Today Seattle Public Library announced that in addition to an unfortunate cybersecurity attack that has disabled access to most of its digital resources like e-books this week, it is also just letting people know that its physical copy of “Ransomware for Dummies” is also still unavailable now because the person who checked it out did not return it by its due date last week.
“We are so sorry that in addition to all of our free online resources, even some of our most checked-out real books aren’t available because they’re overdue,” said Head Librarian Linda Hogue. “We’ve called the person who checked it out and politely let them know we’re not mad and we’re not going to fine them because we don’t have late fees anymore, but it would just be really nice if they could return it sooner than later so some other fine people can learn all about how people carry out ransomware attacks, especially when so many people are wondering how one happens to fine institutions like ours.”
In the meantime, Hogue said the library is working overtime to restore its online catalog of books so that people can at least get back to reading digital copies of the book as soon as possible.
“It’s our mission here at Seattle Public Library to be a comprehensive resource for all information the public seeks, so we’re doing the best we can to restore access to that book again somehow sooner than later,” Hogue said. “Honestly, we especially need that book back in some form because our IT department has been asking for it so they can begin to understand what happened this week and how to prevent it.”
At press time, librarian sources who did not want to be named said the person who allegedly is hoarding the book is ironically frequent public library critic Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera.
