Library policy needs explaining

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I love the Somerville library, and I have had excellent service at the West branch.

In the past when I have been unable to make it to the library in the week that my held book was there, I called and they were happy to check the book out to my account. This was a win for everyone; I got the book, and they didn't pay for shipping the book around. And, since they checked out the book to me, I didn't keep it for any longer than my share of time.

This week, when I was unable to freeze a hold on a request before my vacation, the book arrived while I was out of the state. I called and asked if they could help me, and they seemed reluctant. I explicitly asked if they could check the book out to me, and they said that they don't do that anymore because it's not fair to keep the book out of circulation. I pleaded my case and they did agree to do it (with the undertone of "just this once").

Can anyone shine light on this new policy? I find it bewildering, since it doesn't help anyone, and it costs the library money.

Comments

[ron_newman]

When you return the book, they'll still have to ship it to whoever has it reserved next, or to the owning library if there aren't any other reservations. So I wouldn't say that this policy "costs the library money".

They may feel that if there's a long line of reservations waiting for the book, that it somehow isn't fair to let it sit unread waiting for you to come home.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

It costs them money because I'll request the book again, and then they'll have to send it back again.

it somehow isn't fair to let it sit unread waiting for you to come home.

This is the bit I don't understand. I request the book, they ship it to the local branch and hold it for a week, then I check it out for three weeks. So the book is out of circulation for 4 weeks + transit time.

If they check it out to me over the phone the book is out of circulation for exactly the same amount of time.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yes, but many people don't think logically. :-)

[faux-eonix.livejournal.com]

Libraries shipping from one branch to another use either an in-house or local delivery service for moving books from one library to another. This is normally a flat rate cost estimated per year or per box. It doesn't cost them any extra money to send your book so they don't see it as a savings.

As for the rest of your issue, I would recommend asking to speak with the Circulation desk manager for clarification.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

They might be worrying about:
- You request the book, they check it out to you for three weeks, then you come in at the end of the three weeks to pick it up, and you renew it for another three weeks because you didn't have time to read it.
- Lots of people switch from "request and then ignore for a week, then book moves" to "request, remote checkout, and ignore for three weeks, then book moves", so the books start moving around down the waitlist much slower than before.

Really, what it needs is a traffic analysis on both systems. :)

[ron_newman]

I don't think you're allowed to renew a Minuteman book that has a line of people waiting for it. However, you can keep it overdue, and pay the resulting fine, and I've been guilty of this a few times.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

Ron! I'm shocked!

[borgin.livejournal.com]

I haven't come to this yet, but my roommate's done it a few times. The fines here are a steal - my old library in PA just increased the fines on books to 30 cents/day! I wouldn't mind paying 20 cents for four extra days of a book I hadn't quite managed to finish yet.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with the library's stance: if you don't actively have the book then it belongs in general circulation. While you get a book for a month, I am guessing the average time out is likely less.

I believe they already shuttle books around from place to place as part of a regular system, so +/- a book is probably negligible in terms of cost. That's why you have a week--the delivery driver's probably only operate once per week. That's how my college library worked with the inter-loans.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

They get books delivered every day.

The cost of shuttling those books around is a significant cost to the library system.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Yes, but one book more or less isn't going to add to the cost--they don't go one at a time.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I worked for a library for a while, and as mentioned elsewhere, it's a FIXED cost. one book more or less per week is negligible in cost. They get books every day (not true, but more than 1 day per week) because different libraries are delivering on different days.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I would ask them.

That said, other people have identified some potential drawbacks to their doing what you suggest:

- Someone in that situation might let the book sit in the library for three weeks, then collect it and keep it for another three weeks (accruing fines all along, of course, but that might feel like a reasonable expense to them) and thus the book would be out of circulation for six weeks instead of three.

- They're sending a bunch of books over to {branch} anyway, and one book more or less makes zero difference in the cost, so that's not a factor.

- Someone in that situation might never come get the book, and in that case they've inconvenienced someone else for nothing and kept a much-wanted book out of circulation and on a hold shelf.

[no1onthecorner.livejournal.com]

When I worked at a library elsewhere, we had a different reason for not doing that: if a book goes missing, it's hard to assign responsibility. The patron can say they never picked it up, and there's no way to prove that they did (since libraries do occasionally make mistakes and misfile things on the hold shelf, etc.)

[exsplusohs.livejournal.com]

Yes, this.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Thank you, this is a good reason.

[hr-macgirl.livejournal.com]

set a reminder on your calendar so that you freeze your holds a week before you go on vacation. If you can't freeze them yourself, call the library and they can help.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Given how tough the fiscal situation is for cities right now I'm just glad the West Branch Library is still open. I wish it could get some work done on it before the water leaking into the walls makes it fall down, but that's another story.

Seriously, it actually has a decent collection and its really convenient. I'm willing to cut them some slack for being a little inconsistent in their policies.

[ron_newman]

I'd also love to see it get air-conditioning so that the upper floor is actually habitable in summer, and at least some minimal attempt at ADA accessibility.

[upsidown.livejournal.com]

Do they have wi-fi at least now? I wanted to go there and work on my laptop when I was a student and I was shocked that they didn't have wi-fi.

[ron_newman]

This says they do. When did you try it last?

[moonshadow.livejournal.com]

Yup, the wi-fi works.

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Others have pointed out that your "it costs the library money" is really a wash. But nobody has pointed out the thing that really does cost the library money: Librarian time, spent on the phone with a patron who wants an exception to be made for him or her, plus the time it takes the librarian to perform the exception-handling. Librarians are in my experience uniformly nice people who like being helpful. But libraries these days are being forced to cut their budgets to the bone and then some, and there's often not enough librarian time to perform the work that's essential to keep the library operating. What do you suppose five minutes × every patron who wants such an exception adds up to in a year?