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We are committed to:

• Excellence in service to our community
• Enhancement of the learning experience
• Responsiveness to instructional, teaching and research needs
• Optimizing access to collections, services, and technology
• Providing a model of successful collaboration in higher education

SUBJECT: Fines

Comment: what about setting up a volunteer system instead of fining students for late books/videos? we're all under financial pressure and it seems that volunteering time would be a better option for people. i'm not sure i even understand where the money goes that we pay for fines! of course it makes sense to pay for a book that has been lost/stolen and needs to be replaced. the option of fine or volunteer time would be really nice and much appreciated. signed, SAIC student

LIBRARY STAFF REPLY:

Whether or not to fine for over-dues is a perpetual topic of debate among the library staff.  Nobody likes fines!  When the honor system fails, fines are the next recourse.   Unfortunately, some people simply won't return things on time (or at all) without some pressure.  At the moment (Fall 2009), we have over 500 items that are at least 30 days overdue.  At an average replacement cost of $40 per item, that represents at least $20,000 of library materials that are missing in action. 

Our objective is simply to get people to return materials when they say they will return them -- so that others are not inconvenienced.  We do understand that students are under financial pressure and that mistakes happen.  That's why we offer e-mail reminders about upcoming due dates, easy renewal for most items, and automatic waiver of overdue fines below $5 per item.  All in all, it doesn't seem like too harsh of a system, in return for access to hundreds of thousands of useful things in the Flaxman and the I-Share system.  

Where does the money go when you pay an overdue fine?  Same place as payments for lost or damaged items -- right back into the library's acquisitions budget.

Why don't we let students volunteer their labor to pay off fines?  We've tried that several times and found that training, scheduling and monitoring volunteers to do any meaningful work isn't effective for short periods of time.  Our student workers are trained for many hours before they can shelve books or perform other tasks.  It's a nice idea, but it turns out that casual volunteers cost far more in staff time than they can contribute. 

Signed, Flaxman Library Staff

Another posted comment:

Subject: uhhhh....
Comment: heres a thought:  return your borrowed materials on time.  Is it really that difficult?  I dont understand how some people get through life without any sense of accountability.  Under financial pressure?  Return your book on time.  End of story.  No more tears...

And another comment:

Subject: re: uhhhh....
Comment: I'm with uhhhh..., return your materials on time, the library is here for you not against you.