Re: [LM_NET] overdue/lost books

[Lisa Hunt <lisa3moon@YAHOO.COM>]

I LOVE this idea!  I plan to implement it ASAP.  Thank you LM_NET and Martin Swist!

Martin Swist <mswist@ASIJ.AC.JP> wrote:  We charge a fine in our middle school 
library. 

A few years ago I read in one of our library journals about a school librarian's 
plan that allows students to "read off" their fines. I have adapted and adopted the 
program and it is widely taken advantage of. I love this program and the good will 
it brings. Kids and parents appreciate it. Our fine is 50 yen per day. We wipe off 
100 yen for every 10 minutes a student reads for pleasure. Students cannot do 
homework. Pleasure reading, only. We usually have a student reading off a fine, or 
part of a fine, every lunch period. I insist on a 10 minute minimum. My partner and 
I keep track of:

who is in to read,
grade [no reason, just interested statistically]
the amount of her/his fine,
what time s/he starts reading, 
what time s/he finishes reading, and
bal. due. 
Finally, my assistant will sign off the fine when it has been fully resolved, and 
the change has been documented in our system. 

I also have a photo on display at our circulation desk of me paying off my fine at 
the Fairfield (Conn.) Public Library last summer. Some of the kids get a kick out 
of this.

Best regards,

Martin Swist
mswist@asij.ac.jp
Middle School LMS
Middle School XC Coach
The American School In Japan
1-1-1 Nomizu, Chofu-shi, Tokyo
"The heart is a little to the left." (Rev.) William Sloane Coffin

________________________________

From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of Marsha Redd
Sent: Thu 12/13/2007 3:49 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: [LM_NET] overdue/lost books



I do charge fines of 5 cents per day for overdue books. However, I forgive fines 
that are 50 cents or less. That gives students 2 extra weeks to get the book in. If 
a book is still overdue after 3 weeks, the student gets a notice stating that the 
book needs to be returned within one week or the student's computer access will be 
disabled. The computer access part is new this year per my district library 
administrator's directive. I have to say that this is working quite well especially 
since students with disabled computer access must go to in-school suspension for 
the hour if their class goes to a computer lab. That said, I am pretty 
accommodating when students come and talk to me about an overdue issue. If they say 
they turned it in or they never remember checking it out, I usually take their word 
for it. And I wheel and deal with the fines. I round the amount down. Sometimes I 
let them work it off in the library. I don't let kids take out books if they have 
one overdue.
 Sorry, but I think it is a responsibility issue as well as the fact that the 
student who already has books overdue is often a bad risk. I don't want to send the 
message to the students that the due date is meaningless.


Marsha Redd
Librarian, Kelloggsville High School
Grand Rapids, MI
marsharedd@hotmail.com
Education is not a goal; it is a life-long process. Everyone is a student. Everyone 
is a teacher.
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        Lisa Hunt, NBCT 2005
  School Library Media Specialist
  Apple Creek Elementary
  Moore, OK
  lisa3moon@yahoo.com 





       
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