Just paid $47.20 in library fees....
- Thread starter TallBill
- Start date
Oh shit. I just remembered that I still have the library's "Atlas Shrugged" in my trunk from a year and a half ago. ohshitohshitohshit. :Q
MagnusTheBrewer
IN MEMORIAM
- Jun 19, 2004
- 24,135
- 1,594
- 126
Originally posted by: astroidea
I got charged $24 for returning a book a $10 book a week late to my the school library.
That's some pretty shitty fine there. My local library system charges $.15 per day late fee.
PlasmaBomb
Lifer
- Nov 19, 2004
- 11,815
- 2
- 81
Originally posted by: Xstatic1
where would that be? mexico?
i thought lapdances were $50 minimum. (not that i would know)
Geeder likes Bill, therefore doesn't charge much
Paladin3
Diamond Member
- Mar 5, 2004
- 4,933
- 877
- 126
I'm a former librarian and can see both sides of the issue.
First, library patrons really need to take responsibility for the books they borrow and be prepared to pay the fee for late/lost/damaged materials. Where else can you borrow hundreds of dollars worth of books, videos, DVDs, software and other materials with a little more than a promise to return them? Want to avoid late fees? Return the materials on time like you said you would. Which reminds me I have an overdue book in the back of my car.
I can't count the number of times patrons returned materials late or just completely destroyed them and then where outraged that we expected them to pay a fee. At my last library we loaned books for 4 weeks, and they could be renewed for another 4, but people still bitched that we were ripping them off by charging 10 cents/day late fees when they kept books beyond the two month max.
My favorite incident was over $200 worth of books that came back soaked in cat pee, and the patron claimed we must have done it because we didn?t like her. I only WISH I could have come up with something like that because, after all, I did hate that particular patron.
Children?s books returned reeking of cigarette smoke, titles covered in various biological substances, food between the pages of paperbacks, a sheet of toilet paper used as a bookmark and left behind, obscene notes for me or the next reader penned in the margins?ah, good times, good times. Boy I miss that job, all the giggles and the mandatory Purell baths after working the front desk.
And I can?t even describe the funk that wafted off the homeless and semi-homeless who trudged in to use our public Internet computers. And a big WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING goes out to the guy one night who wanted me to print 200 copies of his white supremacist newsletter for free because ?it?s a public service? and then bitched me out when I told him no. But I digress?
On the other hand, public libraries today are often WAY out of control. While most have reasonable fee structures and policies, way too many are run by staffs that seem to have a grudge against the very patrons they are suppose to serve. A $24 fine for a single book overdue only one week is absurd at best. Most libraries only charge 10-15 cents per day per book late fee.
And the OP $47.20 in fees isn?t all that much, especially if it involved lost, damaged or destroyed materials. The largest fine I've personally slapped a patron with approached $400, but that was for quite a few lost books.
CLIFFS: Blah, blah, blah.
First, library patrons really need to take responsibility for the books they borrow and be prepared to pay the fee for late/lost/damaged materials. Where else can you borrow hundreds of dollars worth of books, videos, DVDs, software and other materials with a little more than a promise to return them? Want to avoid late fees? Return the materials on time like you said you would. Which reminds me I have an overdue book in the back of my car.
I can't count the number of times patrons returned materials late or just completely destroyed them and then where outraged that we expected them to pay a fee. At my last library we loaned books for 4 weeks, and they could be renewed for another 4, but people still bitched that we were ripping them off by charging 10 cents/day late fees when they kept books beyond the two month max.
My favorite incident was over $200 worth of books that came back soaked in cat pee, and the patron claimed we must have done it because we didn?t like her. I only WISH I could have come up with something like that because, after all, I did hate that particular patron.
Children?s books returned reeking of cigarette smoke, titles covered in various biological substances, food between the pages of paperbacks, a sheet of toilet paper used as a bookmark and left behind, obscene notes for me or the next reader penned in the margins?ah, good times, good times. Boy I miss that job, all the giggles and the mandatory Purell baths after working the front desk.
And I can?t even describe the funk that wafted off the homeless and semi-homeless who trudged in to use our public Internet computers. And a big WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING goes out to the guy one night who wanted me to print 200 copies of his white supremacist newsletter for free because ?it?s a public service? and then bitched me out when I told him no. But I digress?
On the other hand, public libraries today are often WAY out of control. While most have reasonable fee structures and policies, way too many are run by staffs that seem to have a grudge against the very patrons they are suppose to serve. A $24 fine for a single book overdue only one week is absurd at best. Most libraries only charge 10-15 cents per day per book late fee.
And the OP $47.20 in fees isn?t all that much, especially if it involved lost, damaged or destroyed materials. The largest fine I've personally slapped a patron with approached $400, but that was for quite a few lost books.
CLIFFS: Blah, blah, blah.
kranky
Elite Member
- Oct 9, 1999
- 21,014
- 137
- 106
I love our library and I have paid my share of overdue fines from time to time. And on the other side of the coin, it's upsetting when I have requested a book, told when it would be available, then had to wait another month or two because the person didn't return it on time.
Our library system is having funding problems and having to cut hours and programs. It's sad because I can see that the usage is rising - people out of work using the library to help find jobs, attending workshops, and families who are tight on money borrowing movies and books for free instead of renting movies or buying books. Libraries are the best bargain there is and I wish they could get the money they need to flourish.
True story: I borrowed a book a few years ago and copied an idea from it to use in my job, and the idea was very successful and the reason I got a top rating on my review that year. Counting the extra raise and a one-time bonus, reading that book probably earned me $1000.
Our library system is having funding problems and having to cut hours and programs. It's sad because I can see that the usage is rising - people out of work using the library to help find jobs, attending workshops, and families who are tight on money borrowing movies and books for free instead of renting movies or buying books. Libraries are the best bargain there is and I wish they could get the money they need to flourish.
True story: I borrowed a book a few years ago and copied an idea from it to use in my job, and the idea was very successful and the reason I got a top rating on my review that year. Counting the extra raise and a one-time bonus, reading that book probably earned me $1000.
I stopped going to the library around here. Twice one of the books, which I know I returned, was never found and of course they couldn't find it in their pile of returned books or where it was supposed to be put up so I had to pay a fee.
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