On Loan Sarah Dixon Young When my kids damage one of our books and bring it to me, I calmly put it in the book hospital pile and go in search of tape. However, when my kids even hint that they have caused microscopic damage to a library book, I go on full alert. I drop everything and tend to the book, using the invisible tape and taking extraordinary care to return it to its original state. Library books are on loan, and I want to return them in the condition I found them- or better! Once, when we lost a library book behind the couch, our fine was four times what it would have cost me to buy a replacement on Amazon. From then on, library books on loan got almost the same tender treatment as newborns at our house.