You do the math
Posted on April 20, 2009
Filed Under Managing Client Relations, Managing Ourselves
When I first saw this spot, last year, from the Vancouver Public Library I was just happy to wallow in a bit of nostalgia and to see some old co-workers (I worked at VPL for many years). This time when I ran across it on Tame the Web and started down the road of “oh and there’s so and so, and so and so…” I asked myself, just how many of them did it take to get that book to the patron anyhow?
Here’s a breakdown of the book, Wilderness Ontario, and its travels at the Vancouver Public Library
- Public service desk who directs her to another person for catalogue help - (why this happens is a post for another time)
- Staff helping the patron to place the hold
- Clerk pulling hold off shelf
- Six months earlier that book was on a truck to be processed (so someone had ordered and unpacked the order- acquisitions, shipping, and tech services clerks)
- In technical services the book is barcoded
- Another technical services clerk removes the book’s cover, and then laminates, trims, and puts the cover back on
- The book is put on a hand-truck to be moved to circulation
- The book is checked in
- The book is put on a hand-truck and sent to the downstairs sorting room
- The book is removed from the hand-truck and placed in appropriate shipping bin
- The bin may sent either to division upstairs or to the branch shipping truck
- This book goes into a branch bin and is put on the shipping truck
- The bin is shipped to the branch
- The bin is unpacked from the truck
- The book is unpacked from the bin and placed on a hand-truck
- The hand-truck is moved to work-room circulation terminal
- The book is checked in as a hold
- The book is processed for the hold shelf
- The book is placed on the hold shelf
- The public service clerk pulls it off the hold shelf for the patron
- The book is checked out to the patron
Impact on library: 2 employees handled the book record (maybe 3 if original order came from library acquisitions or a subject librarian) and the physical book was handled at least 19 times by VPL employees from the time it arrived at the library to the time it was placed in the patron’s hands.
Impact on patron: She got a book that took 6 months and an excess of handling to process. Maybe she discovered it wasn’t the book she wanted and returned it without reading it, or maybe she read it cover to cover and her appreciation of the library’s role in meeting her entertainment and information sky rocketed and she is now the biggest advocator of public library services. Maybe.
Current status of the book, Wilderness Ontario: $22.50 on Amazon.ca. and sitting on the shelf in VPL’s history division.
And speaking of money…
Library fines. Considerable source of revenue for some library systems. Not something we can just do away with - or can we.
According to ODLIS fines
encourage borrowers to return materials promptly, most libraries charge a small amount for each day that a circulating item is kept past its due date. The amount may vary depending on the format of the material checked out. Overdue fines for items on reserve may be charged by the hour. Fines can be avoided by renewing items on or before the due date. Most automated circulation systems are set to block a borrower account if unpaid fines accumulate beyond a certain amount.
According to Dictionary.com a fine
is a sum of money imposed as a penalty for an offense or dereliction
Guess which of the definitions comes to our patron’s minds when we say “you have a fine” - even if we try to say it with a smile and an apology, they still only hear you screeching “YOU HAVE A FINE YOU MISCREANT!”.
So let’s get rid of fines, and instead have extended service fees or minor sur-charges. Changing language can change attitude, particularly ours towards the patron. If we need that revenue, it is up to us to make it a more pleasant experience - one that comes with a big welcome and a sincere thank you. After all, they are our customers and deserve as excellent, as we can make it, library experience.
Here’s my guaranteed (not to be confused with rigorous) 10 minute research methodology. You’ve seen it before where I race across the country picking on largish library systems to see where they are in my expectations. Not even Richmond Public Library made the cut this time, but a few, such as Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto came close.
Vancouver Public Library - fines
Richmond Public Library - charges and fines
Calgary Public Library - fees
Edmonton Public Library - late charges
Yukon Public Libraries - fines and charges
Saskatoon Public Library - fines
Regina Public Library - fines
Winnipeg Public Library - fines/blocks
Thunder Bay Public Library - fines
London Public Library - fines
Toronto Public Library - fees and charges
Montreal Public Library - fees
Quebec City Public Library - fees
St John’s Public Library - fines
Halifax Public Library - fines
Charlottetown Public Library (Confederation Centre) - fines
Fredericton Public Library - fines
It’s really pretty simple: money in, money out. You do the math.
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2 Responses to “You do the math”
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I like Southeast Regional Library out of Weyburn - no fines/fees/charges for overdue materials. Period. Although SILS may change this was the last I heard.
In terms of progressive library policies, doing away with fines is one of my favourites. Many libraries have become reliant on the fines but I wonder, is it really worth the expense to the organization the abuse of staff for a few hundred grand a year - especially when some studies have shown that fines don’t really act as a deterrent and most people who return items late will do so no matter what and most who return things on time will continue to do so.
Related - one of my pet peeves is libraries that don’t even do the courtesy to their patrons of sending a note in advance about materials coming due (showing just how reliant they are on that extra cash?) Instead, you get that e-mail 3 or 5 or 7 days after the item(s) came due - giving a few days for the fines to build up.
Hey Jason, glad to see you here!
Nope, they aren’t much of a deterrent but they are part of the budget. So how about no fines but a much appreciated service of keeping the materials out beyond the free period, for say a small service charge. The borrower’s option, not a punishment.
And of course some libraries, such as our own Regina PL, don’t fine children’s materials and other libraries don’t charge certain borrowers such as children or outreach patrons.