Librarians!!!!!!!!

[bookwormmum]

I took my DN and DD to the library today and when we were about to leave, it transpired that my DN had got an o/d book on her ticket from last year so her ticket was suspended. Fair enough but they claimed that they'd written to us (which I doubt) and it was our fault for not responding. We're talking about an 11-yr old girl here. Surely they should have let us take out her choices today and sort out this o/d book later? It's not as though I could produce the book from my armpit at that precise time. Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This does seem a bit mean. We returned a toy to our library which also lends out toys. We told the librarian we'd lost a piece and she said it was fine. Once we ruined a book and they only charged us about 20p. I'd appeal to a higher level!

I was told this when I returned Dd1's books last week. The lady at the desk said we still had another book out and that dd couldn't borrow anymore until it was returned.

When I got home I asked dd for the other book and she said she'd only had 4. Found the over due letter and sure enough only 4 books on there which is exactly what i'd taken back.

I rang the library and explained, gave them dd's ref number and she said that dd's account was clear, no outstanding books at all.

Was very confusing.

I have just moved back to los angeles from london and recently started going to the library here. What a pleasure!!!! Everything is so organized. To begin with they give you 3 library cards, two of which are little plastic slivers (size of bar code) that slide onto your key ring and third is traditional credit card size - you use what's convenient to your lifestyle. Then everything is on computer and accessible on the internet. AND the best part is that they send you an email 4 days before your books are due to remind you of the due date along with a list of all the books that are due!!! You can re-check out the books online and put holds on books online.

American libraries are way ahead of us still. And librarians are taken much more seriously too - its a real profession over there unlike here.

They do much more in terms of community stuff too - lots of kids activities etc. Am a librarian and wish we were took more of an American attitude to libraries etc.

Bookwormmum - your local lib does sound harsh. At mine they really do there best not to stop anyone borrowing and still let you borrow if you have an overdue which is completley right for kids I think. They also do not charge for overdue books for children as it may discourage pple brining them back and therefor borrowing again - right again. I would write a polite letter (if you can be bothered!!). Sounds like a very old fashioned library world attitude.

I'm going to go down my branch library (this happened in the main library) tomorrow where they know us quite well to sort it out. I can't go today as our branch libraries are closed on Wednesdays which was the point of going yesterday to tide the kids over with reading material for today!! I'm quite happy to pay for the book or any o/s fines but I still feel that the librarian could have let us have the other books in the meantime - surely children should be encouraged to read.

SofiaAmes, there are libraries like that over here too, the ones in my city are computerised and friendly. I think it depends on the authority. Moving to Yorkshire might be cheaper than moving to LA too

Agnes

Here they just update any outstanding books on the card to make them the same due date as any you want to take out. Very sympathetic and lovely.

A word of advice - if you are told you have an overdue book outstanding, always check the library shelves before you leave. It is almost as likely to be there (not discharged correctly) as under your bed at home.
How do I know this? I'm a librarian (but not a public library librarian - and the people who serve on the counters of public libraries are rarely qualified librarians anyway)

I know that they can be really snotty and make you feel bad but I still marvel at the fact that we have libraries - where you can get loads of books for free!

Someone close to me comes from a country where they don't have things like this and he is constantly marvelling at this system.

IIRC where you were living before you moved sofia, was a local authority notorious for long-term bad public library provision I tend to agree with Agnes, some PLAs are doing very good work in the UK, the sector is not all bad And we have Bookstart, a brilliant scheme.

Agree that they should have let your dd borrow while you sorted out her ticket, bookwormmum.

But you can blame your local council for poorly thought-out overdue and invoicing problems, not the ever-decreasing number of experienced professional librarians working in the public sector. These days most of them have been sacked and replaced with clerical staff on even lower wages.

Our PLA has no professional librarians at branch level anymore, although we are very lucky that the assistants there are great - friendly, approachable and quite happy to explain in disgusted detail about the council's Send in the Bailiffs approach

Ah, good old ClaimRet Lilymaid
We check the shelves for the users ourselves in these circumstances as

1. we accept that all systems are fallible
2. we don't trust them to look properly anyway

DimpledThighs, we should be very happy, but they are closing more and more down Our local branch library closed a few years ago. It has allegedly been integrated into a sporty building built near to where the old library building stands. In truth, it's nothing more than a room of books about sport now, there's very little else in there at all Makes getting tot he library with my daughter an absolute nightmare, as we now have to go to the central library in town, which is just not feasible on a regular basis. This is why I spend so much money on books, I don;t have to worry about getting them back on time

Agnes

At the library I used to work at, we would never stop people borrowing books - we were able to override the system and nearly always did! We saved that for the occasional take-the-piss high school student (library was attached to a high school) but rarely followed it through. We would also allow people to pay off large fines a bit at a time, and children were not charged for overdue books. We also would let children borrow more than 10 books if we knew they were likely to bring them all back!! The advantages of being in a small place I suppose.

Where I am moving to there is a big library - I can't wait to go (and neither can the kids!). I hope that I can pick up some relief work there and hopefully a job there longer term.

(this post is slightly behind the times - I started it at 8.30am and have just finished it now - sorry if the conversation has moved on!!)

Miaou, you are moving? Have not seen you about for ages. How are you keeping? Dish, dish

Fio, they vary according to how much the Council thinks they can get away with dunning the public for.
Your authority and the one local to where I work charge amongst the highest in the country, nice
We are jeered at by our students for our paltry fines, in the nicest possible way I hate bloody fines

Another librarian here (well, ex anyway)
It's possible that the person on the desk wasn't able to over-ride the block if the ticket had actually been suspended - it may have needed authorisation from higher up.

I'd agree with Lilymaid's advice to check the shelves(though remember they may have more than one copy - you'd need to check the barcode number is the same)

Our local library also has nice little barcodes to put on your key-ring - shame they are also cutting qualified librarian posts to the bone......

Marina - am going to Thurso - can't really get much further north!! Am salivating at the thought of the lovely library up there (well I have heard it is good, shall let you know if it lives up to expectations ). Moving on Friday (ie day after tomorrow!!) - so in theory will be in for 7 weeks before no. 4 makes an appearance!

I think that the children's fines in our borough are something like 10p a day but there is a maximum cap of about £10 or you just pay for the book, whichever is cheaper. I'm definitely going to start a library book shelf from now on - woe betide anyone who moves them.

Universities have a better system - they just withhold your exam/degree results until you stump up for library fines or other things owed to them .

In fairness public libraries don't have that sort of clout bookwormmum. We charge titchy fines because we can always get the material back eventually

Another librarian here - and one who's still got a job in a public library too!

We (in Oxon) don't charge for damage to children's books and we don't charge o/dues for under 5's at all, 5-15 they are charged a lower amount (to help them learn the penalties of the book being late back) and 16+ are treated as adults. However, you can owe £10 without anyone batting an eyelid and your account is only suspended when you owe over £30. This is fair to all I think as there needs to be a cut-off point to stop people taking the piss.

Always ask library staff to check if there's anything left on the card when you return things, and if you think something's been returned always look on the shelf! No-one's perfect and neither is any system, especially on a busy Saturday afternoon.

That said - libraries provided free books/storytimes/activities for kids/reading challenges over the summer holidays and we're heavily involved in Bookstart. (and we're BF friendly too)

Felt the need to defend libraries!!

Please don't let this put you off, I hope you can get to your branch library tomorrow and they can sort it out for you.