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Each year during National Book Week, Cape Town’s 104 libraries offer a few return days for overdue books, DVDs, and CDs, without the threat of a fine.
This year, 75% of overdue items (5 159 in total) were welcomed back, of which 2 149 were overdue by more than a year, TimesLIVE reports.
30 of the overdue books were Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway, which makes it the most “stolen” book of the year.
Jeff Kinney authored the 2017 book as part of his popular children’s fiction series that follows the life of Greg Heffley, a school wimp.
So yeah, the most overdue book isn’t even the most up to date book in the series.
If you recognise the name for some reason, don’t panic. Just check if you should be taking it back to the library:
Image: wimpykid.com
Two years ago, another Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, The Long Haul, was also one of the most overdue books for the year, with 29 copies taking their time to get back onto Cape Town’s library shelves.
In fact, this year, 88 fairytale books were overdue, and the kids can’t be blamed, because well, they’re just kids.
MMC for community services and health Zahid Badroodien said that the libraries were really happy to get so many missing books back, adding that:
“The city’s libraries are places of knowledge and information for all and they boast a combined collection worth R859 million for the benefit of all our residents.
We must ensure these materials are available for our patrons to enjoy, but often, these are targets for thieves, and this is a loss we can ill afford.”
49 630 items have gone missing or have been stolen from the city’s libraries since 2018, which include 45 819 books, 1 962 DVDs, and 1 712 music CDs.
The city is taking action across its libraries to prevent further theft, reports IOL:
To curb theft, the Library and Information Systems Department will spend R5m over five years to maintain the current book detection system, installing it in more libraries. The City also intends to conclude a contract for the acquisition of replacement parts for the existing book theft detection system, in addition to the purchase of new systems and their maintenance.
To exit the library, patrons walk between the sensing units which are programmed to detect materials fitted with special mechanisms which are deactivated at the checkout counters.
An alarm will sound if the item has not been deactivated, alerting staff.
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