I'm a library bastard

[Canadiens1131]

So I have six books checked out of the library for a report I had to finish up in late December. Anyway, I just renewed them all because I'm too lazy to go return them. This is the second I renewed them for this reason.

So if you have a paper to do on abortion I apologize.

 

[Liesje]

I did the same thing for months and months b/c we can just renew online. I think I had a book for 7 months, even took it to Africa with me. However, I think at most libraries it won't let you renew a book that's being held/requested by someone else.

 

[UberBeaver]

I've had a book out since 1988. Seriously. I haven't been back to that library since.

 

[Canadiens1131]

I did the same thing for months and months b/c we can just renew online. I think I had a book for 7 months, even took it to Africa with me. However, I think at most libraries it won't let you renew a book that's being held/requested by someone else.

Yeah my uni library has the same held request policy. Still, with this internet stuff it's way too easy to be lazy and renew online.

 

[VertigoGal]

you bastard.

 

[Liesje]

Sort of related but when I was younger my little sis and I would get the trashy teen rags from the library for reading on the beach. One had Brittney Spears on the cover, so we made her into a devil with a black Sharpie. Next time I went to check out a book, I had this random $1 fine and it was for defacing the magazine cover It was worth it.

 

[Bonochick]

When I was in middle school, I loved riding my bike into the next town so I could go to their library...something a little different. I would get about a dozen paperbacks at a time, and then I'd return them 2 weeks later for more. One day while cleaning out my desk, I found one of those paperbacks that had obviously gotten misplaced...it was insanely overdue. I shoved it in the middle of the stack of books I currently had and returned it without saying anything. I never got fined.

 

[redhotswami]

you're one of THEM!

libraries need more of these guys

 

[Bonochick]

Bookman is gonna be all over this.

 

[Liesje]

One time, one of my roommates looked up a book she needed and it said "missing". She went to the library and was getting other books on the topic when she found the missing book just sitting on an endcap. She took it to the checkout and they wouldn't let her check it out because it was "missing".....but she found it.....

 

[meegannie]

One time, one of my roommates looked up a book she needed and it said "missing". She went to the library and was getting other books on the topic when she found the missing book just sitting on an endcap. She took it to the checkout and they wouldn't let her check it out because it was "missing".....but she found it.....

I'm guessing their library management system didn't allow books with a missing status to be issued. The person your friend spoke to probably didn't know how to change the status or wasn't authorized to change it.

 

[Chizip]

who needs books for research when you have wikipedia?

 

[beegee]

The person your friend spoke to probably didn't know how to change the status or wasn't authorized to change it.

exactly.

BC, i don't know how other districts handle paperbacks, but in ours, paperbacks don't generate fines simply because we just have too many of them. i've had people donate trunks full of them at a time and we don't even bother to catalogue them.

i'm surprise at how many times you guys can renew your items.

we only allow it once because we're really mean and cranky.

 

[zonelistener]

- library

we're really mean and cranky.

 

[Liesje]

i'm surprise at how many times you guys can renew your items.

we only allow it once because we're really mean and cranky.

How long's the checkout for though? For students at our library, I think it's only 10 days. Certain materials are 3 days and others are even set aside for 2 hours or 24 hours. So if you're writing a senior thesis based on a 1200 page theological dissertation most likely not written in English, 1) you'll need to renew a few times and 2) no one else is really going to be after that book and 3) if someone was and had it on hold, the system would not allow you to renew. As a staff member, I was told our checkout is more like 4 weeks, but we don't usually check out the books the students need (more like the fiction and rec reading stuff). Once the book is due, it e-mails us and then gives three more days before charging. It charges like $1/day per book, so the three day grace period is crucial!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I've had a book out since 1988. Seriously. I haven't been back to that library since.

wow, i had a friend who had books that were four years overdue, and i thought that was bad!

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

We can only renew books once at our libraries.

 

[Laura M]

At our university library they are very demanding about getting a book back.

I got an email today telling me I'm going to be suspended if I didn't return my book that's overdue. By a few days.

 

[beegee]

well, it IS stealing when you don't return library items

 

[Laura M]

I guess I'd call it stealing if the library had actually been open before this afternoon. Unless you know how to return books back to a library that's closed.

 

[beegee]

outside book drop?

it's not uncommon for libraries to send notices for overdue books.

our patrons can actually be reported to a credit agency if their items aren't returned.

i wasn't referring only to you, miss lara. the general attitude in this thread is that libraries have some nerve or that not returning or damaging library items is excusable or acceptable, but it really isn't.

 

[Laura M]

outside book drop?

nope.

i live next door to the library, overdue books isn't really an issue.

someone ordered a book i had renewed until mid-january on nye. when i incur a fine despite being unable to leave it back, then get told i'll be suspended if it's not brought back within the next 48 hours, i'd say they had a nerve demanding money from me.

 

[beegee]

someone ordered a book i had renewed until mid-january on nye. when i incur a fine despite being unable to leave it back, then get told i'll be suspended if it's not brought back within the next 48 hours, i'd say they had a nerve demanding money from me.

i'm surprised they don't provide an outside drop.

also, i'm confused. when you already have the book checked out and your due date is days away, if someone else puts a hold on that book, your library will ask that you return it before your actual due date so that the other person can have it?

 

[meegannie]

also, i'm confused. when you already have the book checked out and your due date is days away, if someone else puts a hold on that book, your library will ask that you return it before your actual due date so that the other person can have it?

We recall books, but only from staff and postgrads who have much longer loan periods than undergraduates. We send them a notice that the book has been requested, and the new due date is two weeks from the date the notice is generated. The recall doesn't happen automatically when a hold is placed through the opac; the person requesting the book has to contact us to recall it. We're pretty lenient with fines on recalls when it's not term time, though, and we have an outside drop box.

 

[meegannie]

i wasn't referring only to you, miss lara. the general attitude in this thread is that libraries have some nerve or that not returning or damaging library items is excusable or acceptable, but it really isn't.

 

[beegee]

and we have an outside drop box.

see, at our branch, if the patron has it, the patron has it.

whoever places a hold has to wait.

our loan period is 3 weeks on regular books and 2 weeks on new or bestsellers. they can be renewed once. of course, if there aren't any holds, we have no problem checking a book in for a patron and checking it right back out to them as long as they bring it into the building. videos and dvds (which don't belong in the library in the first place) can be checked out for 7 days. they cannot be renewed.

to be fair, when someone signs up for a library card, they are agreeing to abide by all of the branch's policies and guidelines, so there really isn't too much room to fuss, right?

i am fascinated by how other libraries are run, though.

i should get two nerds for even saying that

 

[Laura M]

i'm surprised they don't provide an outside drop.

also, i'm confused. when you already have the book checked out and your due date is days away, if someone else puts a hold on that book, your library will ask that you return it before your actual due date so that the other person can have it?

they have a returns box inside the building but you can't return anything if someone has asked for it anyway.

yes, you'll have to take it back if someone requests it. some libraries let you have a week, others a few days. sometimes, if there is a high demand, they'll go on short term loan. generally people are reserving books for an essay so it makes sense, especially when we get 2-3 weeks to do an assignment and there can be up to 30 people in the class all after a few books.

this is the university libraries.

the public library isn't like that. when you get your books, they are yours for two weeks.

 

[Liesje]

i am fascinated by how other libraries are run, though.

This is how ours works (this is a school library) - Different items have different loan periods, and it's also different depending on your status at the college. I think students get about 10 days for "normal" items. Items "on reserve" are available for specified hours. For example, one reserve item might only be available for two hours, others are for 24 hours. For staff, the loan period is more like 3-4 weeks. Once you check something out, you can renew it indefinitely, as long as it's not a reserve item or on hold for someone else. If it goes on hold, you bring it back at the return date issued when you checked it out (you don't have to bring it in early). Once an item is coming due, the system e-mails a reminder. At the due date, you still get a three day grace period, after which you're charged $1/day per item up to the value of the item.

There are other parts of the library that have different rules. For example, we have a theological seminary and the Meeter Center, which contains important/rare/expensive books, documents, and artifacts pertinent to theology. I think for those you have to sit in the center to use them, but they have their own system and their own full time secretary. There's also Cayvan, which holds all the multimedia. Most of this you have to sit and listen to/watch in the library so you can't copy it illegally.

I suppose the fact that this is a school library with a significant amount of theological material (an entire center and one whole floor) makes it a bit different.

We have outside drop-boxes and can do all browsing, renewing, holding, etc online through our Webcat. If we don't have a book or document, the reference librarians will get anything through Inter-library Loan (ILL). They'll get it for free from another library.

For assigned readings for essays and such, we're a bit different than Lara's b/c you are either required to purchase the book or compilation of readings as part of your textbook purchases, or the prof will have the readings on reserve, so you only get them for a few hours at a time and if you need more time, you are allowed to photocopy them (you pay). Other than that, you're on your own. Most students use ILL or have library cards to neighboring colleges and the public library system (which will also retrieve anything from any library on this side of the state at no cost).

OK, now I feel like a I only know all of this because 1) I work in IT so we support most of the technology the library uses and 2) I was a TA for an IT class that teaches freshmen how to use technology for research.

 

[Bono's shades]

I renew books a lot. Whenever I go to the library I always seem to find a ton of things I want to read, but then I never seem to have enough time to read them.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

i am fascinated by how other libraries are run, though.

In Singapore, since it's such a small country, there's actually a national library board, the NLB. It runs the community and children's libraries that are scattered around the island.

Anyway the NLB is state-run, I think, so what happens is that once you sign up for membership (which is lifetime, for a nominal fee, allows for the borrowing of 4 books, and can be 'upgraded' with a yearly subscription to borrow up to 8 items, including up to 4 audio-visual items) they issue you with a library card that you don't necessarily have to use - you could use your identification card to borrow items. Borrowing is nowadays almost never done with the actual librarians anymore (ie. queuing up and getting your book stamped) but at e-kiosks. There are also machines around that facilitate paying of fines and so on, which aggravatingly cannot be done by cash but you have to use the cashless smart cards. As such the librarians act more as facilitators and sources for general enquiry.

The OPAC system is available to home users via the library website, and reservations can be placed for $1.55 per book. Because all the libraries are linked to one another, an OPAC reservation can be made for a book that belongs to say, the Orchard Community Library at the heart of the city, and picked up at another library close to the user's home.

Loan periods are fixed at three weeks and can be renewed for another three weeks for a fee of $0.50 per book. Books can only be renewed once. Fines are about $0.15 a day (I think). Audio-visual items can be borrowed for one week after which the fines are $0.50 per week, but they can be renewed for an additional week as well. Cumulative fines of $6.00 or more results automatically in a suspension of borrowing privileges, which can be lifted by paying off the fine.

Returns are usually done at bookdrops, which have some scanner thingy that automatically scans the book and marks it as 'returned', so it's off your record and you can borrow more.

And yes I do realize how Big Brother the whole operation sounds.

Individual schools have their own libraries, as do the three universities (the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and the Singapore Management University) but I have no idea how each one is run.