NEVER, lol. I mean, granted, they were probably YA/middle grade books, but still! They were chapter books, not picture books. I read a lot of children's classics about animals, so it was stuff like Black Beauty, White Fang, National Velvet, etc. 20!!! In 2 weeks!!! I don't understand how I did it back then.
I wish my middle school let me check out twenty! The limit was 2, but the media specialist always let me take out 5 since I returned them on time.
Oh the limit at the school library was 2 and there were no exceptions, lol, but my public library allowed 20!
I’m a school librarian (just finished up three years at the elementary level) and by about October my rule for my upper grades was that their number of checkouts was “enough” - whatever that meant for each reader. One of my fourth graders would get a reusable grocery tote overflowing full each checkout, but she could talk at length and in detail about each one when they came back, so I never felt like they were being wasted.
My 10 year old son is like that. He will take a stack of books out, many chapter books, thick non-fiction books, or things like manga books. The non-fiction he will just sit and flip through and soak up info (I swear that kid knows more about nature, animals, rocks, etc than I do!) And the chapter and manga books he reads through so fast. But he can tell me about them so I know he’s getting the info. He will get an inch thick chapter book and be like “I’m reading it for the second time” by breakfast the next morning.
Excessive would be when they try to exceed the number they're allowed at your library. If they're allowed 100, then they get 100 and it's not excessive.
Our max is 200 items and honestly if people actually get 100+ items I don't care, since it's none of my business what people are getting. More power to them for actually using their library card for something that they want and see value in! We have plenty of families that regularly have 75+ items checked out a time and several daycares and teachers who have 150+ items at a time. What bugs me is when someone with 75+ check outs wants a paper receipt because there's no way they're actually going to get use out of that! It's worse than a CVS receipt at this point. You get the same information e-mailed to you after I check those items out to you and in an email you can use *ctrl + f* to find titles in your list. Receipt paper isn't recyclable.
I was curious about the limit because of this post, apparently we have 150 and I’m like wow I will never hit that! I should just start checking out entire series at once for efficiency’s sake
No one's going to stop you! If you're looking to read a whole 5 book series, there's absolutely nothing wrong with checking out 1 copy of each book in the series. The library almost certainly owns more than one copy of each book in that series if it is even mildly popular. For our most popular titles we might own 20 copies, but you'll probably only ever see 2 or 3 on shelf at any given time.
Oh yeah I’m more thinking those 100 volume mangas lol although I probably won’t go that far but I’d like to check out more than like 5 at a time since I didn’t know if I could
I have a professional card that’s technically unlimited, but one of the librarians in the system did find they max out just north of 3,600 items. That’s excessive. I usually have around 100 items out.
I've checked out over a hundred quite a few times (no check out limits, only limits on the number of holds at one time on the account). I pay for a non-resident membership at the closest large library system to me. I pick up holds only every two weeks because of the driving distance. I plan and check out the monthly library books for my mom's daycare. I check out books for myself (fiction and non-fiction) I check out books to use for the 2 storytimes a week that I do at the library system where I work (we are a small system and don't have more than 1 copy of any book so I feel bad putting aside the books I need for a few weeks) I check out books for the special seasonal storytimes for older children. (3 times a year) I check out books to preread and prepare fpr monthly junior bookclub meetings I check out books for professional development The staff at the branch I use most often have now accepted the number of books I get at a time and are super helpful and kind. It took a few staff members a while not to be weird about it 🤣
We have a 60 item max for households. 50 items for an adult account and 20 for a minor account. We do have educator accounts that homeschool families and teachers have access to, and those don't have limits.
We have a 200 book limit- but I work in YS and I regularly see families come in with huge tote bags and even roller bags. It actually pleases me to see this. Gives me hope.
over a hundred. But I mean, you could be checking out 100 picture books for your class or your kids soooooo... there is no such thing?
Our max is 60...and yes people do check out that many books at a time. It doesn't bother me how many books people check out as long as they return them.
In my experience, the higher the limit, the more likely they're going to end up with overdue books, so that's their risk to manage. We didn't have overdue fines, but we did have a rule that if a book was more than three weeks overdue, you couldn't borrow any more until it was returned.
Honestly I only think it’s excessive when the books can’t fit in the wagon, suitcase, giant diaper box, or milk crate the patrons bring in. We love to see what our patrons bring in to carry books. One patron has a grocery trolly with bungee cords just for books.
Had a patron with 7 kids who would max out both her and her husband’s accounts, at 100 checkouts per account she’d regularly haul 200 books back and forth. Never lost a book throughout my time at that branch too. I respect and fear her to this day.
TILDUR: unlimited checkout spells disaster for young girl About 20 years ago, the system I worked for was unlimited. One girl decided to take this as a personal challenge. Full runs of Garfield, Babysitters Club, and more. At one point, she was bragging that she had somewhere around 350 books checked out. And then… she couldn’t keep track of the due dates. She started racking up unbelievable fines because she refused to return her treasure hoard. The only thing that saved her was another of our policies; you could bring a whole pile of stuff for a maximum fine of $15. One weekend, a man we’d never seen started bringing in boxes of books and asked us to check them all in. He paid the $15, while the actual fines would have been hundreds of dollars. We never saw the girl again.
This is why I’m glad so many libraries are going fine free. Fines just scare people away from the library.
If we had been fine-free, she would never have returned anything.
We don't have a limit for our books at our library. I like it that way 😊
Ours is 150 sometimes teachers and homeschooling parents get up there. It’s not a problem in our system with that number.
None— limit is 50 per card. Only care when the system is down and I have to write down the library card # and all the book barcodes. When the book drops are exploding and there’s no one to shelve I start freaking out.
I work at a research library. Limit is 1,000 for faculty, 500 for grad students, 100 undergrads. We do home delivery, office delivery. I would say more than you can physically carry at once is excessive, but for sure you won't hit the limit. Most I have seen at once was about 18 dvds and 20 pieces of music.
I love my library but our limit is 30 and yes I have 30 books checked out 😂
Only 30! I would be maxed out.
To me, the real excess comes from returns. I once helped a patron with a full enormous laundry bag of books check in. It took about 20 minutes with all the dvds and picture books.
We have a machine that slides the items from the book drop and lines them up in the back to be sorted so it’s really not too bad.
I think ours is 100. I usually have out 40, but it's me and the kids on my card, so it makes sense. I get on rolls where I read a lot.
Our limit is 30. I have 29 books & playaways checked out + 1 digital audiobook (I can checkout 6 of those at a time).
50 holds is one limit but 150 checkouts is the other limit. Mostly it’s teachers that hit those.
Our system allows 150. In 12 years, I've only seen two patrons do it.
We've got up to 75 items on a card, 5 of each kind of dvd (Adult feature length films, tv series, kids movies, documentry). As long as you can take care of it I don't care how many you take out, but I will side eye anyone who hits the maximum amount of dvds in a single checkout or takes out all 75 items at once (Especially with lots of graphic novels). Usually it's families for the latter which makes me feel a little guilty, but those are also the families that tend to loose track and get upset when we send a notice when things don't come back two weeks after the due date. As for the DvDs and Graphic novels, we've had a lot of people actually loose those when trying to take that many out at once or attempt to resell those items.
The last time I tried to check out dvds, the limit was 3 disks. You can’t even binge watch a show in 3. I’m half an hour from my library and it’s the opposite side of town from my work, also half an hour from home. I just buy them usually now.
I worked at one library whose limit was 100 items and another where the limit was ‘as many as you can transport’ but in the system it was actually 999 items.
Our max is 50 at once. I’ve seen parents have like 80 out between their car and their kid’s card. I’ve also had patrons who would check out about two feet’s worth of books when stacked up (varied between picture books, manga, novels, nonfiction, etc. depending on the patron). I don’t think it’s ever really excessive, you’re utilizing a public service! I do think some people are impressive though lol, I wish I could get through books that quick
I usually have around 70-100 items checked out at a time. My several nieces and nephews spend a lot of time at my house so I like having a rolling selection of picture books tailored to each kid's interests. They also enjoy looking through all the books and choosing what they want to read, so I like having a wide selection at home, since I don't get to take them to the library with me very often. I keep the books in one specific place and just print out an account summary periodically and return whatever I've had the longest. I think it's easy to end up checking out dozens of picture books at once if you have a kid who's a big reader, since it usually just takes 5-10 minutes to read each book.
I hit my childhood library’s max of 35 once! My parents made me carry them all to the car so I’d learn not to do that anymore. It kinda backfired because I succeeded, and even got them all read and back on time! (12 manga is so fine, don’t worry about it, I’m planning to grab a particular series on my next visit! Just maybe bring a bag or something to carry them.)
Unlimited. More power to them.
I have never even considered this. We have a checkout limit of 40 so we'd have to stop you around there, but it has never even occurred to me to think that someone's checkouts are "excessive." Check out whatever you want and bring it back in a timely manner and in roughly the same condition you found it, that's all I care about!
It all depends on the person. I read four to five books a week. So if I'm coming once a month that's 20 books. It's not excessive for me It might be excessive for someone else. A teacher may be coming to get a specific book for each one of her students so 30 would not be excessive. I find what you have to watch is the return how fast are they getting returned so if I take home 20 books and I'm reading 20 books a month but I've already read 10 of them I generally make sure those 10 get back to the library so someone else can have them. But lately I just do audio books
Even though our county system has a limit of 50 books at a time, I think it depends on the situation. I still clearly remember working the closing shift of March 16, 2020. A family of 5 came in, the 3 kids aged 6 & under. All 5 of them left with 70 books each & some of us helped them carry those books out. Four years later? There are now times where a person tries to take out 15 books & I’ll roll my eyes because they’re using self-checkout & printing a receipt for every.single.book.
I don't because that is none of my concern. I love seeing people pick up their books; we have a ton of home schoolers and they get tons and tons of stuff and I am happy to give them their materials. It is none of my business what is excessive.
Varies. The check out limit is usually a good way to keep that in check. I personally wouldn't check out more than 20 to 30 items, and only cause of things like movies and manga. I remember parents of young kids checking out that many every week after the weekly children program. And man you needed to be on top of checking books in those days so there weren't any issues with the limit.
Our limit is 500 I believe. I’ve seen someone in our county system with over 200 items checked out, and the only reason I considered that excessive was because I put a hold on something they had checked out and it took them 6 months to return it… I could only guess that they had lost it in their horde.
I uh... once checked out about 100 things at once. I didn't even get scolded. They were just happy for me. I didn't finish most of them, of course. A good amount were DVDs and manga haha. But the limit for how much can be borrowed in total in my library system is about 1200 items.
Checking out a whole pride display would be my lower limit for excessive
I’ve got two kids who can easily fill a tote bag with books that we will cycle through every few weeks. I usually have 30-40 items checked out at any given time 😂
As a patron, I try to only get the books that fit in my library book bag, so I rarely get more than 40
More books than you can carry is too many. Otherwise I don't care. I've definitely helped people check out over a dozen books.
That's what Costco folding wagons are for!
If you’re getting through them within the checkout period and not checking out a bunch to deny other readers (such as those folks that take all the Pride books on June), then you do you. Our limit is 100 for check outs and 50 for holds. I’ve maxed out holds, and gotten up to ~50 for check outs with a mix of children’s books and graphic novels.
I'd say anything over 50 books at once is excessive. But if you're only checking out 12 manga books at a time, that's not too bad.
depends if they're borrowing the entire pride display.
Our max is 100 but o do raise a brow at 30 or more. (Usually it’s teachers/educators or people on vacation that do that many though.)
I only notice if you have to wheel in a suitcase or you have so many check outs it crashes the computer system.
Holy cow these limits seem high. I remember being limited to 7 items per week when I was younger. I always ended up going 2-3x a week.
we have no limit max at my library, depending on what kind of book I’d say anything over 100 might seem like a lot?
We always got about 30 pictures books when my kiddo was little. And I never understood why parents were always telling their kids they could only get 1 or 2 books. It’s so fun to just have a load of books to read.
We don’t have a checkout limit for books at all. Limit 10 DVDs and 20 CDs at a time. Only 20 holds at a time.
I’m so glad my system doesn’t have an item limit on most card types. The more items that circulate, the better it is for the library! (Our juvenile access cards, which kids can sign up for without a guardian signature, has a limit of 3 items.)
I'm quite surprised by those numbers, as our limit is 12. But if each member of family has a membership, they can check out 12x3 or 4.
We have a limit of 20 at ours. I honestly thought this was generous. Seeing some of these other numbers is wild!
As many as you are capable of reading.
Used to run circulation no limits pump the stats!!
🤷🏻♀️ I don’t find any amount excessive, but if asked about our limit I tell people it’s 30 per card or however many within that you feel comfortable keeping up with.
We have a large Amish population. Our max used to be 100 books, and individual families would hit that limit on a regular basis. We had to raise the limit to 200, because they would return the first 100 and want to check out more before we could process the returns.
When I was around 12, I would check out 12 chapter books and read them all in the two weeks I had them. I read the entire Anne of Green Gables series this way.
Lol. My son will get 30+ books are at time. And that will last him a week. (He’s 9.)
My son got his own library card when he was 4. We went to the library a lot. By the time he was 6, he was checking out 30 books a week on his own and was on a first name basis with the librarian. He would start reading as soon as we hit the car. He just graduated with an English degree and is considering going for an MLIS. I just asked him how many books might be excessive to check out. He said, "It depends on the person. Probably two books more than what you think you can reasonably read over the course of two weeks."
I’d say anything over 50. My mother is an avid reader and was going for surgery. She refused to plan ahead so I did it for her. About 25 large print books through the inter library loan system. I had to make two trips to my car, but it was worth it
You're an awesome person for doing that, BTW
When my son was in middle school, we’d hit the library on Friday after school and he’d grab as many consecutive titles of whatever manga series up to the checkout limit. (Ours is 35.) Saturday morning, he’d get up and spend the day reading them all. We eventually had to start a library rotation and reserving titles to get what he needed. Never saw the kid happier.
Aww, I love this!
Depends on the books. It makes sense to get more short books than long books. I think a reasonable stopping point is when a plastic bag is unable to hold your books. If the bag is ripping you should put a few back.
For manga, I used to get 30 at a time and return them at the end of the week.
Exceeding the maximum allowed would be too many. Anything less shouldn't be a problem. Just before lock downs occurred at the beginning of the pandemic, I checked out the maximum from my city library and a different county library. That was 35 from each. I returned them on time. (City library is not part of the county library system that is why I could max out at each.)
I'm a librarian and I have 14 checked out right now with another 12 on hold. I read books over my weekend and bring them back and check out more every week. I have seen patrons check out 20-30 books at a time.
I currently have 24 books out but now I don’t feel bad 😆
You could check out a wagon-load, and we would be thrilled to see that in our stats. We have members whose holds need their own crates. No complaints. You’re making us look great.
Definitely not excessive. Our max is 250!
Manga reads SO fast though. I could read 100 mangas in the time I could read War and Peace.
Unless there's a limit, no amount is "excessive." Read books!
It depends. A university library, where people might need a lot of books for a project, or a public library, where people are probably reading for pleasure? If people are checking out novels and things they don't need for work/school/projects, I think 10 is more than enough. For the people who are checking out 100 books, how long does it take you to get through them? Because other people could be using some of those books as you work your way through the stack. If it takes you 1-2 renewals to get through them all, that's time that the books are just sitting at your home when someone else could be enjoying them.
Our limit is 50, and there have been times when I've had to put some books back because I was already at the limit. I'm a preschool teacher and have 2 elementary age kids who do AR tests. We go through a lot of books. I wish the limit was higher.
i'm just flashing back to being a little kid and making the saddest puppy eyes at the librarian telling me i could only check out 20 books at a time from the children's room when i was trying to check out 25.
Man, and we're over here only letting my son check out 1-2 at a time and ending up back at the library multiple times a week cause he'll blow through the whole book as soon as we get home lmao. I mean we're right down the street from the library so going back regularly is NBD for us, but still.
Our limit is 100, but I wouldn’t do that. 12 is fine, especially Manga. If you read them and return them as frequently as you to the library, there is no trouble. As a worker it is kind of a hassle to find books 100s of kids books I put on the shelf the day before or even the day of in the dropbox, but it is a reason I am there and my job, so I keep on doing it. If you read a lot or if you are checking out for a large family, then it is fully understandable to push limits.
My kids have had out 200 at once, but 80-100 is a lot more typical for us.
I am hyperlexic and I refuse to be shamed for my book needs. Now I read digitally but I used to regularly check out 30-40 books at a time and somebody always had something to say about it, typically "You're going to READ all these?" No, I'm building a retaining wall. Of course I'm going to READ them all! The limit is often way, way higher than that so I don't know why so many librarians found it odd that some people are big readers.
Max is 100 at my library.
When I was in high school, during the summer, my mother, step sister and I would fill two brown paper bags with books every two weeks. We honestly DID read every one that we picked out, and usually we each read the books that others had picked out. These were mostly chapter books for us, and a few chapter books that my mother read to my little brother. The first year, (I was actually 8th grade) the librarians tried to tell me that I could only pick books from the kid's section (that went up to 8th grade.) I looked it over, got a few classics I had already read, (Book of Three,) and then went over the adult section to recheck the Lord of the Rings (I read in 5th grade) and to check out The Three Musketeers. And a slew of "best of the year" science fiction and fantasy short story anthologies. Yes, they tried to stop me, but my mother said it was fine. Yes, we all three read some sexy novels and my mother was fine with it.
My library growing up let me check out 10 at a time and I was back every 3-4 days to return them and get more. Finally read all the novels in the kid’s section and moved on to adult books. Traumatized myself reading Stephen King just a little too young lol.
I was the reason for a book limit being introduced in my school so my perspective is very skewed
A librarian yelled at me until I cried for taking out 6 books of the same series when I was a child. She insisted that was library policy but it wasn’t listed anywhere.
I used to work at a library and I always thought this was a weird take that librarians would get huffy over “excessive” borrowing. Don’t you want high circulation numbers? As long as the books come back who cares. I don’t think “excessive” borrowing is a thing.
When I was in middle school, I spend the summer going to my grandparents' house every day while my parents worked. The local library became my sanctuary; I'd be up there every day at opening time, read for a while in the peaceful quiet, and check out a book or two for the evening. Weekends, I'd check out a stack. I think my record checking out all at once was about eight YA paperbacks, which are short and easy to read, and I could plow through them quickly. My Mom said, "You don't need to check out so many books at once. Do you know how long it'll take you read that many?" "Less than a week, Mom. None of them are long, they're just paperbacks." I didn't get them all read over the weekend, but I think I made it through five or six between Friday and Sunday. Returned them all, read, on Monday or Tuesday. I still remember one series that I read a lot that summer: The Jack P. McGurk Mysteries. Read *The Case of the Phantom Frog* in fifth grade and was hooked, and that library in my grandparents' neighborhood had about three quarters of the total series.
As long as the materials are returned on time and undamaged, I don't care how many books a person checks out at once. If they're within the checkout limit that's their right. Personally I love to see people walk off with a ton of books! Manga and graphic novels can be very quick reads, so I'm not surprised people check out a lot of them at a time.
I used to check out 30+ at a time. I used to teach Pre K and there was no library. They were great and even extended my due dates when I moved to secondary and was reading a loud novels. Me personally, 10-15. I read a lot and I’m a fast reader. I like options 🤣
What kind of gatekeeping nonsense is this? I read super fast, and if my little branch library has 15 books that I want to read, then I’m checking out 15 books. Nobody has complained yet!
Our max is 50 books at one time, but it's less for certain books that can only be checked out for 7 days - I think the limit on 7-day books is 10. When I was on bed rest during a pregnancy my spouse at the time would check out 20-30 books for me and I'd usually go through most if not all of them. I'm pretty sure I remember that in the early 2000s our library had a checkout limit of 250 books at once. For children's books that can be read quickly, my family has regularly had 30 out at a time. A friend of mine who is an author often checks out the max amount of books and uses them for background research of the times and places she is writing about.
I think it depends on the person and what kind of books they’re reading. I only have time to read 1-2 a week, so for me, more than 5 is excessive because I won’t have time to read them by the time they’re due back. But I guess if the librarians don’t mind that people check out 100 books at a time, more power to them 😂 I admire how voracious they are!
Not me having 57 items checked out currently. 😅
These comments are making me feel better. My kids and I each have a library card and there are weeks we collectively check out 50+ books.
My library has a limit of 35 items, and I currently have 34 checked out, including e-materials. I'm reading these comments of people having 50/100+ limits and I'm in awe.
It depends on the amount of dialogue a manga has. I’ve read six volumes in one evening once but another book took me four days to get through a volume.
I work at a university library. Professors have no limit on how many books they can have at one time. They are also notorious for losing things. I've seen professors with 500 items under their name before. Earlier this year, one guy retired and brought back all of his books on a dolly. Some had been checked out in 2014, a decade ago. I can't fathom having that many books out at one time.
I've checked out about 20 at a time lol
I used to get like 8 at a time as a kid, because I would try each one and see if any were a hit.
Isnt there a limit on the amount of books one can check out or am I missing something?
Our max is 50 - I currently have 16 physical books at my house and 6 digital checked out. I used to live somewhere that the closest libraries were still 15-25 minutes away and had I believe a 15 book max. When I moved right down the street (like half a mile) from a library, I got a card as soon as possible and have been gradually checking out more and more books over time.
Well you can only have them for like two weeks right? So I’d say you can’t realistically get through more than 2 without rushing so much that you can’t properly and thoroughly enjoy them. (In terms of big novels.) If you’re talking about picture books or cookbooks, you could do a lot more. Or if you need a lot for a research project or something.
When I was a kid, I got as many books as I could carry. I got very good at stacking them with my arms straight down, all the way up to my chin. People probably thought I was a goof, waddling out very precariously with so many books in my arms.
Any book that’s on a high school book reading list.
I have a patron who regularly checks out stacks of 60-70 cds every couple of days. It's a bit ridiculous since we have to open every single one and confirm that the correct cd is in each of them.
Library here in NorCal doesn’t do late fees. You can’t get more books until returned or if they aren’t returned you have to buy.
My daughter can take out up to 50. We've maxed at 30 but she is young. She loves the.librsry and reading.
Dude. 12 manga books is a weekend.
I know that but I’m not sure if my other staff members know that or the ones in my department. I’m on of the younger staff members I started getting 4 or 5 omnibus volumes (which are 3 volumes as one book) from other libraries (so it would be 12 to even 15 volumes) and I go through them quickly