Loaning out books

Do you loan out books from your personal library? If so, why? If not, why not?

I do not. I always hear people say that books are meant to be read, and enjoyed, and therefore shared. That's great for them, but not my books. The simple truth of it, is that people just aren't going to take as good of care of something that is not theirs (They may not even take care of things that are theirs). You are either never going to see that book again, or it is going to come back to you with some sign of wear and tear, minor or major. Maybe you aren't as anal about your books, as I am about mine, but even I myself try to handle my collection as gently as I can. I will remove dust jackets on older books when reading, to protect the fragile dust jacket from tearing while being handled. When reading my few paperbacks I try to keep the spine from cracking (one of the many reasons that I do not like paperbacks). And I will never lay one of my open books face down to mark my place. That is one of the quickest ways to break the spine.

You basically have to go through a whole interview process before being allowed to take one of my books out of my library, and even then you will be severely limited in what I will let you actually borrow. My mom has borrowed books from me before, and I do get them back in the same condition as when they left here (although I think that she is afraid to borrow books from me). Sadly I have not loaned out any books to my book loving older sister, due to the fact that she has little tykes. They don't understand that auntie Rachel has issues, and would be hurt and confused by the fact that I wasn't thrilled by the custom drawing that they did in my book for me.

Call me the scrooge of the book world.