HIT --> lost books - charge full price?
I thought I would summarize for those of you who do not wish to read the entire Hit.
26 people said they bill students the amount it costs to replace the book, 18 people
said they charge the price they paid for the book and 5 people said they charge a
flat rate for lost books. In addition 14 people also tack on a processing fee
between
$1 and $5. A few people also mentioned that they charge what they paid for lost
books that are out of print. There were several people who felt charging a flat
rate
would be more of an issue than charging the original price of the book since the
flat
rate could actually be more money. I am going to present this information to my
administrators and suggest that I continue charging students the original price that
we paid for the book. I think it will be the easiest solution since I should be
able to
print out the prices with the overdues when we get Mandarin 3M. I will also suggest
adding this policy to the student handbook. Thank you again to all the people to
responded.
Jessica Tatton, MLS
Library Media Specialist
Berkshire Junior Senior High School
Canaan, NY 12029
TLIB1@berkshireufsd.k12.ny.us
Original Target:
Do you charge patrons the price you paid for a book or do you lower the price
because it's "used"? Currently we charge the price that we paid. My administration
thinks this might be a problem legally. I told them we charge full price because we
have to replace that book at full price. They suggested we charge two prices $8 for
paperbacks and $25 for hardcovers. This is to avoid the legal issue but time is also
a concern so this would be faster than looking up prices for each book. Currently
when I print an overdue list the prices are not on the list. We are getting Mandarin
3M in a few weeks though. Does anyone know if you can get prices to print out on
the overdue list with that automation system? We have a fluid population and many
books are never returned so overdues and billing students takes quite a bit of time.
-
Our state regs state that parents will pay a replacement cost for materials lost or
damaged. I have students pay for the book at a replacement cost. Books that are
OP and can't be replaced are paid for at the purchase price plus (if it is old, and
ridiculously low priced by today's prices.)
-
In Washington state, we are required by law to charge "replacement cost." Since
that would be nearly impossible to figure out for library books, I add $5 to the
price
in the computer to cover inflation and processing supplies (covers, labels, etc.)
-
We charge the price we paid when the book was purchased.
-
At this time, the last few years, it has become acceptable practice to charge not
only
what you aid for the book, but the replacement price. This has happened because
now insurance policies are written for replacement price. You will not get into
legal
problems if you provide for it in your policy manual. Also, what kind of legal
trouble
would someone initiate for the price of a lost book....The idea of a flat fee may
raise
more eyebrows than replacement price.....at least with me as a parent it
would....and heavens knows I have paid for enough lost books:)
-
We charge full price because that's what we'll need to replace the book. Our
automation system prints prices so yours probably will too.
-
We charge whatever we had to pay for the book when we bought it originally plus a
$5.00 fee for the time involved in ordering and processing a replacement.
Sometimes we have to pay much more to replace a book which we have owned a
long time. But, we have already received much use of that book, as well. I think it
evens out.
-
We charge the price paid plus a processing fee of $1.75. We'd like to charge a
replacement fee but that would be too time consuming. It seems like careless
borrower should have to pay to replace the book.
-
We charge the full price that it would take to replace it unless it is an old, old
book
that is out of print. It costs more than the replacement price when you have to
use a
new bar code, protector and the time it takes to reprocess. So...they are getting a
bargain with just paying the replacement cost.
-
I charge replacement costs which include purchase price of replacement copy, tax,
shipping and my cost to get it shelf ready, typically $1.00 per item. I have done
so in
two different districts and four schools with no repercussions.
-
I charge $10 for a lost paperback and $20 for a lost hardback regardless of
purchase or replacement cost.
-
This is just a point to ponder...
In regard to book replacement costs. One of the legal issues you could be faced
with, if someone decided to press it, is depreciation of value. If the lost book
was in
poor condition when it was checked out, is it right to charge the student with
buying
a brand new copy when you could easily purchase a good used copy from any
number of vendors, which would still be in better condition than the item that was
lost? You could also give the student the option of replacing the book him or
herself.
Some will do this on their own.
-
I charge replacement fee plus a processing fee of 5.00, which is all role together.
-
We charge the full retail price plus a $5 fee. Not only does the price of each book
keep rising (publishing, paper, shipping etc.), but think of the extra time and
effort
(salaries)that goes into replacing a book. We only charge the student's account at
the end of the year, so they usually "find" the book when the accounts arrive. Our
school handbook describes the library's policy for lost books. The Athena system
allows us to print the overdue with the price of the book and the prices can be
updated.
-
We give the students a choice, either they pay for the book's replacement (we use
Amazon for most pricing) or they can buy the book themselves and give it to the
library. In recent years, we have made sure the price we paid and vendor is put into
our catalog system. This makes it easier to tell the student that it was $XX. For
some reason, if the price is high, the "lost" book seem to find it's way back to us.
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I used the price we paid, because it takes us the time to order, catalog it and
process it...also the cost of the cover, spine label, barcode should be figured in.
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I charge full price for lost books, plus a $1.00 processing fee. My books are
processed either by the book company or myself, have labels on them, AR labels,
and bar codes, as well as label tape over them. All of this comes to over the
$1.00,
as well as my time in reordering is worth something! Usually, a book that was
purchased 10 years ago was purchased at a lower price than what I have to pay for
the replacement. I am a bit amazed that you are paying $8.00 for a paperback book
and $25.00 for hardcovers! You will make money at that price, so if your
administration is willing, go for it!!
-
We have a set price of $20.00 per lost book. I have adjusted it, however, to read
that if they wish, they can replace the book or pay us the $20.00. Most of our
parents send in the twenty for a hardcover and replace the paperbacks.
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It is in our collection development policy the amount to charge for lost books.
1st yr- replacement
2nd yr- 80%
3rd yr- 60%
4th yr 40%
There is a minimum charge of $5 for hardback, $3 paperback and $2 magazine.
Also considered in the charge is the original purchase date and if the materials
will
be updated.
This is for an elementary school of 550 students.
-
Just a thought- recently I provided an ILL to another school. One of the library
folks
thought it was an interesting book (and definitely used) so she decided to try to
acquire it. The least expensive used volume she found was $99 and prices ranged
up to $400.
We go with replacement cost because that is the only price we can pay when we
replace it.
-
Keep in mind that you also have processing fees and time spent preparing the
"new" book for circulation so even if a patron does pay the "full" price of the book
he/she is not paying the full costs.
I fail to see how a standard price will assist on the legality issue since some
books
do cost less than $8 or $25 -- and then when the parent finds the book and returns
it
they are angry that you overcharged them. At least they can't really complain if
you
say it is the replacement costs that you have to incur.
Now with that said - -I did institute a flat fee (elementary) $8.00 paperback and
$20.00 for nonfiction/picture books and $15.00 for fiction. That seemed to hit the
mark and frankly when parents did catch that the book they found was cheaper. I
said, "the additional amount covers time in ordering, processing, putting on a mylar
cover, spine label, and reentering the book into the computer." And since it is
sometimes more than the list price those who do find the book
are more inclined to return the book for the cash back (only allow refunds within
the
first 12 months) -- and that was good since many books are out-of-print and actually
irreplaceable by the time the book has been lost.
-
I use replacement cost since that's what I will have to do if the book is not
found. If
it is OP and I can't find a price, then I call it 7.00 for paperback and 20.00 for
hardback unless I know it was a heavily illustrated/photographed piece. Even
though I can get most stuff at a discount, by charging the full retail price it
covers
the processing and cataloging costs, etc....
On the flip side, I do let kids "trade in" books to cover all/part of the fines.
My three
rules for the are 1) it has to be in great shape 2) it has to be something someone
else will read and 3) it can't get me fired.
-
Yes, in Hartford, CT we charge the original price we paid for the book even if it is
several years old and out of print. We are going to have to replace it as you
mention
at new price. We also require that students in our fluid school populations get
library
clearance before they get their transfer papers. It is amazing how many books are
suddenly found when parents are presented with the library bill. It is not perfect,
but
it cuts down a lot of loss.
-
We charge all of our students the full price of the book. I am not aware of any
legal
issues that exist with that. I am curious about some things:
1. Does your policy state how much kids will pay for lost books?
2. What does your administration do about lost textbooks?
3. I realize (believe me!!) that looking up the price of each book is time
consuming.
I know that we use Athena and it will print that out for you. What happens if the $8
you charge for the "used" paperback exceeds the original price? I WOULD be
worried about legalities of that! :) Wouldn't that be like a college giving us more
for
our "used" books than we paid for them?
I'd love to see how you resolve this. This may be something I need to add to library
policy...Thanks for asking your question!
-
Washington state allows us to charge "replacement cost." This could include
processing as well as the current cost. Sometimes I charge less when my
judgement tells me to do so.
I'd suggest you check to see what your state laws have to say. If your district
doesn't have an adopted policy, they should.
-
We pay the price we paid plus $2.00 for processing, s&h etc. Our system is Follett
and it will print out the price if you want it to. However, to replace the book will
probably even cost more than the original cost, if it is still print. I don't' see
how this
is a legal problem as it would seem to me you could charge whatever you want.
You're not reselling...they are paying for loosing property.
-
I charge purchase price of the book, so if the book is old the price can really be
inexpensive. Often the replacement price of the book (if you can replace it) will
be
more than the patron pays. Even with a new book, you have to consider the cost of
your time and materials to process it.
I have had Mandarin automation system for three years now. There are tons of
overdue forms, but not all of them include the price. The ones that do will only
print
the price if you have it listed in the holding record of the book in the 852 field,
subfield 9, listed as p10.00usd(for example).
This is a big problem for me because the retrospective conversion did not put the
price in most cataloging records, so I have to check each title for which I wish to
send a letter and insert the price so it will print out. This is the main reason I
keep
my shelflist, which I consult for just this
reason. I am assuming you have another automation system now, so if your records
are in good shape you should be okay.
When we started with Mandarin we had a full day training on the system with
someone from Mandarin. If your district paid for this, it will be a good
opportunity to
ask these types of questions.
-
I charge full cost because the book has to be replaced regardless of the condition.
As for the automation system - I can't help. I have Library Pro and it has a place
where I can find the cost if it is entered on the record but it doesn't print
automatically on overdue slips. I have a different note I can print for that.
-
Right now at the school I work I have not implemented any charges.
When I worked at community colleges, we charged the price it would cost to replace
a book. We arrived at the price by 1) finding the price per Books in Print, then 2)
added $10.00 to cover cataloging and other processing costs.
-
I actually charge the price that we paid for it. On the other, hand if it a
paperback I
add $1 because of the cost of laminate. If a book is so old that the price wasn't
put
in the catalog I charge
$6.00 for paperback => 5 years-old
$18.00 hardcover => 5 years-old
Books < 5 years-old have book prices on them.
I don't give breaks in the cost of a book; however, I do give three choices to the
way
students can pay for their lost book.
1. Pay for it.
2. Bring in used books that will be of equal or greater value of the lost one, is
appropriate for our collection and approved by me - I give a maximum
of half the cover price for this option.
3. Work it off. $1 = 1 class period of work.
I have Spectrum so I no input on Mandarin.
-
We always charge replacement cost (what we bought it for), but point out to parents
that the cost is actually higher when you take into consideration the time and cost
of
processing the book for loan - cataloguing, call number stickers, barcodes, plastic
covering, security strips, tape to strengthen the binding and the Officer's time to
do
all this. Adds about $2.00 to the cost of the book. Of course this doesn't take into
account price rises in books either.
Usually when this is explained, there is no argument.
-
We charge the RETAIL price, plus a $2 processing fee. A few years ago, we had a
small population that figured they could get the books cheaper by pretending they
were lost if we charged the discounted price....cagey, aren't they?! When you figure
shipping and processing costs, time involved in billing, etc., they are still
getting a
bargain. We put the prices in on books as we access, but when we switched from
Mandarin to Alexandria, we lost second copy prices (you know, when you add a
second copy and it is a pb for 4.50 instead of 16.95....so we also substitute common
sense).
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I charge the full replacement cost for any lost items.
When a book or video etc. is lost I attach a print-out from TITLEWAVE or whichever
vendor has the replacement item. I send a bill with the amount to be paid and to
what vendor the check should be payable.
When I get the check I just send it in with the order.
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I use Mandarin M3 in my library. While I have not looked into a way of doing this, I
do think that there is a way. You can speak to tech support about it. (You must have
tech support, they're excellent.) Anyway, You can probably add the field into the
report, but I'm not sure which field it is. Not much help, I know, but speak to tech
support, they'll walk you through it.
I am a high school library. I charge replacement cost plus usually an extra $1.00.
By
the time you re-buy the book and reprocess etc how much is your time worth.
Whether the book is used or not it doesn't matter--you can't buy the replacement for
half the price.
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I charge the REPLACEMENT price for a lost book. After all, the book was on the
shelf when the student who lost it came to take it out. His failure to return the
book/materials or his irresponsibility when he lost the book/materials , should not
deny a fellow student the right to use that book/materials which was purchased with
paid tax payer monies. I see it as a "fair and equal access" issue. My principal
supports this.
This policy is stated in our high school student handbook.
-
We charge the price we paid since, in all honesty, to replace the book we're
probably going to have to pay more. We've never had any trouble doing so.
-
We charge the price it takes to replace the book which might even be more than
what we originally paid for it. If the book can't be replaced we charge what we
paid
for it.
-
We charge full price --- plus when I am cataloging I add a dollar for processing
fees
to the cost of every book - so that is factored in as well.
-
We also charge full price...in fact, if you have any doubt as to pricing, go to
www.amazon.com and see what the replacement cost would be...I'll bet your
principal would be surprised. $25 is on the low end now...what about some of your
art books, photography books...it's nothing to spend $60-$100 dollars for one of
those...likewise reference books...and what if they lose part of a set? Sometimes
you can't replace just one volume, you have to buy the whole set all over again.
Like you say, there's shipping, processing, updating your cataloging record, the
circulation record, etc. Plus the nuisance factor of a needed-title being
gone...they
always lose the popular ones. I don't know of any legal issue he could be concerned
about...you can show what the current replacement cost is and explain the
bookkeeping details and how that eats into your time. And what if the book is
out-of-
print? We have several valuable and much-loved titles that aren't available
anymore except as used books.
-
When I catalog the book, I round the price to the next dollar and that is what I
charge if the book is lost.
I can't see that charging a uniform "lost book" fee would be as legally sound than
what you are doing. It's an arbitrary figure while the way you're doing it can be
supported by invoices and "processing fees."
-
We charge "replacement" cost for books. If a book was purchased 5 years ago for
$10, it might cost $11.50 now to replace it. We charge the $11.50 by looking up the
cost in catalogs. If it is out of print, we charge what we originally paid.
However, you
might come out ahead by charging the flat fees of $8 and $25!
-
I charge whatever I paid for the book, but I would like to charge replacement cost,
plus a processing fee. Doubt this would go over well, though!
-
I charge the publisher's list price if I know it. I'm currently processing in
nearly 200
books from Follett. The data disk from them gives our discounted price, so I am
editing each record to reflect the list price. Like you, my assumption is that we
will
have to replace the book at a higher price than we paid for it.
-
We also use the list price and add processing of $2.00. We rarely are able to
replace a book for the price we bought it.
-
We use Follett's automation system. It will print the price of books on overdue
notices or on lost book notices. We charge the price of the book plus $1.00 for
lost
books. If a book does not have a purchase price in our computer we use the
replacement cost from one of the book companies we use. We would not be able to
replace lost volumes if we discounted the price of the book. The extra dollar we
charge is to defray the cost of barcodes, date due slips and other processing that
we
must do to a book to get it shelf ready. I hope this helps you.
-
I charge a flat rate; 15.00 for hardback and 5.00 for paperback. We will be raising
the price to 20.00 next year. Some of our libraries charge price paid. their
argument is that covers shipping, handling and processing. Something that does
need to be considered. All charges have to meet the approval of our library
supervisor. Generally, Arlington looks into potential legal problems, so I would
assume we are legally OK.
-
I was told by the administration that we need to charge replacement cost.
So that's what I do. And I round it up. $8.34 becomes $9.00. That helps off set
MARC records, labeling, etc.
-
I charge replacement value on hardbound, $5 for paperbacks.
-
We charge the replacement price, including cataloging/processing.
-
We charge "replacement cost" when a book is lost. That is defined as original cost
of the book + $5.00 to cover inflation, shipping, tax, etc. As you can imagine that
does not really cover the replacement cost of the book, but it comes closer than
just
original price. The original price in
included in the record of the book (we use Follett) so we don't have to look up
prices. It doesn't really matter what shape the book was in when it was checked
out.
If it is lost, you will have to replace it with a new one & that's what the students
should pay.
It is much easier, I agree to have a set price, but how do you account for the
larger
sized paperbacks that can easily be $12-$14 or the reference book that could be
$50 or more? It seems to me basing the fine on the cost of the individual book is
more equitable.
Just my 2 cents. Good luck. I know these decisions can be difficult, especially if
administration has different ideas.
-
Jessica Tatton, MLS
Library Media Specialist
Berkshire Junior Senior High School
Canaan, NY 12029
TLIB1@berkshireufsd.k12.ny.us
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