Thank you to everyone who replied and gave tips/ideas for decreasing the
number of overdue materials. Your responses have definitely given me a
starting point and will hopefully help others as well
Joy Doggett
Library Media Specialist
Vinita High School
Vinita, OK
doggetja@vinitahornets.com
========================================================
Ooohhh - I would really love to see a HIT after your get some responses.
As for this school, we charged 10 cents a day last year, and our computer
only calculated on school days, so they weren't charged for weekends or
holidays. Over the summer we had a change of librarians, and this year
(so far) we haven't had overdue fines. It is not working well at all.
With nothing to "hold over their heads" the books are just not coming back
on time. They do come back eventually, but it is a lot more work for me.
We most likely will go back to charging 10 cents a day after Christmas.
I run a list every Thursday and divide them into three groups: First
notice - I send a group email with all the recipients in the BCC space to
protect privacy. It says something like "if you are getting this email
you have an overdue item..." The second notice grou (for the same book)
also gets a group email. That email is a little sterner, and requests
they come see me, especially if they think the book is lost. If a student
does come see me, I try to find a picture of the book cover, to jog the
student's memory, and we double check the shelves together if the child
says the book was returned, so that we know it is not in the library (or,
rarely, it does turn up, and then I apologive profusely.)
The third group gets individual emails or a phone call at home, or an
email cc'd to the parent email. If nothing else, that third time (when
parents are involved) usually gets a result. On the third email I also
put something to the effect that "if this book is lost, it will be $xx to
replace it," just to let them know that a response of "I'm still looking"
is no longer going to fly.
This is labor intensive, but we do usually (eventually) get the books
either returned or paid for.
=====================================================================
How do you encourage students to recheck/return materials in a timely
manner?
I give small candy rewards to students to return books on the EXACT day
the book is due. This encourages returns as well as encourages students
to use their daily planner.
What is your procedure for notifying students of overdue materials, and
how do you maintain student confidentiality?
I notify students via their reading teacher every Wednesday. I know I
should worry about confidentiality, but I print out a list that includes
the title of the late books or I would be bombarded with "What book do I
have?" I send out individual letters to student once each marking period
(usually before a school dance.) My administration backs me with not
allowing students with financial obligations to the school to attend the
dances.
How often do you send out notices?
weekly and I post a list in the hallway outside the library door.
If you charge a monetary fine for overdue books, how much do you charge?
Is this a daily fine, weekly fine, etc?
I charge 10¢ per day for each day the book is late. My automation system
will allow me to set up a "grace" period. I give students 5 free days
before fines kick in.
If students pay the fine, but never return the book, does the fine amount
paid count towards the replacement cost of the book?
I don't accept money for fines without the book in hand. It gets to be
toooooo much paperwork to track who paid fines w/o the book and who had
the book.
Good luck with changing the behaviors of your patrons.
=====================================================================
I charge fines only for un-returned or lost books or "damaged beyond use"
books (full cost of book, no partial, and no processing cost). Sure, we
have overdue materials that some students are ridiculously late in
returning, but I don't want to get lost in the maze of taking students'
coins, etc during the school day...and worries about keeping it locked
up...and my aide is here just 1/2 day, so i cannot refer them to her with
any regularity.
my aide prints and sorts overdue notices every two weeks and every DAY at
end of year. this usually brings back a healthy amount, as well as
students who say "I returned this." I keep a long list (shared by an
LM_Net member) of "places to look for lost books" and give this out as
appropriate.
Fortunately, (encourage your administrators that doing this is
safeguarding the budget) the administration holds report cards or diplomas
for students who owe anything, including library materials. The seniors
return or pay the most quickly of all!
=====================================================================
You want all patrons to take returning the books they borrowed seriously
or your collection will continue to dwindle. We charge 5 cents a day for
most books. Reference books are 1 dollar for each late day. Perhaps you
should not circulate them until a good policy is established. Overdue
notices are sent out monthly to each student's homeroom teacher. If a
student owes a book or a fine, he/she should not be able to continue
taking out materials. Hopefully, teachers will cooperate with you. good
Luck, Be strong!!
=====================================================================
Oh, what a lovely situation, huh?
Every new librarian has this situation to a certain extent. Like you said,
you can't do anything about last year's problems.
Here's what I do on current overdues:
1. Overdue notices are sent out once a week. We have a "homeroom"
(seminar) period once a week. Those teachers get the notices and hand them
out to students.
2. Nothing else gets checked out if there is an overdue.
3. No laptop computers can be used in the library if there is an overdue.
(this is something that our students value at this school -- having access
to a laptop in the library.)
4. At the end of the trimester, notes, emails to parents, letters and
phone calls are made.
5. Graduating seniors cannot pick up their diplomas until they have
cleared their obligations.
=====================================================================
Hi, I am new this year also but here is what seems to be working for me.
We do not charge overdue fees. Students have 3 weeks to keep a book. I
send out overdue notices once a week but only to students with overdues
older than one month. The overdue says that the book is seriously overdue
and persumed lost. It lists the replacement cost of the book. So far most
have been returned. The price surprises them and they get it back because
they don't want to pay for it. I send the notices to the sixth hour
teacher. The student's name is at the top but what they have checked out
is under the note to the teacher so its not readily available. I guess as
far as I'm concerned if they have a seriously overdue item then they have
forfeited their confidentiality.
=====================================================================
The first thing I would do is get your principal behind you on this: have
a meeting and come
armed with statistics that X number of books were never returned which
equals to X number of dollars lost. Then I would get the teachers behind
you. With the principal's support (hopefully) and approval, I would then
work on the parents.
Do you have a newsletter? If so, state your policy. I understand that
you've had to clean the slate at this point. However, starting from this
moment on, I would hold the students responsible.
If a student has an overdue book and wants to borrow another, I wouldn't
allow it until the
overdue book is returned. I send out overdue notices once a month via the
homeroom teachers.
At one point I stapled each individual notice per student for
confidentiality, but I've gotten a bit lazy with that lately.
The late fine is 5 cents a day, not including weekends/holidays/days the
library has to close (I fly solo), with a cap of $2. The students
appreciate this and tend to pay up. If the student lost the book, I charge
$5 for a paperback, $10 for a hardcover or video OR I allow the student to
replace the book with an acceptable replacement (they also like this and
are willing to do this). Of course, you have to make sure that your
principal allows you to charge a fine. Students only pay a late fine when
they return the late book. If they lost the book, then they have to
pay/settle it as noted-above.
With the principal's approval, I mail letters home twice a year if I can,
but definitely at the beginning of June (school ends at the end of June
for us) telling them that their children have overdues and that they won't
get their report cards/transcripts (which legally we can't withhold, but
the principal allows me to threaten that). I also coordinate with the
office to tag a student's records that he/she has an overdue book.
None of this works 100% of the time, but it does help to set the tone that
it is unacceptable to not return books/settle library accounts.
=====================================================================
I would offer a well advertised "Grace Period" for students to turn in
anyoverdue book and not have to pay a fine. After the "Grace Period" all
fines apply. Of course check with your administrators to make sure this
is OK with them, but you might have a better chance of getting some of
your materials in that way. Afterward, make return of materials and
payment of fines a requirement for future checkouts. No return---no
checkout of new materials. No fines paid.....no checkout of new
materials. Stick to it. You may have to send out a parent letter
explaining the new requirements and the "Grace Day".
=====================================================================
We charge 5 cents per day per book. It accumulates until the price of the
book is met. If someone keeps the book out that long, they've probably
lost it anyway. We send out over due notices daily...once you get a
handle on it, the number of people lessens. We actually send out a
request to the teachers that says, "Please send this student *NAME* to the
media center toward the end of the class period if time permits. Thanks,
We send that out as a pre-overdue to remind students they need to return
or renew their books.
=====================================================================
How do you encourage students to recheck/return materials in a timely manner?
We use date due cards and physically point out the date due stamped on the
card as well as verbally tell the student when the material is due
(sometimes we include helpful hints like - the day the graduation tests
begin - the day you return from Thanksgiving break, the Tuesday before
Christmas break, etc.)
Reference books are due before 1st block the next morning - we often tell
the students that another class will be coming in the next morning to use
those same materials and will need that book - if you don't return it for
the next class to use, your fellow classmates will be upset with you – the
tiger will come and shred you from limb to limb (our mascot is the tigers
and we have a large papier-mâché tiger on top of one of our bookcases.
What is your procedure for notifying students of overdue materials, and
how do you maintain student confidentiality?
We have scheduled homeroom sessions about every 2 weeks and we print
individual notices using Spectrum and sort them by home room and have the
homeroom teacher hand them out to the appropriate student. Teachers are
aware of confidentiality and have been instructed to hand the overdue
notice only to the appropriate student and not to mention the specific
item or amount due. We have even sent an email to a student's teacher to
ask the teacher to remind the student that he/she has an overdue book and
the Library needs the book (for instance, if a student checked out a
Literary criticism book while in the Library with his English teacher but
did not return it the next day, we will ask the English teacher to remind
the student to return the book). Also, when a student checks out a
computer (we have computer cards for each computer in the Library so we
can keep up which computers are in use, which are available, and which
student was on which computer at what time) and we notice a "fine," we
will remind the student and ask him if he wants to take care of the fine
now. We also remind them of overdue materials.
How often do you send out notices?
We are on a 9 week 4X4 block system and are required to notify students at
least once each nine weeks - we notify them as often as feasibly possible.
We are also required to notify faculty and staff of overdues at least
once each nine weeks.
If you charge a monetary fine for overdue books, how much do you charge?
Is this a daily fine, weekly fine, etc? If students pay the fine, but
never return the book, does the fine amount paid count towards the
replacement cost of the book?
We charge a fine for overdue books. We do not charge for weekends or
holidays, only for school days. Non-fiction and periodicals are 5 cents
per day and Reference is 25 cents per day. We cap the fine amount at the
cost of the item. Overdue fines cannot be paid until the item is checked
in - you can't calculate the late fine for an item that is still in
circulation.
No student may check out another book or magazine if he has an overdue
item or fine.
=====================================================================
Joy, in my library we do charge overdue fines of $.10 per day per item.
We do, however, give them a 3-day grace period before the fines start
accruing. I’m not sure the imposition of fines makes any difference in
the timeliness of returns, however. The fines just don’t seem that much
of an inconvenience to our students. We make them pay something on their
fine (if not the whole amount) before they can check anything else out and
that seems to have some effect on getting them to fork over the money.
We used to run overdue notices only once a month because it was so time
consuming to do so, but this year we are emailing overdue notices (a
feature in our Alexandria library automation software) and we do so every
two weeks. I’ve had to promote the fact that we’re doing it that way, so
that students will get in the habit of checking their school email account
frequently. So far, that seems to be working well, especially for us...a
lot less time consuming.
Our school makes our students check out at the end of the year in order to
receive their yearbook, and one of the areas they have to get signed off
on is the library. That is when we get the majority of our fine payments.
It’s also surprising each year how many books that were “missing” or
“says returned” also show up at that time.
I hope this is of some help to you. It sounds like you have your work cut
out for you, but it will all work out fine in the end.
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