Polonius may have been a windbag, a buffoon and a "foolish prating knave". His death behind the arras (if our school's viewing of the Laurence Olivier film was anything to go by) may even be thought an occasion for cheering, laughter and relief. He got one thing right though: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be."

I was reminded of this sensible maxim the other day when exploring the Librarything website. Fun and dangerously addictive as most of it is, there was one page on there that filled me with horror. It's a list of websites designed to enable their users to swap their books with each other, or, worse still, lend and borrow them.

Now, I'm aware that I'm in danger of becoming both a killjoy and a hypocrite here. I'm a frequent beneficiary of the lending services of numerous libraries. What's more, I'm sympathetic to the viewpoint that books are - as was rather poetically put to me recently - conduits. I can't argue with the fact that the knowledge and pleasure that they impart should be freely available to all.

But (to continue with Hamlet) here's the rub. I'm all for books being passed around - as long as they aren't my books.

To an extent, I can justify this selfish attitude on professional grounds. I never know when I'm going to next need to reacquaint myself with a classic volume so I can insult it on this blog. I'm also currently engaged on a research heavy writing project for next Christmas, which has made me sent me into some of the dustiest corners of my collection.

Basically, however, I think I'm just a NIMBY - or whatever acronym best describes the fear of other people getting their hands on my library. I shiver at the thought of volumes from my own shelves getting their covers bent back, their spines broken and having their precious words obscured by spilt coffee, palm sweat and other kinds unutterable dreck. I feel positively weak at the idea that they may actually be lost to me forever... And I know from painful experience that loaned books rarely make it home.

Perhaps even more importantly, I don't want to end up getting annoyed with the person I've lent the book to. The reverse is true as well: I also feel distinctly uncomfortable when people urge me to borrow a book. The thought of losing someone else's treasured possession is almost worse than losing my own (and the knowledge that I can be pretty absent-minded makes such a loss a distinct possibility).

All the same, I was recently - nearly - persuaded to become a borrower/lender again when some friends of mine showed me their neat system of cataloguing everything they lent and assured me that they'd make sure I reimbursed them if I lost the book. Even so, I felt so uncomfortable about having their book in my possession, that it marred my enjoyment of the thing. I'm resolved to stick with Polonius in future. Especially since, when people ask me why, I can now direct them to the URL of this blog.

So readers, to lend or not to lend? That is today's question.