one question

I'm going to put off the post I had planned to write this evening, with one simple (apparently in our family, not-so-simple) question:

What is your system for staying on top of (and not losing!) checked-out library materials?

Because seriously, I'm ready to put a ban on all library borrowing around here. If we don't get a system that works in place soon, they'll be dedicating a reading room in our honor.

I tried to create a little central gathering place for all the library materials to live--this nice little basket in the front hall. But darn if my kids don't want to read the library books! And carry them to secret nooks and crannies around the house; leaving my sweet little basket completely empty about two days after our library trip. Today I walked passed it, saw it empty, and tossed some mail in there, just so it wasn't so bare.

My no-nonsense husband says, "Well, they're in the house somewhere." True. I know they're not in the garden shed. I know they're not in the chicken coop. I know they're not on the front porch. They could be in the car. But obviously there is some black hole, perhaps under the girls' beds, that is swallowing up library books, and has a particular hunger for movies about baby deer
and soccer tips from the 80s.