It seems unlikely, that if the book was given to you by someone else, even if it _was_ the Library’s copy, that they would be asking _you_ to return it rather than its original borrower, who would be the person who gave it to you. If it was the Library’s book, they would be hassling _him_ to return it, not you. Even if he said, “Oh, I gave it to Skibby,” I would expect them to say, “That’s not our concern, _you_ borrowed it, _you_ get it back.”

So I don’t think it’s the Library’s book.

I do think that somehow they’ve screwed up their records and not recorded that you returned the copy you borrowed, and possibly also not recorded who has subsequently borrowed it and not returned it.

I’d get in touch with them again and reiterate that you’ve returned the book, you’ve been told you have no outstanding items and they need to get off your case and start looking in other places for the book, if indeed it’s actually missing- they may not have looked on the shelf but just assumed that if the computer lists it as having been borrowed and not yet returned, then it’s not on the shelf.

Skibby, you might also go to the library and look for the book you borrowed on the shelf. I have seen it happen at our library (because I volunteer in the circulation department) that a book comes in and is shelved without having been checked in to their computer system. In that case, the book is simply sitting on the shelf where it belongs, waiting to be borrowed again. (A library worker will do this anyway if you report the book missing. I would want to do it myself.)

Poor Skibby! We had a similar situation in my Retirement Village Library.

I borrowed a book from it and thought it actually belonged to the local Public Library and had been returned to our library by mistake as this happens occasionally. I contacted them and was assured the book was no longer on their circulation list.

Later I was informed that a resident had received an overdue notice with a hefty fine! I mentioned what I had done to clarify the situation to our librarian as it didn't seem fair that the public library had misinformed me and I could have returned it to them.

I don't know what the outcome was, the librarian left it to the resident to sort out!

I agree about getting the library who is bothering you to check their shelves and not only under the author's surname. I spent a lot of hours hunting up misplaced books when I did library work. Browsers do the most peculiar things when re-shelving and sometimes just stuff a book they don't fancy into a convenient gap!

Skibby, if it has a discard stamp on it, then it was discarded by the library that owned it so you can keep it. I had a similar situation years ago when my library kept telling me I had an overdue book that I knew I had returned. I went to the library in person and checked the shelf with a library clerk and there was the book on the shelf. Someone had re-shelved it without checking it back in.

Thank you all for your input. I felt so much better that I went down to the Library, explained the whole thing and got it resolved. They have the book, my account is up to date and all is well. Now I can enjoy the book guilt-free again. I felt like a big criminal. I appreciate all your sensible feedback.

I am glad that got sorted out and you are happy with the result! I gather that the library was at fault?

I don't think so. The email notice I received wasn't generated by them - even though it said it was. There was really no record of anything except that I borrowed the local copy of it. Very puzzling.

Good to have that behind you, Skibby, because I know you have a lot of reading to do.