[Publib] Re: Collection Agencies

[Chris (CE)]

Patsy Hansel and Robert Burgin correlated handling overdues practices 
and the number of overdues (and nonreturned materials) in 58 North 
Carolina libraries in 1981 and 89 public libraries nationally in 1983.

*They found that using collection agencies /significantly/ helps recover 
materials.

*They also found that

    * replacing the final overdue notice with a bill /significantly/ 
helps get books back, and
    * charging fines per overdue notice is /significantly/ much better 
than charging fines per item per day.

In the above sentences, the word "significantly" is used in the 
statistical sense.

For example, the difference in recovered materials between libraries 
using collection agencies and
libraries not using collection agencies is so large it is improbable to 
be mere chance.

*
*Sources:

"Hardfacts about overdues"
by Patsy Hansel and Robert Burgin
/Library Journal/
Vol. 108, No. 4, February 15, 1983, pp. 249-252.

"More hardfacts on overdues"
by Robert Burgin and Patsy Hansel
/Library Overdues: Analysis, Strategies, and Solutions to the problem/, 
1984, pp. 5-18.

"Library overdues: an update"
by Robert Burgin and Patsy Hansel
/Library and Archival Security/
Vol. 10, No. 2, 1990, pp. 51-75.
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