When Bookmarks Become Bad Marks

Re “Our Bookshelves, Our Selves,” by Susan Giesberg, Opinion, May 26: What a delightful account of a sweet, older woman who so enjoyed and used her public library. This mini-biography only confirms my long-held suspicion that the people who create the graffiti in our public library books are “sweet old ladies and gentlemen” who cannot resist reading with a pencil (or even marking pens) so they can mark their territory with checks, underlines, margin comments and grammar and spelling corrections.

These stealth destroyers of public property should be banned from the use of our great libraries, but no one can catch them. They and the others who cut up our books to take out the part or photo they want are worse than the people who just take the books outright. This article just confirms what happens to selfish, probably retired teachers, editors and proofreaders. They don’t just fade away, they leave their marks in our public libraries for the rest of us to erase.

Gloria O’Donohoe

Burbank