To lend or not to lend

Thoughtful Thursday is an opportunity to discuss things book and blog related. It might be an issue that has been mentioned in the media, or something about people's reading or blogging habits.

To lend or not to lend?

This is something that I feel different people might have different views on, and recently I have seen comments on people's blogs (including mine) about whether or not they like to lend their books.

I lend my books out to my friends and family all the time. I love sharing the book love around, and I have so many of them. I think it's nice to be able to share the books with other people. I especially like being able to choose books that I think other people like and lend those books to them. It's nice to know that you have picked something out that they enjoy.

I will lend almost all of my books, but there are some that are too special for whatever reason to lend. I definitely won't lend a book out until I have read it, whether it be a new or a second hand book. Not sure why, I just feel like I want to go first. I also want people to look after them as much as I can but that probably goes without saying.

At one stage I was lending out so many books that I was finding it really hard to keep track of them. Then I lent a book to a friend at work who took over a year to return it and so I decided enough was enough.

I created a spreadsheet called 'Becky's Book Catalogue' where I catalogued all my books. I have pages by title, by author, award winners etc, and one page dedicated to loans - I state which book I have lent/borrowed, what date and when it was returned. This system mainly works, except that sometimes I forget to write the loan on the spreadsheet!

Originally posted 18 February 2010 Page Turners