Santa's Reindeer Games

Santa's Reindeer Games | Samantha Berger

😇I might have been a little bad. I have used the first part of my reference desk shift to request books for the #WinterGames.

I opened my Litsy TBR, scrolled to the bottom (It's a long list, over 2k) and started requesting almost all GN and pictures on my list up to a point. I don't know what that point was, but it wasn't half way up the scroll bar, so we shall see.

My circ/ILL department is going to kill me. 😁

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SamAnne Oh boy. You are really stepping up the game! 😁 😄 4y

LibrarianRyan @SamAnne It's not like I don't have enough books at home, but this will also help me finish off some reading challenges. 4y

ljuliel Do you have the number of books you requested ? 4y

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LibrarianRyan @ljuliel I just counted 55 from our local CARLI catalogs (consortia of academic and reference libraries and institutions (I think is that acronym) and 30 from ILL which if they will send them will probably come from public libraries. I may not be able to get all 30 because some of them may be too new. 4y

ljuliel Wow....that‘s a pile of books ! I‘ve been wondering this and forget to ask. Are librarians allowed to keep books out as long as they want or do they have to follow the rules like the patrons do ?, I don‘t care either way, I was just curious. 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel Depends on your library. But for the most part we do have to adhere to return dates, renewals, etc. The difference is we don't pay fines. So if you keep a book longer and get a fine, you don't normally think about it until it block you from using digital services. At our last library we added a staff circ policy because we had staff racking up “lost fines“ for books sitting on their desks, and the minute an item is “lost“ ⬇ 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel It must be paid for by the borrowing library. I had a staff member with a big problem. The first time we let it slide, the second time we made her pay the lost fess (over $200) and the third time she was asked to retire, or face consequences. BTW it normally takes 3-6 months for an item to go to “lost“ depending on library and original check out time. For our library with 4 weeks and 4 renewals it was 6 months before “lost“ status. 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel The other thing sometimes it depends on the type of patron you are how long you get. When I was a grad student, check outs were for the entire semester. Undergrad it was 3 weeks. Professors, a year. This is common in upper level schooling systems. As a government research library, all our stuff is 3 weeks. However, we will deliver stuff to staff desks, and they can PONY it back to us as well (office mail). If it is for a legitimate 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel work reason, circ will either extend the time needed, or ask the loaning location to extend. We have a pretty persistent ILL person, so he is on top of renewals, getting things back etc. He does NOT let me slide. 😁 But our regular circ person is my best friend so he does. 😁 4y

ljuliel Wow, that‘d take quite awhile to rack up $200 in fines, unless they do them differently now. It used to be 5 cents a day per book here, but I think they might‘ve put a cap on it now when it reaches a certain figure. I think the libraries might be a bit more lax today. In the old days, you had to pay your fine before being allowed to check out anything else. Now, I‘ve heard them tell people how much they owe, and ask if they want to pay on it 👇🏼 4y

ljuliel ☝🏼 or not. I‘m sure if it‘s a big amount they would t be quite so lenient. I think I recently read online that some libraries have dropped the fines completely. I‘m not sure how they‘ll get the books back if they do that. 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel normally a limit is between $10 and $50 and each library is different. But as a staff member you are able to override the fines and continue check out. Which is what our person was doing. Many also have item limit check outs but if you have 10 items all checked out on the same day al go to lost the same day the fine gets quite large. 4y

LibrarianRyan Going fine free is the new hot thing. I‘m not sure how I feel about it. The libraries that I know do say it‘s a positive thing. I just know for my last public library we took in $20,000 a year in fines and fees. We always had food for fines weeks and amnesty day 2-3 times a year. Amnesty days are nice because no matter how late or how damaged item there is no fee. Plus people who just come out and say I did it, my bad, always had to pay less in 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel fines. Admit it and I‘d work with you. Throw a damaged book in the book and try to say some one else did it, sorry you are paying every single fine. We once had a woman throw 20 nail polish covered books in the book drop. We thought someone threw a bottle in the book drop. But there were no markings on may other books or on the drop itself. Just her books. We salvaged what we could but had to charge her for the rest. She still hates me. 4y

ljuliel Wow.....$20,000 a year you make in fines ? I‘m surprised that many people wrack up late fees. I‘ve had a card now for 56 years and never owed even a 5 cent fine. I‘m a bit OCD about returning books on time. I wonder why in the heck people lie, like the nail polish lady ? Good grief, just tell the truth and take your punishment. 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel our fines were $0.25 a day but more for TV series DVD which were $1 a day. But fines and fees includes lost, damages, copier, etc. and most libraries are really nice if you admit it. If that woman had come in and talked to us I‘d made the fine $50 and not cared. But she argued, yelled, lied, etc. we charged her the full replacement costs and it was over $250. It‘s silly really. 4y

ljuliel I asked our head librarian several years ago what the highest fine anyone had back then. She said $100. That was back before they capped them off , so it was 5 cents for books , I‘m not sure about videos. That was long before the offered video games and all sorts of other stuff. No clue who the lady was, but I figure with some people, they never got the items back or the money. 4y

LibrarianRyan @ljuliel It's sad when libraries have to start using collection agencies, but they do. Mine did. We had almost $100,000 in lost and missing items. There is a collection agency just for libraries which is a much nicer and softer request, but it sucks to have to do so. 4y

ljuliel Well, I don‘t see a thing wrong with it if that‘s the route they need to take. It‘s sad that people take advantage of a place that loans out free items. All you have to do is give them back when your time is up. Simple. If people keep them and never return them, it‘s stealing , so they should have to pay for what they stole. 4y

Sweetkokoro I always find it interesting how different libraries are about fees. My local library is a max fine of $5 and no more services but they also readjusted the fees, childreans and YA books no longer occur fees, but adults books now are .25$ a day to make up for the loss. Which I am cool with. We had a problem with kids losing privileges because parents took to long to return books and hit the $5 threshold. Lots of sad kids, so they did this to help. 4y

LibrarianRyan @Sweetkokoro yes. Libraries that are dipping their toes into fine free are for exactly that reason. 😁 4y

Sweetkokoro It‘s a great reason honestly, so many kids were being revoked privileges because their parents weren‘t paying the fines, now they don‘t have to worry about it, my librarians said there has been increase in kids books being checked out now. I don‘t know the return rate but they all seem happy with the change. 4y

LibrarianRyan @Sweetkokoro we unfortunately had to institute family fines at my last library because the parents would rack up large fines on their card, the get a card in a child‘s name, rack up fines and do it all over again. It‘s sad. 4y

Sweetkokoro Oh geez that‘s horrible, I don‘t understand how people can justify taking advantage of libraries like that. I use one card for me and my daughter and I even get stuff for my sisters and I‘m so crazy over getting items returned. I just nag, nag, nag and nag at them Haha. 4y

Clwojick Hahahahaha! This is 💯 something I would do! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 4y

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