Several times I've gotten notices of books overdue when I KNOW I turned them in long before. In all instances but this last, I would look for the book, lo and behold, there it would be on the shelf. I would take it to the counter and they always say "Whoops, must've not been checked in. Sorry." I wish there was some way the books could get scanned on the way IN.
Support your local library and reap the rewards. I now support mine regularly. For years I had a connection at the library. He was a local politician and a member of the Church I grew up in, and volunteered at the library. My fines were always waved. A few hours answering phones during a campain as a teenager really paid off many years later. It starts so small, I can see why Washington is so corrupt. LOL
(Since I didn't have time to read all posts, I'm sorry if this was already mentioned) Here's a hint. See if your library has an amnesty week. During amnesty week, our library will waive all overdue fines as long as all material is returned in proper condition. Clean slate, back to $0!! If your fine is high enough that you can't use your card, then pay just what you need to unblock your card, then wait for amnesty week.
I am terrible about library fees. I once owed $20 and my dh freaked out. lol. He tought that was such a waste. Especially since I can renew over the phone...and I think online. lol. Well, I never did that again. You can read to pay off library fees at my library. lol. I would be reading for 10 years to pay off $200! lol. Ok, sorry, I am not trying to make fun. My friend once owed over $100. Don't ya just hate to pay for something that is supposed to be free?
Our library will report to a credit bureau if material is not returned after so many notices. I've come pretty close to that a couple of times. My problem is, the items get shuffled in with our own books and then I have a hard time finding it and hate to pay for the book until I do (if a person purchases a lost book, the library returns the amount paid if the book is found and returned within a certain period). I need to make a special shelf for library stuff only--and make sure the kids are trained to put them back in that spot!!
Don't know if this has already been mentioned, but will your library give homeschooling parents teacher cards? At my library, anything you check out on the teacher card is for six weeks.
Nope, no extras for homeschoolers here but if you need to you can renew your books for an extra month and after that if you still need it you have to bring it back in, check it in and if it is not reserved you can check it back out.
I don't know if ours has any homeschool thing---I doubt it, it's pretty small! The other things are the same at our library, PKM
I consider a few dollars here and there part of doing business. I did however make a huge mistake once. I had this little kit of stuff checked out. There were a bunch of booklets and other items in a bag together. I ended up having crisis mode days right before we headed out of town. I decided it was less stressful to pay a week or two fines at .25 a dat than get to the library. It turned out that each item had a separate bar code. I could only negotiate them down about half way.
Oh goodness, vantage, that figures, huh? That sounds like my luck! And I feel the same as kyzg, I really HATE to give a book up for lost and pay for it when I know if I juuuuussstt keep looking, digging, EXCAVATING.....surely I'll find it! :shock:
We have kits that you can check out, like AHA! Science. They have a price tag on them that tells you what you'll pa if you misplace any of the components. I must be very fortunate, because my teacher's card not only gets me the longer checkout time, it gets me free instructional stuff from the sale shelves.
I didn't get to this until now, but our library has a nice system where they wont charge you overdue fees of the card is in a child's name. They have seperate cards for kids. So, we have one in Tanner's name that way we wont ever get charged a late fee, even with adult books and other stuff. As long as it's on his card, we are free from charges. Of course, if we go missing for an extended lenght of time I would assume they would question it, like if the books were months and months overdue. It's a nice set up though. I'm horrible at remembering to return them.
