I had a book on interlibrary loan request for 6 months whilst they tried to find a copy. One copy was found but then I got a call from the library to say it was 'no more'. The librarian told me that they had contacted the orginating library to see when it should have been returned because as soon as my request went in, it shouldn't have been allowed to be renewed. She was told that the person borrowing the book at the time had phoned in to renew and was told they couldn't and to bring the book back. 2 days later the borrower came into the library and said that they had wanted to return the book but couldn't find it and so could they just pay the fine for loosing it. The librarian believed that the borrower was being good and charged them the list price of the book plus 10% (a snip for a rare out of print book but which was showing at the price that it was printed at 10 years only). The library apologised and refunded my 50p interlibrary loan fee. So, I ordered another book that I wanted instead hoping that it would have a similar pattern in it that I could adapt for the present I was making my mum for her 60th (this was a while ago as she is now 78). Again, the book was showing as available but on loan. Same library as before the librarian mentioned. Two weeks later I get a call to come into the library. The librarian told me, off the record, that when they contacted the lending library the book had been tried to be renewed, refused then 'lost'. When the lady borrowing the book came in to offer the price of the book plus the 10% she was met by the same librarian as before. This time, the librarian looked at the borrower's history and it seemed that in 10 years she had lost nearly every lace book she had borrowed but no one had put 2 and 2 together. She was told that her borrowing was now suspended indefinately and the police were going to be called. The lady in question was outraged, had she not paid for all the books lost? The librarian explained that she had not paid for the books but paid a fine for losing the books and the terms were if found they should be returned. I thought nothing of it but a week later the first book I had order turned up as it had mysteriously been returned to the library. On the other hand, I returned a book to the library once and handed it to the librarian. I stood there waiting for her to swipe it back in and she told me she was too busy to do this and put it on a trolley in the back office. A month later I got an overdue notice for the book. Luckily my mum was with me when I returned it and we went and had polite words. But after that I always got them to swipe the book in my presence.
Kind Regards Liz Baker [email protected] My chronicle of my bobbins can be found at my website: http://thelacebee.weebly.com/ --- On Sat, 17/9/11, Helen Bell <[email protected]> wrote: From: Helen Bell <[email protected]> Subject: [lace] RE: who would like a NL book To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, 17 September, 2011, 0:05 Having worked in a public library for several years, I know that it's tough to sometimes get material back from patrons. Sometimes it depends on the Head Librarian of the branch and what the policy is. I know we had a patron who kept materials and when threats and fines meant nothing, and did nothing, then it was time for The Boss to pay a visit with the sheriff. - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
