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    Thank you for all of your help and wonderful ideas (what a great bunch
of creative people we have on this listserv)!  Here is the HIT of responses,
for those who requested it, about what we do to let students know when their
books are due (original message follows):

Our public library uses something similar to a price stamper with stickers
instead of cards. The date due goes on the back cover of the book in the
upper corner, and the date stamps are scraped off when the books are
returned.

I just send an overdue list once a week or so and the teachers remind the
students of their overdue books.  I have been at this school and not used
date due cards for six years and haven't had a problem.  I think that those
printers would be very expensive, time consuming, and not worth the trouble.

This year I made bookmarks... just on regular paper. There's just a little
logo and the name of the school... and gosh... I've forgotten! I see them
everyday! But I think I put rules for taking care of books (I'm K5). At the
bottom is a place to stamp a due date. I keep them piled up and a child
stamps them at checkout time... It has proven pretty troublefree and doesn't
take my time to speak of. I would think middle schoolers could just stamp
their own when they get a book... and be on their way???

I haven't used date due cards since we automated 15 years or so ago.  Kids
don't seem to mind.  They know to bring them back the next library day and
if they miss one they actually have 2 weeks.  I don't make a big deal of
overdues until they've been out a month or so and kids know when they check
out if they still have books out.  Works for me.


Go ahead and put the date due slips in the books (you can get reasonably
priced packets of them from any library supplier). Otherwise it's your word
against theirs  that a book is due.

I'm elementary level-- and my aide just gave me a suggestion that she found
from her niece's school.  Cards are still involved- but a different color
for each day of the week. It may be too elementary for you-- I know it will
work for us when we implement it in saving the time of stamping all the
cards. (we're still using the card catalog- no automation yet).


I don't use any "date due" cards and there are no more "overdues" than there
were when the date due was stamped in the book.   They know the books are
due in two weeks.  A couple of years ago I had some volunteers who stamped
some plain 3X5s for the kinders and 1sts but that didn't last long. I used
to put out a date stamper next to some of our "homemade" bookmarks and tell
the kids if they thought they needed it they could stamp one of those as a
reminder.   That didn't last long either.   Occasionally a child will write
it down on a scrap of paper if they think they need it but I don't see that
much either.   I also remind them each week of the number of materials they
have and when they're due.  That helps too I think. Hope this helps.


If your kids come on a regular schedule, and they know that a specific day
is their "library "day this system should work. I have elementary. I don't
use due slips. But they all know what is their library day and that is when
the books are due.

I use date-due slips which are attached in the back of the books. When a
book is checked out, we (my aide or I) remind the student when the book is
due. It is up to the student to stamp the date due with the stamper on the
date-due slip. The
date due for books checked out that day is always written on the marker
board by the date-due stamp. At the end of each day, we change the stamper
and the date on the board. Some students stamp their date-due slips and some
do not. The
choice is theirs. These slips are not expensive and are easy to attach.

Yes you are setting yourself up for trouble.  I'm in an elementary.  I have
pockets in my books as they come for the most part preprocessed.  If nothing
else, have date due cards and a stamp pad at the checkout desk.  Require the
kids to stamp the cards and place in book before you check out!  Or, have
the cards and stamper available.  Then if the student doesn't take a card,
it is still their responsibility to know when the book is due.  I have
students who love to stamp cards.  I start out with some ready and let the
students do the rest throughout the day.  You might find some student who
would love to stamp cards in a study hall (if those still exist) etc..

I put pre-glued DUE DATE slips in each book (just takes a second) instead of
cards and pockets.  Then when I weed, it is real easy, as I physically look
at the books, to see when it was last checked out.  Just a thought.

Check your Library supply houses.  They have a device like the grocery store
that puts labels on products.  This device will put dates on a small sticky
label.

I use them in the High School and just stick them on the front of books.  It
is easy to change the date and I use yellow labels so they show on almost
all books.

Check it out.  I think it was aroung $60 but is well worth it.  My kids
never argue about the due date.

I purchased self-stick date due slips and attach them to the inside of the
book on the front fly-leaf.  I have an ink pad and date stamp on the
counter.  The students know the books are due 2 weeks after they check them
out.  They can stamp the slip themselves. Does it really work?  Yes and no.
The students at least notice if the date is wrong (month or year) when they
stamp their book.  Someone has usually been turning the wheels.  By them
stamping their books they are made aware
of the fact the book is due.  I have toyed with the idea of doing away this
whole thing.  but it does make some of them think about it.

...To alleviate the cost of buying date cards, I use the blank side of index
cards.  These are readily available from my district's
maintainance supply list and are inexpensive and I don't have go through the
hassle of typing out a purchase order.  We stamp the cards and get the
students to put them in the pockets for themselves.  When the books are
returned we pull the cards out and mark through the old date with a black
marker... If your school requires that your students use day planners (mine
does), you might try having students write the name of the books due on a
particular day on that date in their planner if you really object to date
cards.  If you use self-stick pockets, the time required to insert these in
the back of a new book is nothing.

I use Date Due post-it notes, found in any library supply catalog.  They
work great.  They still have to be stamped with the date, but are
inexpensive and easy.

Here's what works for us:
    We took our entire card catalog and recycled it as due date cards. When
kids check out, they take a card from a small basket on the desk that is
pre-stamped with the day's due date (one week away)and place it in the
pocket of their book. If there is already an old card there from the
previous checkout, the drop it in a small mailbox (shoebox w/ a slot) on the
circ desk.
    I have young student aides, and one of their favorite jobs is emptying
the shoebox, sorting the cars by month, and filing them by date back in to
the card catalog drawers. Then, the cards are ready to use again next year.
    It was a lot of work to set this up, but I had a volunteer grandma who
made it her mission. She stamped a good sized stack of cards for every date
(365! so we'd have 'em for the future!) and put them back in the drawers
tabbed by date. Now the system is easy to maintain, and our students have a
physical reminder both that the book has been checked out (as opposed to
just walked away with!) and of its due date.

I opened a new school library last year.  We did not put date cards in the
books.  The students know they have 3 weeks.  I run overdue notices about
once a month.  Our school hold final report cards until all fees, etc. are
taken care of.  At the beginning of this year, we had 7 overdues from last
year.  I do not let students check out books if they have an overdue.

Do you have student aids that help at all? We use a bookmark with the date
due printed on it. It has helped tremendously. You can print 8 bookmarks to
a sheet of paper. AT first we used a paper cutter to cut them but then we
found perforated bookmarks at Highsmith.

I'm in a K-8 school and have been automated for just two years. Before
automation, due date was stamped in every book.  Now I just remind students
that books are due two weeks from checkout.  I went through your "angst"
about it--and have discovered that my overdue list is just as it was in the
past.  I guess is shows that the due date in front of them is of no help to
some students!  At this school, at least, I'm very comfortable with verbal,
casual reminders of due dates.

Hi, rather than mess with cards I have students write in the due date which
I post nearby.  It works. I have used date stamps in the past and they are
messier, and students change the date.

I decided this year to make my own.  On an 81/2 x 11 sheet, you can place 4
or 5. I make a master with DATE DUE near the top and have some clip art on
the lower 2/3 area of the mark.  I run copies on colored paper.  Takes
little time to cut
these; students would love to help with that as well as stamping the due
date on them.  Before I leave each day, I change the date due and stamp a
stack of these so they are ready.  All you have to do when the student
checks out is tell them the date the book is due and put the bookmark/date
due slip in the book.  When the books are returned, it takes very little
time to pull the marks out (if they are not already gone).  I save them and
recycle them -- - I cut them for scrap paper for the online catalog area so
that the students have something on which to write call numbers.

This is my 22nd year working in the library and we have a brand new k-6
building. I just couldn't stand the idea of stamping books and having the
ink get all over our colorful countertop. I decided this year that our
elementary will no longer put the due date in the book. We are telling
students that their book is due on the next library visit or when they want
to get another book. It is a time saver for us and the kids have adjusted
well.We are limiting them to two books per visit right now to see how it
works. So far it is great.

I stopped stamping or supplying date due slips when we first converted to
electronic circulation and quit putting cards and pockets in the books--in
1984. Since I give the students two weeks circulation and see them on a
six-day cycle, I just remind them on one visit that they have books due the
next visit. Also if they haven't returned books it reduces the number of new
ones they can check out.

I'd always give them a date due in writing--and tell them as reminder.

I have one of those printers for the first time this year and I *love* it.
One of the problems with due date cards is after a while the student can't
tell which is the new date.  The printer was expensive though; about $500.

We put the sticky ones in the back of the books.  When full of dates we just
put another on top of the old one.  We got them from Highsmith.

One of the ways to check book usage - for weeding purposes - is to check the
date due stamps and see when the book was last checked out.  Just telling
the students eliminates this, which may be a valuable piece of information
in the future.  Could you enlist the help of one or two students from each
checkout group to help you with book stamps, etc?

For the past several years, I have been using date-due stamps on the front
of each book.  I bought a little hand-held stamp printer from Brodart (about
$80) and buy the rolls of labels from them also.  When the books come in, my
library aides (7th and 8th graders) take the stickers off before they shelve
them.  This has worked very well for me!

If you charge fines, and have not given the kids something by which to
remember a due date, I would think you may be opening yourself up to some
trouble.  Pre glued pockets and date due cards are really cheap, and
slapping in a pocket takes a few seconds per book.  We keep a box of date
due cards, prestamped for the day, right by the check out computer, and tell
the kids to take one when they check out.

I think it's helpful for them to have something written attached to the book
so they can check the due date and be responsible for them themselves.

Our check in-check out is computerized, but i stamp the book to make it
easier to keep track of how many times the book gets checked out.

Look in a Demco catalog for an Avery 210 date due sticker stamper. You
change the date, press the handle, a sticker comes out to attach to the
inside cover of the book, sort of like price stickers at the grocery store.
Love mine.

My 2 cents (after a LONG, tiring week) is that you are opening yourself up
for trouble.  There will always be some who vow and declare you never told
them (and could you swear to that, in court?).  Then, there will be the
parent who assumes the books isn't due yet, because of no date --and
challenge you?

The nifty little machine would be great, however, without funds here's some
economical ideas:
    Use plain notecards and prestamp with the correct date (Yeah, you have
do to this daily.)  OR
    Use only the date due slips (not pockets) and stamp them.  OR
    For paperbacks (shorter life) stamp the book directly (either inside
front cover, or first page (blank).  Could do this for hardbacks too, but
you might eventually run out of space.

In our school , we either stamp the book pocket with the date or insert a
little pre-printed scrap of paper that says "due Apr 24" or whatever the
current due date is.  These are already printed up.

We made our own date due slips.  My aide did it so I don't know what program
he used.  We made 1 sheet, copy it, cut the forms out and scotch tape them
in.  I often have kids stamps their own, when I'm busy.

We created a "Date Due Slip" that has the months listed at top, with numbers
from 1-31 listed vertically below. The date due is highlighted by
highlighting the correct month and the correct day.  It takes about 3
minutes to do a stack of them -- and we leave them on the counter at the
check out station. When a book is checked out, we just slip one of those in
the front cover of the top book.

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Kurt Nenstiel <nen4@BLAZENET.NET>
To: <LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2000 8:00 PM
Subject: Target: Date Due cards


> Hello All!
>
> In order to save myself some time (I am a new, all-by-myself middle school
> librarian), I have not given the students any "date-stamped" due date
cards.
> Instead I just tell the students the exact date that their material is due
> and remind them that the material is due in 2 library visits.  So far I
> haven't had any problems, but will learn more tomorrow when I run the
> end-of-month report.
>
> My questions:  Am I setting myself up for trouble?  To save myself some
time
> and money (at check-out and when processing new books--I do not have to
> insert the pocket) should I tell the student to take a piece of scrap
paper
> located at the check-out area to write down the due date?  Or I have been
> thinking about getting one of those nifty little printers (that one sees
at
> college libraries) that list the titles of the materials borrowed and
their
> due dates (if it is not too cost prohibitive).
>
> What do you think?  Is there an easier way?
>
> Susan Nenstiel
> Northeastern School District
> Manchester, PA
> nen4@blazenet.net
>
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