[Publib] RE: Special Adults

[Insley, Diane]

My comments are not just about Special Adults, but for anyone.  

Do you cap the amount of fines per title? Per person?  If all items are
back, do the fines have to be this large for anyone?  A fine should be a
penalty that would be high enough you wouldn't want to keep items
overdue again, but they should also be low enough that people would want
to pay it in order to be able to use the library again.

We have a $2.50 per children's book or $5.00 per other item cap for
overdue fines.  We also have a $20 total fine to paid at one time as
long as ALL items on their card have been returned or if lost, then paid
for.  So as long as all items on their card have been paid for or
returned, then a customer would only have to pay a total of $20 to clear
their card.

Diane Insley
San Marcos (TX) Public Library

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 11:17:48 -0600
From: "Tom Cooper" <tcooper at wgpl.lib.mo.us>
Subject: [Publib] Special Adults
To: <publib at webjunction.org>
Message-ID: <AFA629EBA41411408FBFE3C3C140A7CB18D6A6 at WGPL1.wgpl.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I have several adult patrons who have limited or special mental capacity
of one sort or another. Their parents put a high premium on encouraging
their independence, so they don't monitor their card use - until they
get into trouble. Recently I dealt with a young lady who had run up a
$500 fine. Just now I am dealing with another, smaller fine. Anybody
have interesting ways to monitor these types of accounts? - I want to
maintain privacy standards, but I don't want these folks to have to face
large fines several times a year.

 

Tom Cooper, Director

Webster Groves Public Library

301 E. Lockwood

Webster Groves, MO 63119