[ILL-L] Replacement Fees and ILL

[Campbell, Heather]

When we lost staff a couple of years ago, my staff and I had to find out
ways to "work smarter".  The staff member who does the Lending overdues
used to look up the default price for each category of each book that
had reached the  billing stage; this took up a lot of her time and we
were all taking up the duties from the posotions we'd lost.  So we
settled on a default price and add the processing fee that the city
requires us to add.  (In one case, we have to add the processing fee in
with the price because one of our frequent payers flat out refused to
pay anything designated as a "processing fee")

A smaller public library a couple pf counties away from us charges a
minimum default price of $100 per lost or damaged book.  We use that
library as an example when customers ask us how much a lost ILL book
costs.  ;)

-----Original Message-----
From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Kathy Britt
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:42 PM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: Re: [ILL-L] Replacement Fees and ILL

Robin,
We follow the same practice as our Circulation Department, which is to
charge a flat rate for replacement, plus a processing fee. The
philosophy is that it would be time consuming to look up the actual
replacement fee for every single lost book. So, we charge the "average" 
cost of a book and periodically we reevaluate the fee and raise it as
necessary. As ILL, though, we reserve the right to charge actual costs
if the actual replacement fee is well above our standard fee (for
example, one time we had to charge for a $550 VHS). Each library's
policies are different, but it is not uncommon for libraries to charge a
flat fee.

Kathy
__
Kathy Britt
ILL Lending Coordinator
Woodruff Library
Emory University

Robin Quinn wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I was just wondering what the general consensus is on replacement fees

> on damaged or unreturned ILL's. My latest case is a book that I 
> FINALLY got back from a patron only to discover it has some pretty 
> severe "liquid" damage. The invoice I received from the lending 
> library billed us $100 for the cost of the book and a $20 processing 
> fee. The problem I have with this is that the price they paid for the 
> book is written on the inside cover ($15.50 in 1986 FYI). My question 
> is, is it normal practice for a library to charge 6 times the value 
> (the 1986 value mind you) of the book when replacing it? This is not a

> rare book. It is for sale for 19.99 on Amazon. Thoughts?
>
> Robin
>
> Robin Quinn
>
> Interlibrary Loans
>
> St. Joseph Public Library
>
> 927 Felix St.
>
> St. Joseph, MO 64501
>
> (816) 232-7729
>
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