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I, too, have had a similar situation, and this is not a small town OR a small library. The branch which is most convenient for me has done this to me FIVE TIMES in the last few months.
They want you to put your books in a basket and they will check them in later. For awhile after the first time they didn't check my books back in, I made them check them in by hand while I watched. The last time I tried that, the woman got snotty with me and refused to do it. Rather than argue with her I put them in the basket. Sure enough - books not checked in.
There is a friendly helpful person there to whom I will speak next time I can catch her. The only thing I can really DO about it, as far as I know, is not go to that branch any more.
Where we lived before the library system was set up on the premise that everyone is a thief and that books are made of gold. Security scanners by the doors, limits to checkouts, actual human has to scan each barcode, on and on. Where we live now you check yourself out by piling a stack on the RFID reader and off you go. If it misses one it misses one. It takes like 5 seconds and emails you a receipt. If someone wanted to steal one it would just walk out the door, and yet that place is full of books. When I call them for a book I know I returned they apologize and go look for it, it is like a civilization- where people respect and trust each other and operate on the assumption that people AREN'T trying to steal.
yes, everybody has a boss.
after I posted here, I went back to the library website and found a Board of Trustees, so that is whom I will write.
this way, if the trustees act in a professional manner, they will inform that there is a problem, but will not reveal my name.
Is the library on a bar code reader system for check-in/out? If so, they might have self-service stations - you could use those for check-out (it should give you a printout of whatever you check out, due dates, the usual). For check-in, you can ask for a receipt showing the materials & that they've been checked in.
If they're on a bar code system, you can probably look up your file online from home - & keep an eye out for material that you didn't check out. Failing all that, you can look into getting a library card for your nearest state university library. The other possibility is check to see if the nearby public libraries have reciprocal borrowing agreements with your library - your library website (or theirs) would probably tell you.
Push comes to shove, you might take your patronage elsewhere. Best of luck with it. We spend a lot of time in the public library too & check out a lot of material - there's just not much on TV that keeps my attention.
Another possibility: Check to see if the library website talks about conflict resolution: How they handle mistakes in material checked out out to you, shelved without checking the material in, & so on. & you can always ask they put in a suggestion box &/or the online equivalent.
It's a public library. It's not like they are paid a ton of money to do these jobs and the books are free.
Pick your battles.
Yah, I've worked as a librarian in a public library. True that nobody's getting rich there - but people do choose to work in libraries. & no - the books - nor building, nor salaries, nor expenses - are free. They're paid for, typically out of property taxes in the US. If you own property, a home, or rent - you're helping to pay for the service.
In that sense, you're both a co-owner & a customer of the public library, as well as other public infrastructure. You can ask for better service wearing either hat - although if you have to get noisy, it's more effective to stress the taxpayer role, in my experience.
Even the Director has a boss. Figure out who that is.
^^^^This.
I worked in a library for many years. If the director is not responsive to a well-known problem, find out who is the director's boss. If your library system has more than one branch, then there should be a director of library services. Contact that person. If you still get no results, contact those who run your community---mayor? Or if you have a town or city council or a board of supervisors, contact your representative on the council/board.
If you have no success, then go to the local press. Gather up as many people as possible to go with you.
ETA: Does your library system have reciprocity with a neighboring jurisdiction? My system does and when I wanted to check out books from the other system, I presented my library card and my card number and name, etc. was entered into their system. If such a thing exists in your area, use those libraries.
I would write the Library board of directors and document my problems, dates and books. I wouldn't accuse any person of being a problem, I'd just state the facts.
If you have time, could you volunteer there and help them figure out a way to make the circulation system better?
Exactly. Can probably save some time: self check out, self check in via IoT RFID chips, barcodes, and similar. Not sure what purpose a "card" is, anymore: all that is online at King County Library System (KCLS), for example (WA State). Largest library system in the nation, by circulation. Check out, check in, reflected pretty quickly on my individual account. I see now they still have a "library card" available for old people, kids, and Luddites I guess. None of that is needed anymore if you have a smartphone, tablet, or otherwise inhabit mainstream 21st Century.
Granted, Seattle and KCLS are pretty ahead of the 8-Ball on all that because we're a tech hub, people are waaaaay above average tech literate (and literate in-general), but food for thought. KCLS smartphone app for Android isn't half-bad but still a couple versions away from being totally seamless.
But stuff like that removes the human factor from administrative tasks, which was OP's point. I work on business intelligence (BI) systems whose sole purpose is to objectively sort, collate, clean, and present massive amounts of data into actionable reports, aka intelligence. Which is more-or-less what we're discussing here, too, in removing people and (our) error-prone ways from tedious administrivia.
I'm not a big library user, onsite or off. Most of what I want can be borrowed online with cost = zero or can be rented via Kindle and other systems (Sony, Google, etc.). However, 1.2 million others in the King County area have another POV and do use the systems and buildings extensively, and it's changing over time. Rapidly, in some ways.
PS:
From a physical plant perspective: other than the study space, which is very valuable indeed for all ages, not sure purpose in the next couple decades of libraries other than as community centers. I think that's all going to transform in the fairly near future, though I remember lecturing someone back in 1999 that eBooks were the next big thing and expecting bookstores and libraries to be swept away by 2019. The former has happened, bookstores are mostly gone now, but libraries as centers of learning: not as much vs. decades or centuries ago. Guessing at least another twenty years for them to fall deeply into obsolecense in Western societies, once 1) tablets are dirt cheap, as in less than twenty bucks 2) WiFi is totally ubitquitous 3) the tech is almost instantantious, with federated user ID across multiple accounts: no BS "username" and "password" or other 20th Century garbage to gum the works.
We're working on the above, btw, "we" being the tech majors + startups, and it improves constantly. Classmate of mine from grad school is on the King County Library System board of directors, we talk about this stuff couple times per year. In fact he was president at one point, as I recall, and he's keenly aware of the changing face of major library systems in the U.S.
Exactly. Can probably save some time: self check out, self check in via IoT RFID chips, barcodes, and similar. Not sure what purpose a "card" is, anymore: all that is online at King County Library System (KCLS), for example (WA State). Largest library system in the nation, by circulation. Check out, check in, reflected pretty quickly on my individual account. I see now they still have a "library card" available for old people, kids, and Luddites I guess. None of that is needed anymore if you have a smartphone, tablet, or otherwise inhabit mainstream 21st Century.
Granted, Seattle and KCLS are pretty ahead of the 8-Ball on all that because we're a tech hub, people are waaaaay above average tech literate (and literate in-general), but food for thought. KCLS smartphone app for Android isn't half-bad but still a couple versions away from being totally seamless.
But stuff like that removes the human factor from administrative tasks, which was OP's point. I work on business intelligence (BI) systems whose sole purpose is to objectively sort, collate, clean, and present massive amounts of data into actionable reports, aka intelligence. Which is more-or-less what we're discussing here, too, in removing people and (our) error-prone ways from tedious administrivia.
I'm not a big library user, onsite or off. Most of what I want can be borrowed online with cost = zero or can be rented via Kindle and other systems (Sony, Google, etc.). However, 1.2 million others in the King County area have another POV and do use the systems and buildings extensively, and it's changing over time. Rapidly, in some ways.
PS:
From a physical plant perspective: other than the study space, which is very valuable indeed for all ages, not sure purpose in the next couple decades of libraries other than as community centers. I think that's all going to transform in the fairly near future, though I remember lecturing someone back in 1999 that eBooks were the next big thing and expecting bookstores and libraries to be swept away by 2019. The former has happened, bookstores are mostly gone now, but libraries as centers of learning: not as much vs. decades or centuries ago. Guessing at least another twenty years for them to fall deeply into obsolecense in Western societies, once 1) tablets are dirt cheap, as in less than twenty bucks 2) WiFi is totally ubitquitous 3) the tech is almost instantantious, with federated user ID across multiple accounts: no BS "username" and "password" or other 20th Century garbage to gum the works.
We're working on the above, btw, "we" being the tech majors + startups, and it improves constantly. Classmate of mine from grad school is on the King County Library System board of directors, we talk about this stuff couple times per year. In fact he was president at one point, as I recall, and he's keenly aware of the changing face of major library systems in the U.S.
Your views concerning the future of the traditional public library leaves out the human factor, and the importance of story and storytelling in human history, the importance of nurturing the love of story and storytelling in the young, and much more.
Yes, computers and other devices can provide text, and some prefer to read from such devices. These things have their place. But they cannot replace the services of a traditional public library, especially in regard to children. Libraries are far more than conveyers of information, and their additional roles are what will keep them viable and vibrant.
After a couple of experiences with entire batches of books not being checked in when I dropped them off at the check-in area, I started insisting that they check them in in front of me and give me a receipt for them. They don't like to do that, but they have to if you insist. Since I started doing that, I haven't had a problem for years.
That's probably because they know they are being held accountable, and if they have to give a receipt, they'll make sure to check the books in.
I find it particularly annoying that the library people claim they "never make mistakes". Yeah, right. They should just admit to making errors on occasion and work to resolve the problem; they should be the ones checking to see if the book is on the bookshelf and was turned in, that's their job. Library patrons shouldn't have to solve these problems for the library.
Exactly. Can probably save some time: self check out, self check in via IoT RFID chips, barcodes, and similar. Not sure what purpose a "card" is, anymore: all that is online at King County Library System (KCLS), for example (WA State). Largest library system in the nation, by circulation. Check out, check in, reflected pretty quickly on my individual account. I see now they still have a "library card" available for old people, kids, and Luddites I guess. None of that is needed anymore if you have a smartphone, tablet, or otherwise inhabit mainstream 21st Century.
Granted, Seattle and KCLS are pretty ahead of the 8-Ball on all that because we're a tech hub, people are waaaaay above average tech literate (and literate in-general), but food for thought. KCLS smartphone app for Android isn't half-bad but still a couple versions away from being totally seamless.
But stuff like that removes the human factor from administrative tasks, which was OP's point. I work on business intelligence (BI) systems whose sole purpose is to objectively sort, collate, clean, and present massive amounts of data into actionable reports, aka intelligence. Which is more-or-less what we're discussing here, too, in removing people and (our) error-prone ways from tedious administrivia.
I'm not a big library user, onsite or off. Most of what I want can be borrowed online with cost = zero or can be rented via Kindle and other systems (Sony, Google, etc.). However, 1.2 million others in the King County area have another POV and do use the systems and buildings extensively, and it's changing over time. Rapidly, in some ways.
PS:
From a physical plant perspective: other than the study space, which is very valuable indeed for all ages, not sure purpose in the next couple decades of libraries other than as community centers. I think that's all going to transform in the fairly near future, though I remember lecturing someone back in 1999 that eBooks were the next big thing and expecting bookstores and libraries to be swept away by 2019. The former has happened, bookstores are mostly gone now, but libraries as centers of learning: not as much vs. decades or centuries ago. Guessing at least another twenty years for them to fall deeply into obsolecense in Western societies, once 1) tablets are dirt cheap, as in less than twenty bucks 2) WiFi is totally ubitquitous 3) the tech is almost instantantious, with federated user ID across multiple accounts: no BS "username" and "password" or other 20th Century garbage to gum the works.
We're working on the above, btw, "we" being the tech majors + startups, and it improves constantly. Classmate of mine from grad school is on the King County Library System board of directors, we talk about this stuff couple times per year. In fact he was president at one point, as I recall, and he's keenly aware of the changing face of major library systems in the U.S.
I personally do 95% of my reading on the Kindle. I only borrow a hard copy from the library if they don't have what I want in electronic format. But I go to the library for other reasons and see people taking out stacks of books all the time. Younger kids in particular enjoy physical books, not viewing board books on a tablet. And there are plenty of people of all ages who seem to prefer to feel of a physical book. I'm not sure what the statistics are for book sales vs. ebook sales, and for library usage for the same categories. But I used to think that physical books would become obsolete much sooner than I now believe.
I think that Amazon and 1-2 day delivery took away the bookstores, esp. because they could rarely match the price (although I live in a city that has one of the largest independent bookstores in the country), not a lack of desire for physical books. As a matter of fact, Amazon has opened a few physical stores themselves - for those who desire more immediate gratification in non-digital format.
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