I only take out the books that I know that I will use within the 2 week period. Dgs, the same. We have a bookshelf where the books go. We then mark the calendar in red so I know when they are due. We then take the books back by that date, sometimes not till they are closed and then we put them in the drop box. I paid the boys late fees of $15.00 that they had when they came to live with us - they couldn't get books out without paying the fine. We do not want to pay anything more than we have to.
If you have 100 books out, I can see it adding up VERY quickly. That's only $2 per book, and if you think of a $2 fine on one book, it's not that big a deal. Multiply it by 100, however..... I think I would limit myself to how many I could get at one time!
We try to keep all library books in a white plastic crate thing on their bookcase when we aren't reading them. That way they don't get lost or torn by Babyboy. I need to start getting some books for him from the library but he still puts stuff in his mouth a lot. They have a big selection of cardboard page books but he will chew them.
I had a fine once, it was less than a dollar. I can't imagine getting a fine like yours! Yikes!! That was a few years ago, now if we have a book that's a few days late they never fine us. I don't know if they do that for everyone, or it may be that ds is a celebrity at the library. Either way I'm not complaining! We can check out as many books as want at a time, it's awesome but not without risk. Now I'm happy we only have about 20 checked out right now. Hope you have a much better year this year!
I do not have time to donate to the local FOL (freinds of the library) org. I have a hard time donating books I have purchased, whether at a bargain or not to the FOL It is just so much easier to support the library by keeping the books out past the due date. :roll:
PKM, I use Richland counties system and there are 10 branches. Our system is pretty good, though. I know they put a freeze on your card if your fines are $5 but that still doesn't help if you lose a $30 book! One thing I like is they put a cap on the fine ( unless it's changed and I don't know!) that it won't go over $5 in late fees. If you end up owing for the book it is a different story. I have a plant stand that my ds took my school supplies off of and put library books on it. At first I was not happy with him for not asking first but it does make it alot simpler.
Jennifer, that is what I said our library freezes after it gets to 10 dollars and wouldn't let us check out anything. That's why I was suppose hers got that high. The poor thing. That is alot.
Reading some of the post I'm almost regretting this thread. Not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me. It happened and I own it. I had the books, knew I had them and wondered is anyone else had large fines. For the most part I found out my area likes to stick it to us. As far as donating books vs. paying fines to help out the library, the library does not keep the money the city takes the money the library itself gets nothing. I found that out when I made a comment to the branch manager about the fines I pay buying books.
It's pretty easy to gather a large amount of library material if you need books and things for more than one subject. Right now I have lots of math story books, social studies resources and science resources. We have cds out for music. We also have video just for entertainment. One of the librarians told me I'm a 'heavy user' of the library. Lol. What does that make me- a fat junky?? LOL. I love the library.
PKM, don't feel put down. You are handling your business, and not making excuses. You didn't use this money on illicit things, it was for something very legitimate and sensible.
Oh man I am so sorry to hear that. They should have a limit or something so it won't go that high. I thought my husbands fee from 11 years ago was bad, We were stationed in Texas and got orders to Florida and the book was packed by mistake. Well we were pulled over by the police and notified they had a warrant out for his arrest over the library book. They let him go but we had to pay over 100.00. We now own a 100.00 book on How to make Paper Airplanes.
Its so silly to have such high fines. there should be a cap. and really they should be able to tell you what book, therefore you could offer to buy a new one to replace it.
Holy cow!!! The police?!? Goodness! PKM, I'm GLAD you made this thread!!! Now I know I'm not the ONLY one!!!!
I think it's terrible that the lmoney paid in fines don't go directly to the library. That's not right! When you talk about limits in fines, keep in mind the NUMBER of books that were checked out. And there were THREE cards. Again, that's only $2 a book. The library really isn't being out of line! Though I DO think they should have been willing to work with people. I mean, as PKM said, she owned up to it and admitted she really did owe the money. Not as if she was trying to keep all the books or anything!
I honestly don't have any excuse for not getting the books up to the library other that just forgetting them or being lazy. 2006 was an exhausting year. A new baby, working from home, homeschooling the kids, a tree falling on our house which forced us to move 14 years worth of things in 2 weeks, adapting to a new place with horrible neighbors (one of which we put in jail), a new job for hubby, new job for me. I could go on but quite honestly the books have been the last thing on my mind, I need to remember to breath occassionally.
PKM, It sounds like 2006 was rough for you and your family. A tree falling on the house is a big worry for me. We have a huge oak tree near the house and in bad storms I worry about it falling. It seems very healthy and all but it is just so big! It would destroy our home if it fell toward the house. I try to tell myself I am too blessed to be stressed, but it sounds like you had every right to feel stressed or something last year. I hope this year will be better for you and your family. Beth
PKM I hope you have a great 2007!! I think my biggest fine was like $0.85 or something. Our fines are really cheap though and adult cards are different from children's cards. On an adult card you are allowed to check out 25 items at a time BUT you can only check out 5 videos at a time. AND you can't check out a video on a child's card. I think the fines for children's books are $0.02 a day; adult books are $0.10 a day and videos are $0.25 a day not sure about music or books on CD. I have about 8 items checked out now and one is overdue. It will continue to be overdue until we are done with it. You can only recheck books twice after the initial check out which means you can keep it for 6 weeks without being overdue. I need this book for a total of 12 weeks so I will have to pay when I finally return it.
Our library would send me notices that my books were over due, and the fines were starting and I needed to get the books back into the library. However, the problem was, this was about 3 weeks AFTER we returned the books! This went on for MONTHS, so we started going to a different library and haven't had that problem since. We talked to the librarians and did what we knew to get the problem fixed, but it never changed! The librarians DID say to ignore the e-mails because they had record of us returning the books, but the e-mails continued! Now we don't get any e-mails about anything, even though we are in the system to get them! oh wellllll........ Otherwise we usually have a 10 day grace period to get the books in before they are considered late. We're about to that limit right now on a couple of things, so I better get those books in!
Yes, 2007 will go much better for you, I'm sure! At least, instead of having a "new" baby, you'll have an "old" baby, lol! In some ways, it's easier, and in some ways it's more challenging!
