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American English Vocabulary from this story

campus- refers to the entire school (usually universtiy) grounds

huge- very large

like- like has many uses. In this context "like" means "approximately", "about", or "roughly"

to check out- term used when borrowing or buying something from a store or library (usually a large store)

student ID card- a card that proves you are a student of a particular school ("ID" stands for "identification")

due back- must be returned

alarms went off- the alarms were activated (began making a loud noise)

open up- colloquial way to say "open"

to turn books back in- to return something that you borrowed (usually used when talking about library books)

The Library

Today I was at the library looking for a few books. I was at the university library on campus, and it is huge. I was walking up and down aisles of books for like an hour. Finally I found the books I wanted. I took the books to the front desk. Most books you can check out from the library for three months. But apparently the books I grabbed you can only check out for two weeks. The clerk at the front desk scanned my books and then scanned my student ID card.

For some reason the scanner could not read my card. The clerk tried to scan it a few times, and then he just decided to punch in my student ID number instead. After I checked out he told me that the books were due back on July, 1st.

As I was leaving and walking through the front door, the alarms went off. I had to step back in a open up my backpack to prove that I didn’t steal anything. Finally, they let me go. I hope this does not happen again in two weeks when I come to turn my books back in.