Fines and Bills for Books, Videos and Reserves
I have been playing with some ideas about how to work with bills and fines. I would like to propose eliminating basic fines for late books. For example, if someone bring back a book a week late don't charge the $1.75 fine. We would still bill for lost books but would not charge a fine once the book was brought back and clear the bill as well. I still would like to charge reserve fees which are currently at $5.00 once it's late and $.25 an hour for each hour it's late. I do not wish to lower those fines or cease charging them. Do we want to raise them? They have been at their current rate since prior to my starting here. I would also like to still charge late fees for dvds and videos but build in a grace period that does not currently exist. We have a 3 day grace period on books but none on videos/dvds. I would like to propose establishing a 3 to 5 day grace period before we start charging fines on av materials.
Do we wish to do the same for our community patrons as well? Currently I am in favor of still charging community patrons fines and bills like we do currently but am open to suggestions.
I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and ideas on this issue...
posted by Kim Griffis at 11:28 AM
4 Comments:
I would very much like to do away with fines in most cases. There is no ecenomic reason for us to collect them.... in fact, we probably spend more on staff time, postage, and printing costs that the college recovers. My hunch is that if we send email overdue notices out, most books will trickle back in. Perhaps we can delay fines until around 30 days overdue?
Since fines do not generate revenue, the only purpose they serve is to get items returned in a timely manner. Given that many of our students commute, I'd like a much more generous grace period. Very few of our books circulate right away after being returned, so our current policy seems unnecessarily punitive to me.
I feel the more stringent fines are appropriate for Reserve items.
6:08 PM
9/29
While I too would like to see fines discontinued I'm not sure we can say that they do not generate revenue. The lowest fine we charge is $1.00 and a lot of fines are for A&S students so we don't spend anything to mail the statements - they go to their campus boxes.
I think Kim can check to see how much she has charged in fines by running a report either in Sirsi or in Banner.
We might be surprised how much money would be lost to the Operating Fund (where we were told this money goes).
8:30 AM
Time periods for reserves are established by the professors. The reserves we have the biggest problem with not coming back on time are the ones that can leave the library. I generally do not charge a fine if it's within an hour of being back on time. The exception to that rule is there is only 1 copy of an item on reserve and it is in high demand. But if it's 2 or more hours late, then I do charge the fine.
10:03 AM
It's my understanding that Stetson does not charge fines; they just bill for lost books. Of course, they have one fewer person in their Circ Dept...
6:33 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home