I wasn't going to chime in on this one, but I can't hold my tongue any longer.
I believe that we should hold library patrons (students or parents or
whomever checked out the materials) responsible for library materials
whether they are books or something else. My district has a policy that we
are not to fine or charge for replacement books unless we contact the
building principal, central office, etc. I don't agree with our system.
Many library patrons here are never really held accountable for misplacing
or damaging a book and that's not right.
However, I don't think that a student should be punished for the rest of
his or her school career for having an overdue book. There comes a point
when you have to cut your loses and start over with a clean slate. If the
patron is in a print-poor household and a book ends up there, at least now
they have a book. Many times the lives our patrons live are so far from
what we experience that we can't understand how they couldn't value a book
or want to replace it. We have to look at each situation and work with the
patron so that we are both satisfied. Part of the risk of having a library
is that you will not always have the same books at the end of the school
year that you did at the beginning. We all mourn that loss of materials,
especially in times of shrinking budgets, but we need to move on. In the
end it wasn't "our" book anyway. The resources of the library belong to the
patrons.
Sarah C. Latcham
Elementary Teacher-Librarian
latchams@se-polk.k12.ia.us
Monroe, Iowa
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