[ILL-L] Lost Book Invoice Advice

[Emma Beaven]

The patron was not the one calling. On of my staff members was the one 
attempting to contact the ILL department.  Our normal procedure is of 
course to discharge the item and update it in OCLC, however, 
occasionally materials slip by without being updated or our patrons will 
once in awhile return the item to the wrong library system.  If we have 
a customer who claims he/she returned an item, we always fully 
investigate before telling the customer that he/she will have to pay for 
the item, however while we are investigating the customer remains blocked.
Andrew Shuping wrote:
> I'm also a bit confused.  Why was your patron the one calling the
> lending library?  And if the book was returned why was the book still
> on his record?  Do you not remove it once its physically brought back
> to your library?
>
> I can't say that you should refuse, not at this point, but I would
> suggest that you open up further conversations and find out why they
> didn't return calls/e-mails (did something happen?)  It maybe
> something that requires the intervention of higher powers to work out
> some arrangement, but ILL code does say that the lending library is
> responsible for the item until everything is done.
>
>
> Andrew Shuping
> Learning Commons/Emerging Technologies/ILL Librarian
> Jack Tarver Library, Mercer University, GMU
> Robert Frost - "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned
> about life: it goes on."
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 1:10 PM, John A. Stephens<STEPHENS_JA at mercer.edu> wrote:
>   
>> I'm not quite sure how to interpret what you're saying.  We all do things differently, but you're saying that you borrowed an ILL book for a patron, but couldn't tell if he returned it, so you asked the lending library to search for it?  I feel that I must be missing something here.  It seems that your saying that you can't tell or have any way to tell if anything happened to the book after you gave it to the patron.  It would be nice for the lending library to be more responsive, but I'm not sure how talking to them would have anything to do with your patron's record in your system.  Is it possible at your library for a patron to return the book, have it processed and sent back to the lending library, and for you not to have any record of it, so the only thing to do is ask the lending library?  I'm confused.
>>
>> John Stephens
>> ILL Coordinator
>> Mercer Universty Atlanta (GMA/GAUMUD)
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Emma Beaven
>> Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 12:20 PM
>> To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
>> Subject: [ILL-L] Lost Book Invoice Advice
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>  I've run into a problem with a lost book and I'm wondering if anyone
>> can give me any advice.  On 7/9/09, we had a customer with an
>> interlibrary loan book checked out to him which he claimed to have
>> returned.  His record was accumulating fines because of this and he was
>> blocked from checking out any materials.  On 7/10 one of my staff
>> members attempted to call the library and left a voicemail.  He tried to
>> get in touch by phone again on 7/13/09 and still the phone went to
>> voicemail.  He sent an email out on 7/13 to no avail.  On 7/14 he
>> attempted to contact this library both via fax and Ariel.  On 7/15 I had
>> him google the library and call its circulation desk where someone
>> answered the phone.  Someone from the circulation desk checked to make
>> sure someone was in ILL and sent the call back to her.  She said that
>> yes she had received the phone calls but had not responded and that it
>> would take her at least a week from that day (7/15) to search for the
>> book.  She never called back.  Since our customer was blocked from
>> borrowing and this ILL department was pretty much unresponsive, I
>> removed the book and and fines from the patrons record and let it go.
>> Today I received an invoice for $215.00 dated 8/10/09.  To me it is
>> completely unreasonable to have to wait a month for a shelf check,  all
>> the while keeping our patron blocked from checkout.  Please let me know
>> if you think we're within our rights to refuse to pay this invoice
>> because this library refused to communicate with us in a timely manner.
>> Just a note, on the invoice is written in bod "Thank you for your prompt
>> attention to this matter."
>>
>> Thanks for your advice,
>>
>> --
>> Emma Beaven
>> Resource Sharing Supervisor
>> MILO
>> Enoch Pratt Free Library
>> 400 Cathedral St.
>> Baltimore, MD 21201
>> (410)396-5498
>> (410)396-5837 (fax)
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>     
>
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> Scanned MGW1


-- 
Emma Beaven
Resource Sharing Supervisor
MILO
Enoch Pratt Free Library
400 Cathedral St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410)396-5498
(410)396-5837 (fax)