[Publib] "stolen" library books

[Rawles-Heiser, Carolyn]

If only all our patrons were completely honest!  Recently there was a
newspaper article picked up from the police log about a teen whose card
was stolen and numerous items checked out.  He gave us a police report
and we forgave the charges.  I told the reporter that we didn't hold him
responsible since he was a crime victim.   The next day, 4 teens came in
separately to report that they, too, had their cards stolen and all the
DVDs on their accounts were checked out by the thieves.   We told them
all to go report it to the police (across the street from us) and bring
back the report....which of course none of them did.
We of course approach these situations sympathetically and commiserate
with the person on the awful thing that has happened to them.   We have
never had anyone become angry or upset when we told them we would fix
their account and needed the police report as backup.  A lot of it is in
how you say it to the patron.
Carolyn

Carolyn Rawles-Heiser
Library Director
Corvallis--Benton County Public Library
645 NW Monroe Ave.
Corvallis, OR  97330



-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Rogers
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:34 AM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] "stolen" library books

I'm really surprised at the tone of these responses.  It would never
occur to me to ask for a police report, and I wouldn't think it would do
much for public relations. Whenever a patron of ours has ANY sort of
mishap, disaster, etc., we want library books to be the last thing they
worry about.  We want them to think of libraries as places where they're
welcome and not punished for things they have no control over.  If the
patron's house burns down, do you require a sworn statement from a
fireman?  I see having your car stolen as a traumatic event, and
demanding to see a police report compounds the trauma by suggesting that

the patron is dishonest.   This doesn't mean we don't take the financial

support of our taxpayers seriously, it just means we take our patrons' 
needs seriously as well.  After all--they're taxpayers too, for the most
part.

Elizabeth Rogers
CEF Library System
33 Oak Street
Plattsburgh, NY  12901


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