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What to do about the Overdues?
A recent request for information from a Nebraska librarian asking for suggestions on how to get overdue books returned prompted me to share this twitter posting illustrating the way that one library in Colorado handled this problem: http://ow.ly/1g73n. Of course, since here in Nebraska we are trying to avoid this kind of negative publicity, we want to open this subject up for discussion among Nebraska librarians. How do you handle overdues in a way that gets the books back in the library and keeps your valuable community reputation intact? Click on comment below and share your thoughts and ideas….thanks, Mary Jo Ryan
If a student has an overdue book, they are not allowed to check anything else out until the book is returned and the fine is paid. They are also not given report cards at the end of the year if they have not taken care of their responsibility. Seniors are not given their caps and gowns until they take care of their overdues or fines.
Overdue Policy
At our middle school, we work hard to get students to return overdue books. We only charge two cents a day per overdue book. But, we don’t let them check out any more books if they have something overdue or lost.
We do have two bookcarts of books that have been taken out of the collection because they are worn. Students who have overdues can take one of these books without checking them out. We call them the Honor carts. They take books on the honor system.
A list of students, who have overdue books, is sent out to the teachers each Monday morning. On Friday I send another list of students, who have four overdue notices. The following week, these students are brought in to the library during their lunch/recess time, if they have not completed their library business. They sit in the back office and eat quietly. I also put the overdue notice on our Infinite Campus website. Parents and students can access and see this.
The fifth+ week the students are brought into the library during lunch/recess and after school for thirty minutes. They start working to pay off the cost of the book. We pay them two cents a minute to clean tables and computer keyboards and mice, to straighten books, to mark off due dates on cards, to dust, to scrape gum off from under tables, to shelve books, etc. By the fifth week, they usually find the book and pay the fine or pay for the cost of the book.
If a lost book is returned, we refund what they paid for it minus the overdue fine.
The week before Christmas, we gave them a “gift.” If a student had an overdue book or a fine, they could come in and ask us to renew the book without a charge or ask to have their fine deleted. Some took advantage of this. It’s amazing that many did not.
During National Library Week, we usually have Amnesty Week. Any overdue books that are returned are not charged a fine.
At the elementary students cannot check out a new book until they bring theirs back. Last year I had a student that checked one out in October and NEVER brought it back. She went all year with no library book, which made me sad, but I was trying to instill a sense of responsibility. It must have worked, she brings her book back almost every time now! Older students can have two books at a time but cannot check out a third until one of the others is returned. At the high school they are not supposed to check out at the end of the year until they return the book or pay for it, unfortunately they are not always held to this.
I see most of my middle school overdues stemming from two problems
1) Teachers who don’t bring them their classes in regularly
2) Students who have extinuating circumstances at home
Neither of these problems are stemming from them. Yes, I want to instill responsibility, but I also know that it’s hard to remember when your teacher doesn’t bring you to library on a regular basis. And when you move a bunch and/or can’t afford fines or replacement costs, I am not going to limit your ability to find books to READ!
Due to our library’s size, we can allow students to have 3 books out at a time. We allow three at a time no matter what. It does not matter whether or not the other two are overdue or missing. It is important to me to get the books into their hands! Yes, I talk to those students, yes, I email and call home, yes, I allow alternate means of payment, but I very rarely determine that a student cannot have any books at all. I think your get much better results if you deal with each student individually (admittedly more work) than setting some blanket rule about overdues and miss the opportunity to hook kids on reading!
We only charge 2 cents a day also and I will let the child work it out by dusting all of the bottom shelves in our library. Sometimes the shelves are very clean.
In my elementary buildings, it varies by grade level how many books a child can checkout. But we do stick with the one in/one out system. So if a student has 3 books out, returns two and one is overdue, they may still checkout a new one. At the beginning of the year I used Golden Sowers as big incentives, and if you had overdues, you couldn’t checkout Golden Sowers (high demand at the beginning of the year). I try to send out notes at least quarterly of overdue books, with the price to pay if the book cannot be found (no overdue fines in elementaries). In the building where I have scheduled checkout each week with every class, overdues are a minor problem. But in the building where they do not have scheduled checkout times with me (and often checkout w/ the para when I am not there), overdues are a much larger problem even though the para is as vigilent as me to remind them to bring them back. One technique that helps us stay on top of it is to quickly scan in the books they have returned before they begin checkout.
Students aren’t allowed to check out books until the books are turned in and the fine is paid. I give notices to the teachers to pass out and with their help and my persistance, we have pretty good luck getting books and fines paid.
It’s interesting that all the comments so far are about students. It is much harder to get the materials returned by the public library patron. Our city doesn’t do more than send out overdue notices. My opinion is that the city should work on people who owe a certain amount. I’d like to see it in the paper and have someone try to trace the patron if he/she has moved. It’s theft and should be treated as such.
I work in a K-12 School Library. Elementary students are allowed to have two items out at a time. However, I have a selection of paperback books for the K-3 group that they may check out if they have forgotten their books. Occasionally, I send home a note that says:
Dear Parent or Guardian,
Your child seems so disappointed when he of she can’t check out books during Library time. Please help them get their library books back to school so they can experience a wide variety of books. Research has shown that children, who develop a love of reading, learn more and do better in school. Help your child reach their full potential. Thanks for your help.
Your child’s Library time is on: M T W Th F
For the older elementary students, if they are not eligible to check out items, I restrict them to just reading magazines or books from the reference shelves. This method has really gotten their attention and I have very few problems in the upper elementary grades.
The High School students are allowed have five items out at a time. I have a few problems, but nothing major. I try to talk to the offending students in the hall or at lunch. Often that does the trick. Sometimes, I ask a popular teacher to chat with the student who is late in returning items.
I love the idea of an honor cart posted by another person. Thanks!
Wow, you guys are tough! I’m in an urban middle school – about 70% free and reduced lunch and we lose A LOT of books! Over 200 not returned at the end of every school year. I don’t charge overdue fees – we’d just like to get our books back. I don’t want any child to leave the library without a book, so if they have 5 overdue books, I allow them to “check out” from the “special box”. We don’t further penalize them in middle school, but their fines stay on their record thoughout high school and at that level they are more likely to impose penalties (like you can’t walk at graduation or play sports without paying your fees and fines, etc.) I have a lot of students who tell me that they can’t go back to the public library – I’m assuming because of fines. And heaven knows most of them are not able to purchase books. So we’re it for them. Although I hate to lose books as much as the next librarian, at a certain point you just have to weigh your mission (promoting reading & learning) against your losses – and IMHO your mission has to win out every time. Of course you public librarians have a slightly different mission, so I’m cool with all the fines I have to pay. No, really, I’m cool with it. What made you think I wasn’t cool with paying you $27 last week? I totally understand. And I’m cool with it.
We are a catholic school. Children can not check out if they have overdues. If they are overdue over a month or so I call and leave a message for the parents. I charge a general fee if the books never come back. $ 20 for hardcovers, and $8 for paper backs. This covers reordering and processing and averages out, although some books actually cost more or less.
At OPL we charge a 20 cents per day fine with a maximum fine of $3.00 or $5.00 depending on the type of item. We do allow a four-day grace period after the due date with no fine, but on the fifth day, the fine would be $1.00 since it accrues from the actual due date.
Juveniles are not assessed fines on juvenile items, but they are assessed fines for non-juvenile items checked out on their accounts. Adults are assessed fines on any type of item checked out.
If an account accrues to more than $25.00, it can be sent to our collection service (Unique National Collections which only deals with libraries). If an account rolls to collection, an extra $10.00 fee is added which pays for the cost of the service. Unique skip traces for us, which is a big help. It also surprises me how many people roll to collection over and over. . .pay off the account and then roll again. So I guess some customers simply won’t pay until they are forced to pay. We send two overdue statements and a billing statement before the account rolls to Unique.
We also allow customers to set up a monthly payment plan if they cannot pay the entire amount at one time. The first payment is 10% of total owed and then we only renew the account one month at a time until it is paid in full.
Each grade at the Elementary School visits our Library every two weeks. Volunteers read and supply treats. In the beginning, we had a huge problem with overdues. First, they cannot check out another book, until they bring the overdue back. To help them, the book is renewed for another two weeks, and they are also given a print out to take home to help them search for the book. If they lose the book, they can pay for it, or work it off in the library. We also enlisted the help of the teachers, they remind the kids what days they will be visiting the library and that really helped, too. We also explained to the kids how much the books cost. Replacing books was not a good use of our money when we could be using it for new books. Everyone is really proud of the results.
Again, most of the comments are from school media centers. Public libraries are a different kettle of fish. We can take severly overdue patrons to small claims court. We will invariably have a positive judgement, but that does not mean that the material is returned or the library reimbursed. The fees for filing harm the library and we dip deeper into our budget to garnishee wages, let alone pay the lawyer. So…. Our only solution that is not a solution, is to declare these patrons, patrons in poor standing; they are not allowed to use the library until the materials are returned or the library paid. This system is inadequate. I would love a new idea or two.
I work at a public library. What always amazes me is that people don’t think it is a big deal to have overdue books. However, if you look at it from another patron’s viewpoint: If person 1 checks out 10 brand new titles for 2 weeks, persons 2-1000, who visit the library to browse after person 1 think – “They just never have any new books!” Then person 1 wants to renew them for 2 more weeks and then again at the 4 week mark. We say no and then they are mad about getting late fees, or being inconvenienced to bring the books back. The new books are in the catalog, and we could put them on hold for someone if they ask, but honestly, most people come in to pick something up right now, so they don’t ask. They will look for something new next time – only next time will never come because person 1 thinks, “What’s the big deal I’m just late returning library books!” My personal favorite is when they bring them back and they are just warped with water damage, or something worse, and the person 1 just looks at you as if to say, “What…it was like that when I checked it out!” And I have to smile my customer service smile and say “Oh, I am so sorry, normally we don’t check items out that are in that condition you poor thing thanks for enduring it.”
Our policy is 10 cents a day for overdue materials, $1.00 per day on DVDs- no renewals- but we cap our fines at $5.00. We charge list price for all materials that are lost or destroyed. And, any person failing to return books or damaging materials is charged replacement costs. Notices are sent twice to the home and then to a local attorney who sends a notice. By then the books are gone for 3 months – most books reappear after the official attorney letter, usually with a huff and a toss to the desk from 4 feet back.
We also put right in the policy that “privileges may be suspended at the discretion of the librarian,” and we keep records. Repeat offenders don’t get a lot of slack, a person who hardly ever gets fines that comes in daily, well, and we know we can ask them tomorrow. Any fees over $1.00 and they are not allowed to check out materials. They can use siblings/parents accounts with permission, or we offer to hold the books back if they want to come back later to pay a fine. And last January we had an, “amnesty day,” and outstanding fines just, “went away” as a show of good faith on our part. We won’t turn away a child, or teen, unless the fine is particularly high. And we act as though it’s all OK, we don’t scold or glare, it’s just something they need to take care of. They are welcome to come back to get things as soon as they do. Saying no isn’t bad customer service, it’s just no. If you balance common sense with teaching responsibility it works, we try not to get angry, “but then every librarian needs to be a little bit of a dragon or else, who would guard the books!” (The Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy)
No Books No Movies No Computers until books are returned and fines are paid. This extends to the whole family.It works for the most part there are a few that just don’t care but mostly its not a big problem. WE have a two day grace period and charge 25 cents a day. The kids that check their books out when they come over from school are not charged a fine but they can not get any more until they return the ones they have. They can have out 2 at a time. After 6 months it is turned over to the city police if it is an adult and for kids Grade School they have to work it off. Kids always have a pop or candy in their hands,or renting a movie even those who seems to not have much we are not teaching them anything if they can’t learn responsiablity. If they check the item out on their own free will than they have to be responsible for it to.
In the past we have sent letters to people who had overdue books. This method was costly and easy to ignore. Recently we have been having good luck by calling for overdue books every Monday. People can not ignore a no message, but direct caller to caller phone call. We are a small community so that might make a difference in the effectiveness of the system, but for the time being it seems to be working fairly well.
I relate to the public library comments. As a small town librarian for 30 years (almost!) I have seen most and heard most of the excuses for books not being returned. We charge a 5 cent a day per item fine, but do not strictly inforce it due to low income family situations. The maximum charge is $2.00, so we are not greedy!! I have turned a couple of situations over to the county sheriff when there were extenuating circumstances (lots of items, moved out of town) with some success. I usually begin by a personal phone call. If this does not work, I have a form letter to send out and mark the envelope in red!! Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. We have several repeat offenders, and it is hard not to completely cut them off the patron list, but I seem to have a soft heart and always give them another chance. I,too, just want everyone to love to read and learn to be responsible citizens.
It is good to know that we are not the only library that has this problem. We try first to call the patron and then if we have no response we mail a letter. We have contacted family members, stopped by their house and even contacted their teachers at school! I have considered asking our local law enforcement if they have some official stationary we could send notices out on so at least they might open it! Good luck everyone.
We charge 5 cents a day for books,magazines & audio-books and 50 cents for movies, with a two day grace period after which the full fine is charged. Maximum fine per item is $5.00. Non-returned items are billed at full retail replacement cost plus fines, no matter where the item was purchased or if it was donated. Those details are NOT the point. Should a patron fail to return items or pay the fines after a reasonable amount of time after overdue notices are sent their/the family’s privileges are suspended–no books, movies or magazines checked out, no computer use until things are returned or paid for and fines paid in full. Reference materials may be used in-house, but that’s it. A note is posted in the circulation system so all staff is aware of patrons “in poor standing.” As a rule, sooner or later someone in that family will need to use the library for something and the items get returned/paid for and fines get paid. Then it’s as though nothing ever happened. Sometimes, for good reasons, the fines may be reduced or waived entirely. We do have patrons who have left the area with our property and their names remain in the system. Should they ever return they will be denied service until they pay up. I hate to deny a child but I just don’t see any point in continuing to check items out to children from irresponsible families, knowing full well we probably won’t get it back.
I used a system suggested by another librarian – a fee for each notice sent, or for each week material was overdue, not a charge against each book. The family with pre-schoolers who checked out many picture books paid $1 for the first notice. The man with one overdue novel paid $1 for the first notice. No one was penalized for reading too many books. The second notice was $2, etc. And the arithmetic was easy to figure! We shut off access at $5.
I am a director at a small library in a rural area. I really don’t do any type of fines. I feel that a lot of time and energy is spent on tracking down and policing this- yes we always have a certain amount of loss. However, the families that walk away with books probably are benefitting from them and I look at it with a “paying it forward” mentality. I also felt like fines deter children to use the library only because their parents are irresponsible. I don’t want children not to use our facility because their parents can’t get it together. Don’t get me wrong I spend plenty of time “encouraging” families to return materials and do have certain number of DVDs each year that I have to write off. However, I feel that grace in this circumstance works far better that the law. Plus, it take a lot of stress off me and my staff.
I am in a middle school have found a great way to get books returned at the end of the school year. I announce that if students come into the media center the last few days of school and their account is clear (no overdues or fines)they get a prize. I started out giving candy, but the last few years, a local amusement center has given me coupons for a free game of laser tag (or something like that) and another year the bowling alley gave free bowling passes for the summer. Students love it and drag their friends in so they can use the coupons together. I keep a master list and mark thru their names when they pick up their coupon. I like that it puts a positive spin on overdues and I usually get almost all the books back. I switched from candy to freebie coupons, because those don’t cost me a thing! It’s a “win-win.”