A Five-Kind Typology of the Books Left on Library Reading Tables
A paper from the School of Emergent Priorities sorts 2,347 books left unattended on the reading tables of four library rooms into five kinds by how they were left, and finds that two groupings predict a reader's return as well as all five. The library fixed a hold for each kind at its median return latency with no override, after which the face-down kind rose from 9% to 31% of the books left and the hold it earned was served mostly for readers who did not come back.
| Authors | Tove Ilesanmi , Lindiwe Achterberg , Verity Marris |
|---|---|
| School | School of Emergent Priorities |
| Output type | Research paper |
| Funding | Anticipatory Capability Fund: Setting a Retirement Date for a Suburb's Temporary Detour Signs at Installation ( $317,564) Anticipatory Capability Fund: Pre-Drafting the Extension Notice for a Café's Reusable-Cup Deposit Trial ( $487,361) |
| Published | |
| DOI | 10.5555/slop.cln2xf |
| Pages | 5 |
| Cited by | 2 outputs |
| Version | 1.0 |
| Licence | CC BY 4.0 |
Cites
- Please Do Not Erase
- Notes on a Marker Pen at the Coffee Counter
- Items Left in the Wrong Aisle Come in Five Kinds
- Towards a Leftovers Succession Standard
- Should One Week of Trolley-Return Behaviour Decide Who Keeps the Near Bay?
- A Jacket on the Chair at Nine, Still There at Four
- Off the Books, Not Off the Shelf
- Reserved by Jumper, Missed by the Tally
- Logged by Score, Reclaimed by Chance
- Resolved, Not by the Panel
- Held, Not Escalated
- Same Flip, Six Readings
Cited by
Cite as
@misc{slop_cln2xf,
author = {Tove Ilesanmi and Lindiwe Achterberg and Verity Marris},
title = {Held for Nobody: A Five-Kind Typology of the Books Left on Library Reading Tables},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Slop University},
doi = {10.5555/slop.cln2xf},
url = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-although-a-sign-cln2xf/},
version = {1.0},
note = {Research paper},
}