[Publib] Food for fines revisited

Wed Oct 7 13:02:08 EDT 2009

In our little Town of 1.9 sq mi., many of our patrons rely on the very same
food banks that we would provide that food to. The food banks at the
churches around the corner & down the street, are running low  - according
to those patrons who volunteer there. According to the patrons who use the
banks, Ramon noodles are a Godsend - especially when the unemployment
database has a meltdown & there are no application renewals that week.
Because the economic situation has hit the library in the way of cut staff &
hours, we have had to increase fines & fees. we know that's tough for many
of our patrons but many other patrons give extra every time and always offer
to contribute to a good cause. We like to consider it  the library's
contribution to "Community Teamwork".  Patrons DO remember; when state
funding was at risk, so many of our patrons took time to write letters  &
emails of support of the library. So I believe in the end we all do get
something in place of the fines that is just as valuable if not more so.
Karen Mahnk

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 4:20 PM, Darla Wegener <dwegener at ci.lincoln.ca.us>wrote:

>  Here is my take.
> Darla
> Patrick's former director
>
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:
> publib-bounces at webjunction.org] *On Behalf Of *Patrick Sweeney
> *Sent:* Monday, October 05, 2009 2:04 PM
> *To:* Phalbe Henriksen; PUBLIB
> *Subject:* Re: [Publib] Food for fines revisited
>
>
> Phalbe,
>
> HAHAHA!   I LOVE your passion here!  Please allow me to address your
> concerns...
>
> Patrick Sweeney and Phalbe Henriksen wrote:
>
> *Patrick*"I have to say that I love 'Food for Fines' drives...."
> *Phalbe*"Love" doesn't make it legal.
> *Patrick*  *You're right that is absolutely true! However, from what I
> understand, it had to get approved by the director, the city, the city's
> attorneys, the accountants, etc... I could be wrong but I wasn't involved in
> that part. However, I do remember hearing about the conversations our
> director had with the city and I'm pretty sure these issues were brought up.
> Maybe if my director sees this she can enlighten us as to that process.*
> *Darla* I spoke to the city attorney in both places I held a food for
> fines. The first did not want to imply the city was accepting the food, so
> we called it food and fines. They second had no issue with this. Both were
> in California.
>
> *Patrick* So, if you returned your items (no matter how late) with some
> food (no matter how much) we would wave your fines.  We got so many
> materials returned with a can of food or two that I can't imagine what we
> saved in the cost of re-ordered and re-processed materials.
> *Phalbe* Compared to what?
>  *Patrick**Excellent point! I didn't make it very clear what it was
> compared to.  What I was intending to say was that getting the items
> returned was cheaper than the cost of replacing the items or in many cases
> it was cheaper than the cost of chasing people down with collection agencies
> or staff time.*
> *Darla *It also produce a lot of good will, so without having the time to
> calculate, it seems are return rates are up over all.
>
> *Patrick *"Sure, some people returned their materials with a package of
> Ramen Noodles and got 20-30 dollars of fines waved..."
> *Phalbe *Surely, you jest. You allowed them to waive any amount of fines
> for any amount of food????
> *Patrick **I NEVER jest! :)  And yes we did.  Why not?*
> *Darla* This was about getting items returned, creating good will with our
> customers, and helping the needy (our customers and the people getting the
> food, some which were the same)
>
> *Patrick*"...but we got the material back, we got the food..."
> *Phalbe*No, you didn't get the food. Some non-profit agency got the food.
> And, in the end, private citizens got the food. Your only reward was the
> returned material. You could have achieved the same with a fine-free month,
> as far as your library is concerned.
> *Patrick**True, very true, I can't argue with you here.  WE didn't get the
> food...  That was very poor wording on my part.  Thank you for point it out!
> I will try to do better.  So yes, a local non-profit got the food.  You are
> correct we absolutely could have done the same thing with a fine-free month,
> however, we also got an improved image of the library by "doing good." We
> got to say we give back to the community in some new way (you could argue
> otherwise on this point I guess), and we got positive PR from the local
> newspapers, it was like free advertising.*
> *Darla *Well said Patrick.
>
> *Patrick*"...and got the patron to come back to the library.  Really it
> was a WIN, WIN, WIN situation."
> *Phalbe*Ummm, you *want* that patron back????
> *Patrick**I don't understand this, maybe you could explain it to me.  You
> don't *want* patrons at your library?  If you have any positions open I'd
> love to apply.  I was just thinking the other day that I could get so much
> more done if it weren't for all these pesky patrons running around and
> checking out all the books and everything.  I just don't trust them!*
> *Darla *Why do we open the doors? Should we go back to close stacks? Most
> patrons with overdue fines and lost materials are still caught up with the
> stigma that they are in more trouble if they return the item. This process
> makes them more aware of just the opposite and it creates future successful
> library users, especially the younger ones.
>
> *Patrick*"I would also like to point out that for every person who brought
> in 1 package of ramen noodles or the like, we got people who didn't owe
> fines bringing in food for the local community pantry that we were donating
> the food to and we also got people bringing in WAY more food than their
> fines were worth."
> *Phalbe*OK, so why not just do a food drive with the library as the
> drop-off point?
>
> *Patrick**That's an excellent point! We SHOULD do that.  I'll bring this
> up at the next meeting!  Thanks! :)  I think this is especially good since
> we are coming up on Thanksgiving.*
>
> *Darla* We have been doing a toy drive. Now with this success a food drive
> will be part of the holidays and possibly other times of the year.
>
>
> *Patrick*"I can't figure out a bad angle to look at this from, and I
> tried!"
> *Phalbe *I can, and I've pointed it out. *No one* has said that their
> county's attorney and/or elected board has approved this. The IRS has a new
> rule in place that anyone who has a cel  phone paid for by their employer
> has to declare the value of the number of minutes they spent on personal
> phone calls as "income" on their tax return. Do you think that same IRS
> would say, "OK, no prob. Let people donate food, and be able to use it as a
> tax deduction, to a local non-profit in order to write off a local
> government debt"????
>
> *Patrick **I think that whether or not the attorneys and accountants were
> involved is an excellent concern.  But I would suggest that most cities and
> counties wouldn't just allow a library to do something like this without
> bringing it before city council and the city manager and getting
> approvals.  I would suggest your library ask your accountants and attorneys
> and not a listserv.  They're on retainer, make'em earn it! :)*
>
> *Darla* I highly recommend you get your local jurisdiction's and
> attorney's sign off on this. The key is food was encouraged, not required.
> It was a fine free period with a food drive.
>
>  Think about it, people!
>
> *Phalbe* Henriksen
>
>
>
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-- 
Karen Mahnk,
Reference Librarian
Lake Park Public Library
529 Park Avenue
Lake Park, Fl., 33403
561 881-3330 Fax: 561881-3336
kmahnk at lakeparkflorida.gov
www.lakepark-fl.gov
Opinions are mine not my employer.
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