Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our taxpayers usually are generous in supporting library's and in the process we don't pay fines on much of anything. Was told when returning a DVD that I thought was late that they would have automatically renewed it . Was totally surprised. You may get fined after being late the second time but don't know for sure. Newer videos are out for 7days all others for 3weeks. We also can return things to any library
Last edited by luv my dayton; 12-12-2015 at 05:02 AM..
All library's should have an after hours slot to dump the stuff in you have signed out. It doesn't have to be open for returning. There really is no excuse for being late.
The point that you seem to be missing is that my parents did pay for the book, but the librarian claimed that I did not pay for it. My parents showed her the receipt, proving that it was paid for. Yet she still did not believe that I paid, since she gave me a sarcastic "good luck in middle school" when I showed her the receipt. And, when my brother asked about that book, she told him that another student threw up on it and refused to pay for it, indicating that she never believed I paid for it, and also that the school used the money for something other than replacing the book.
I don't understand why you are defending the librarian, since she was clearly in the wrong, regardless of whether or not it's right to charge students for accidentally damaging the book. You seem to not understand that I am not debating that issue (I already said that I can see both sides of that issue, and have mixed feelings). The issue is that the librarian refused to believe that I paid for the book even when my parents showed the receipt, and the fact that the money was not used to replace the book.
Something not right with this story. The librarian isn't a god like creature and she's being represented as all powerful. If she didn't accept you paid for it, your parent should have taken it to one over her. How many years ago are we talking here? Thought this was a current issue. You have managed to still hold a grudge so assume you have etched this experience in stone.
Last edited by luv my dayton; 12-12-2015 at 05:32 AM..
Who, frankly, has the time 'to pay much mind to what others are driving'?
You'd be surprised how many people are obsessed with what others drive.
I have a neighbor who only knows people in the area by what car the drive. He is constantly referring to the "lady in the blue BMW" or the "guy in the Gray Chevy Silverado." Never a mention of names or where the house is, all ID is by car driven. I never know whom the heck he is talking about.
Something not right with this story. The librarian isn't a god like creature and she's being represented as all powerful. If she didn't accept you paid for it, your parent should have taken it to one over her. How many years ago are we talking here? Thought this was a current issue. You have managed to still hold a grudge so assume you have etched this experience in stone.
Keeping in mind this is a story remembered from elementary school, and is one side of the story. I still don't see it as very far-fetched or the librarian representation being difficult to believe.
Here's the way I imagine the actual events went down:
- Kid gets sick on book.
- Librarian gets upset and reports it to main office. "Demands" book be replaced.
*at this point, Librarian likely has little involvement in or knowledge of future actions*
- Main office informs parents they must pay $xx for book replacement.
- Parents pay amount to main office per instruction.
- Book doesn't get replaced for whatever reason. Main office does not follow-up with librarian on payment.
-"Graduation" time comes and librarian *assumes* payment not made because book wasn't replaced. She makes a stink with parents/child/administration.
-As librarian is in no position to affect situation, administration asks parents about book. Because such a monetary collection is not standard procedure for the school (or is handled at district level) the school has no easily found record of the transaction.
- Parents show receipt and life moves on.
-Librarian is still out of the information loop, and still assumes the book wasn't paid for and people in the main office blew her off (which may happen quite often).
-Librarian is bitter person. Maybe she hates her job. Maybe she doesn't get along with people in the main office because her department is not a top priority. Maybe she is tired of dealing with rug rats and counting the days to her retirement. So she spends her days taking out her frustrations on grade school kids. It wouldn't be an uncommon scenario.
Why wouldn't a grade school kid remember such an event? No need for a grudge to be involved. I have many (good and bad) memories from grade school, usually involving situations that weren't the "norm." I would certainly remember someone trying to block my "graduation" from sixth grade.
On the other hand, I find it more interesting that the librarian remembered the event years later and recounted it to other students. That's a bit odd as I would expect better from an adult.
You'd be surprised how many people are obsessed with what others drive.
I have a neighbor who only knows people in the area by what car the drive. He is constantly referring to the "lady in the blue BMW" or the "guy in the Gray Chevy Silverado." Never a mention of names or where the house is, all ID is by car driven. I never know whom the heck he is talking about.
Great story! Nothing to do with obsessing over strangers' cars parked in lots - or planning to steal the cars - but really cool tale.
More on topic... who really uses a physical library anymore? NYC has some good libraries for real research. The local libraries around here, however... you are better off using Google. Based on the posts here, it seem we are subsidizing a system that simply allows people to rent movies at zero or a discounted cost. Instead of looking at late fees, we should probably be re-thinking the need for a taxpayer funded Border's/Blockbuster - at least in its current form.
Literacy is a good thing. The point to public libraries in the US is to support/encourage literacy, provide some support to K-12 public schooling, provide support to mechanical arts, & provide education & entertainment to the general public. I have never lived anyplace in the US that didn't have public library service.
Not everyone has a PC & Internet access - something that is often available @ a public library. The US pattern of government typically holds universal access to information as a good thing, as opposed to Mexico - where libraries are typically associated with schools/colleges, & not usually available to the public. As I recall - this was in 1971 - in Mexico City (the capital & a city of 12 million, not counting the surrounding densely populated areas), the only public-access library was operated by the US Consulate there.
Best-sellers & DVDs & CDs & so on are nice to have. They are much in demand, as noted here in other posts. & they do bring people into the library - which is good, perhaps people will check out books or other materials for their children or themselves. But purely popular entertainment isn't the mission of the public libraries - it's broader than that, & not simply a place to babysit mass tastes.
Regarding libraries themselves... Colleges and Collections are different. They are privately funded. My comments were about the public library system. I merely wonder how necessary these numerous and redundant institutions are in the digital age. There is tremendous duplication of effort and the user base is certainly less than it was pre-internet. At the same time, local library collections pale by several orders of magnitude to what is available online.
We all complain about high taxes, yet no one wants to look at making changes to expensive systems which _may_ be outdated.
College & universities are funded by state & federal government, & often favored by local taxing bodies as well. (Tuition barely covers operating expenses - if that.) The WWW & Internet, as you'll recall from DARPA days, is the result of high-speed connections between existing nodes of mainframe computers, which mostly reside @ colleges & universities (& government research parks, industrial research parks, etc.) To that extent - & the continuing upgrades to hardware & software, comms, security, & so on - the Internet & related is a state-subsidized service, & well worth the price.
Yah, a single book or other piece of material doesn't compare well to the info available through the Internet. But many libraries (& newspapers & magazines & other sources) are digitizing their collections - this has become common with popular books & magazines). In time, the bulk of info in the World may indeed become electronic. That still leaves the question of vulnerability - as it stands, a single good-sized hit by a sizable Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun would fry most of the electronics in the World - cell towers, power grids, comms, phones, radars, radios, transportation, industrial processes, command & control systems in industry, military, government. If we have to rebuild, we'll need a lot of persistent information, @ low levels of tech.
Without a lot of infrastructure backing it, a single smart-phone is a handy paperweight.
If you are going to hold students / parents responsible for a book that is destroyed when a student gets sick and throws up on the book: perhaps a better solution would be rather than collecting money, to have the student replace the book, or a comparable book if the destroyed book is absolutely not available through any source. That way, it will be certain that the book is replaced, and that the money isn't going into an administrator's or librarian's pocket. It will also avoid any questions about whether or not the student (or parents) paid for the book. If the book is in the library, it was replaced. If it is not in the library, then it was never replaced (unless another student lost or destroyed it).
The thing is, the price of the material is only what the library paid for it to the supplier. That price doesn't typically (or @ least, didn't used to, in my experience) include the cost of labor - selection, ordering, tracking, receiving, matching invoice to order, putting on protective cover, bar coding, labeling call no. on the material, inputting bibliographic data into the card catalog (typically electronic these days, but still), homing in the material @ the point of use, physically shelving it, & so on. These costs typically outweigh the actual cost of the material, & are usually eaten by the library.
Replacing material lost or destroyed usually includes an assessment of how often the material is used or circulates - if the determination is that's it's of low circulation, either something else similar will be ordered, or the hole in the collection may be left unfilled.
Would an administrator or librarian steal? Possible, I suppose - but the material budget isn't very big these days. It would make more sense - from a financial POV - to take from the capital outlay fund - that's where the bigger bucks would be found.
Not to nitpick, but the librarian has zero ability to prevent a "graduation" from middle school. S/he can only report to her superiors who have the ability to enforce policy. For all we know, this "you break it, you bought it" policy may not even be school policy or , if it is, may not be evenly enforced.
...
What if a book is getting worn out. Does it become a game of "hot potato" so you are not the last one to handle the book when the binding finally fails? The other 1,000 people who read it before you got it for free, but you pay full price because it wore out on your reading?
...
I was questioning the need for a public "town" library system in its current form. Technology and times have progressed. Book stores have all but disappeared. Some schools are even moving towards electronic textbook delivery. Yet, we pay for numerous small town libraries - buildings, employees, utilities, maintenance, etc. to deliver a horrible selection of an arguably dying medium to a small group of what some may call luddites. There is tremendous duplication of mediocre services which only exists as it is because "we have always done it that way." I am not calling for the abolition of libraries, only thinking it is an area that should be looked at closely.
As you point out, we live in an era of budget cuts. Perhaps spending less on libraries would free up those funds for more useful purposes?
School policy on outstanding student debts - instrument or uniform rental fees, book fees, etc. should be spelled out in a student or parent handbook distributed to each household @ the beginning of the school year. Typically, the school can withhold graduation documents, transcripts, etc. until debts are settled, although doing so for a single book seems petty.
No one gets books for free, certainly the publisher demands payment. Textbooks are replaced periodically - more frequently for science books, less so for classes with more fixed content. I think the need for public libraries is greater than ever - there is more & more data & information out in the World, the public library is one of the few places where information professionals will willingly help guide the public to desired information. If you can come up with a more useful purpose, I'd be interested to hear it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The mission of public libraries
