I'm so glad to read this!~ My overdues are a page and a half long in a
school of 400.......no fines here either; but on a lighter note,
sometimes books come back years after being checked out--they were
probably hidden in the dorms. We are a boarding school.
Thanks for the validation that I'm not the oNLY one with this problem
Have a good week!
****************************************
I do a NOB award each month. (NO Overdue Books).I received at a school
party a white elephant gift that was a weird looking monster like rubber
looked thing that may have been a tissue box or whatever.Each month the
"first" class with no overdues gets to keep the "weird award" in their
window along with a container of goodies (big jars of pretzels,
cookies,popcorn or whatever Costo has on sale). I take the class picture
with the award and put it in our school Friday bulletin that goes home
and put the picture in the LRC also. It has become an award to win from
the
teachers' standpoint also so it does work to a certain extent. I also
have a dish at the check out counter that has candies or whatevers with
a sign..."no overdues... have a treat" That also works...but, we of
course still have some overdues.
**************************
One consequence that we've being toying with here is to lock the
student's computer account if the book is more than a month overdue.
They can still use print resources for assignments and we have Alpha
Smarts for word processing when the students are on computer
restriction. This is just my personal feeling but while giving the pizza
parties would be fun for the kids they are then rewarded for what they
should be doing anyway. The consequence does need to be something that
they care about though. Good luck!
**************************
Do the parents know that their report cards are not being sent home?
We have two overdue notices sent to the student via homeroom over a two
week period. The third notice is a letter that goes home to the parents
explaining the situation and that it can be resolved by payment or by
returning the book. They are also notified that report cards will be
held until adjustments are made...
This seems to work for us.
******************
I have the exact same circumstance, and I just bought some Jolly Rancher
candies over the weekend to try as an incentive. I know you had
overruled that option, but I'll let you know if it works.
************
We charge 5 cents an item per school day as a fine for overdues, don't
allow
children to check out other material until overdue books are returned,
and
for frequent offenders, we cut their privileges back a few grades (i.e.
the
5th grader who would normally be allowed to check out 3 books for 2 wks
and
2 magazine for 1 wk each week can now only check out 1 book and 1
magazine
for 1 wk each wk.) Continued offenders may not take their checked out
books
home and may even end up unable to check out at all. (This is rare.)
*************************
The best thing that I have found requires teacher cooperation. The
students with over dues or library fines home room teacher does not
allow them to travel during our study seminar time. Teachers that
enforce this policy have very few students with overdue books. Their
kids come in and take care of the problem pronto. Teachers who don't
enforce it always have a bunch.
*****************I save the free posters I get from my Scholastic Book
Fair and have drawings
for them. The only people who are entered in the drawing are the
students
with no fines or over dues.
********************* I am also concerned about overdues...this is
what we have found works for us.
When I send out the 3rd "overdue" notice, I also put the price of
the book. Although we do not actually charge the students account for
the book until the end of the school year, just seeing the $26 price or
whatever encourages many of them to come dashing in with the book in
hand and saying "Why do I have a $26 charge?" I explain that they have
not been charged yet and will not be until the end of the year and
everyone quits hyperventalating, but at least for many of our kids
seeing the real charges inspires a trip to the library.
I know this doesn't work for all kids who just have mom and dad
pay the bills and they don't have any problem--but for others it can
help.
**************************
I volunteer at our Middle School and weekly run the overdue listings and
cut them apart and disburse them to the homerooms. We do not charge
fines, only replacement costs for the materials "lost" - not returned.
The kids have a 3 week checkout period on most materials...I give them
3-4 weeks after the original date due before calling home and telling
their folks that we will be sending a bill shortly (since the book is
overdue by almost a month at this point) and ask them to help us help
the child get the book in so replacement costs don't have to be made. I
wait another week and then I send the bill - by this time the book has
been out about 7-8 or more weeks! As I make my weekly calls, if I notice
that another book has been billed or is about to be billed to this same
child, I re-mention this fact to the parent ("by the way, the book I
called about 2 weeks ago still isn't back and we'll be sending the bill
for it today"). I've actually had to send 2nd notices on bills!
Before sending the bill I double check the shelves to be sure the book
hasn't miraculously made it back in...and the librarian will at this
point contact the child directly (walk him/her to the locker and look
for it). Then if it still doesn't come back, we give the information to
the front office to handle...haven't had to do that yet...but at the end
of the year there are usually a few malingerers. We have many fun
activities at the end of the school year and the kids are not allowed to
partake of these unless their record is clear with us as well as with
other areas of the school (textbooks in, fees paid, etc). It is a pain
to have to handhold at this stage of their lives, but as with most
things...children need to be taught how to do things...some just need
more time than others;-)
****************
some suggestions:
send out colorful reminder notices once a week giving students one more
week to renew or bring the material in without being charged.
send out overdues consistantly - every two weeks, etc. and then charge
fines of $1.00 per month .
use the personal touch whenever possible to track down overdues. the
"friendly library" reaching out to them...
our office holds report cards at semester time and sends a parent
letter.
***************************
In one high school where I worked, my principal got behind me and this
is what he suggested we do, and it worked!
I gave him a list of students with overdue books the day of a dance
around semester. Anyone with their name on the list wasn't allowed to
enter. Also, my principal continually got on the intercom and talked
with students about personal responsibility and how the current number
of overdue books was completely unacceptable. This actually worked!
It was in a suburban HS with more than 1700 kids.
I use this every year and it does get me back most....books. I have a
"contest " between ALL classes and tell them (In May) that whichever
class brings back 100% (including their teacher: they sometimes are the
worst) they will get a Popcorn Party (They never can eat candy, gum etc.
in the library or lab) AND A FREE DAY IN THE LAB. (which means they can
do whatever they want to in the lab: programs, etc. IF THEY win!)
I do get many back but the classes really tend to like the Popcorn Party
and it is not EXPENSIVE! (I have 7 tables of 4 students each: and we pop
one microwave bag per table...NOW to make it FAIR....I read a book about
Popcorn dePaola has a good one: and everytime I SAY the word Popcorn
they may take a kernal: Some pages say it 4-5 times. They can't take it
IF you say POP and then corn...It has to be the word Popcorn. Of
course I say it louder....then we read an easy book of popcorn to finish
it off and when I say the word they have to take 4 kernals, etc. each)
Some have napkins cuz they can't eat it that fast but they love it. They
also love having the free day in the lab.
****************************************
You'd be surprised - candy can work! I'm fighting the
same fight too, and we have fines as well. just don't
get yourself into something that will be more onerous
than the missing books. :)
****************************
I try the positive approach and reward the classes that have no overdues
during the last month of school. Since I'm in an elementary situation I
can use the sticker chart approach so that the kids get credit for
bringing them back on time. I also hold "reward parties" when everyone
has consistently done this for a month. I've also used peer
pressure...the kids can call each other and remind the child with the
overdue book to bring it back. It's often their peer who wants the book
back, and they know their friend has it, so it's not like I'm breaking
any kind of confidentiality rules here. I don't have a lot of
duplicates and the kids know each other well, so that seems to be
effective for returns.
I also am not afraid to go to the classroom teacher or homeroom teacher
and ask for some assistance there. In turn, I get them something that
they would like or pay the act with kindness...like supervise their
children so they can have a peaceful lunch period or if nothing else,
pay them in chocolate, fruit, etc. to show them that I appreciate it
all and it benefits them because I have the books they need when they
need them all because they helped me chase the book down. Sometimes the
home room teacher is aware of a situation which I am not, or they have
an upcoming conference with a child's parent, etc. or perhaps the child
needs a letter of recommendation and I make sure the person writing it
is aware that they are withholding library materials. I don't have many
books that get lost or aren't returned this way. The other suggestion
that I have is that when I converted my catalog I got permission from my
principal to make sure that the cost of the items for replacement value
went up enough to ensure that it covered the mylar, the labels, and the
time it took to replace the item. In this way, it's not just a 3.99
paperback. It's going to be $6.00 so that I can afford to replace the
items that I do lose. Kids take it more seriously when it's more than
just a couple of bucks.
Tish Carpinelli, Media Specialist
Lower Cape May Regional H.S.
Cape May, NJ
carpinelli@lcmr.capemayschools.com
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