Marking Books - is it a sin?

I don’t know why I assumed ILE would be above pious gatekeeping? What are you gonna do though

I don’t know why I assumed ILE would be above pious gatekeeping? What are you gonna do though

i was stuck in highway traffic yesterday and my only solace of joy was finally being able to notice the jottings on the highway wall. “Hops!”, “Papi”, “Papa”. I have no idea what it’s about but I like it.

it's pious gatekeeping to not like getting a library book with writing all over it?

apparently. no one's said a word against markings or marginalia in books that are not public spaces.

"I just wanted to put some notes in the margins for you."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuNyyQUVn4

It’s not pious gatekeeping to “not like” it, it’s pious gatekeeping to categorically reject it as an evil, or enjoyers as selfish. What is public is public

I can appreciate that some find marginalia obtuse, but in terms of arguing about it, I see it more of a “live and let live” grey area rather than a stark black and white topic.

Sorry for pushing on. Embarrassingly realising in realtime that being called selfish on a message board by strangers actually makes me feel bad, even if only marginally (pun intended).

Turns out outsourcing your moral quandaries to ILE isn't all its cracked up to be

It's getting hard for me to believe you started this thread thinking this was a "moral quandry" you wanted our insight into, as opposed to a firm position for which you wanted to solicit our approval and did not get as much as you hoped for.

I don’t think I started this thread as a moral quandary in the way you mean it. If I at all think its a moral quandary, its only in the very strictest sense of the word. For me its more a question of tradition / personal temperament which I find interesting to talk through.

Also lol at the implications of “seeking approval”. Gatekeeping intensifies.

You don't seem to understand what gatekeeping means.

People don't think that book which are part of a public trust should be scrawled in.

What IS actually elitist is demanding the right to scrawl stuff in books that are part of a public trust.

I’ll just get reductionist for the sake of efficiency:

Elitist? No you!

Smdh you would gatekeep the definition of gatekeeping itself too. Internet debates have gone too far and we are all to blame

You're a clown.

Humour is a virtue

Isn't it more egalitarian to share your humour in every library book you borrow in like thick crayon ?

Crayons are for private property only. I am a man with principles

pious gatekeepers was silly. but marginalia! it’s often fun. it’s part of the history of books. sometimes it’s annoying. i don’t do it myself in library books but don’t worry overmuch when i find it in them.

If I at all think its a moral quandary, its only in the very strictest sense of the word.

very interesting, but I confess I'm puzzled what you think 'quandry' means when narrowed down to its "strictest sense". every source I've looked at tells me a quandry involves a sense of perplexity, indecision or uncertainty concerning what to choose, so that a moral quandry would presumably involve some indecision about the morality of one's respective choices. All I ever see you asserting is that you are not in any doubt about the morality of writing in any or all books, including library books.

So, what is this strict sense that I'm missing?

I'm pro marginalia in all its forms. I love finding stuff in books - from the banal to the extraordinary; I find it totally adds to my experience of a book.

I've never found a truly satisfactory way to mark up my own books. I'm currently using a highlighter but usually grab whatever's to hand. I always have intentions to copy notes to Evernote or whatever but this rarely happens. I guess I'll go back through books at some point but probably not? As others have said, I wouldn't mark up library books but I'm not fussed when I find it in books I've borrowed.

Sorry Aimless, I might have mischaracterised you as "taking this all very seriously and making an argument surprisingly personal rather than abstract" in the mould that Table did. If I did mischaracterise you then that is my bad. But my point in the difference senses of "moral quandary" is how that phrase might be used to discuss whether toilet paper should hang towards or against the wall, as compared to whether you should contact police if you know a family member has committed some petty theft. If someone views the morality of public marginalia as closer the second example than the first then fair enough, though I see it closer to the first. Happy to disagree.

Highlighters are definitely a sin though. Obnoxious colour and the sound/feel of a highlighter is only a degree removed from nails on a chalkboard

Petty theft is not the same thing as essentially marring a public library book with markings. The latter is a public theft, and the former is most often private.

For me personally, I don't care much about petty theft-- most of the time the reasons behind petty thievery are related to intractable problems of capital and deprivation.

Marring a public good because it helps you absorb the material better or whatever? It speaks to a disregard for others who come after and what their needs might be.

Marring is in the eye of the beholder. As in all things, what might be desecration to one is creativity to the other.

But you must recognise that my argument for marginalia is not merely "this helps me absorb material better or whatever", but rather "I am amongst those who enjoy consuming marginalia?". It's not producing marginalia which is the main joy for me, it is finding it.

hmmmm, fair enough that "this helps me absorb material better or whatever" was in the original post. I understand that standing alone is disregard for the other. But my assumption is that not every other sees it as a negative. But there is degrees to marginalia and also degrees to its appropriateness to every reader. Maybe the safe inoffensive option is the best option? But I would miss something in the world if everyone took the safe option?

I have learned absolutely jack shit from marginalia or underlining I've found in library books.

I've seen one lovely flirtation between two lesbian professors at an institution where I taught, written in small little phrases throughout a book.

Otherwise, I've no use for it outside of one's own private library.

Explaining my perspective instead of yelling at you, because I don't want to yell at anyone today, and feel bad for doing so before. Sorry.

Yes there's been a lot of yelling today. No hard feelings! But if I do find out who you are, what library you frequent, and what book you like, I will viciously leave a note "from H.P., with love" to you with smug assurance.

Also if it means anything, when reading a university thread many moons ago in search for comfort in my own exploits, I remembering thinking you seemed like a very nice person and I was very happy to hear about your success. I hope things are still going as well for you as they seemed to be by that thread.

Thanks hp. Today has been a lesson for me to be a bit more kind on here and elsewhere.

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